Impact of the Internet of Things on Computer Networks

James ByarsDecember 12, 2013IT422 – Computer NetworksProfessor Tim Johnson

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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Introduction

• The Internet of Things will present many challenges to computer networks– Addressing– LLNs– Constrained devices

• Internet Engineering Task Force and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers addresses challenges

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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What is the Internet of Things

• Everything becomes a connected device– Car tires– Milk carton– Recliner in our living room

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Problems with current computer networks

• Not built for constrained devices• Address space• Inefficient in terms of power consumption• Scalability

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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IPv6 and Smart Devices

• IPv6 protocol changes– Larger address space

• 16 bytes (3.4 x 10 ^38) addresses

– Larger packet size• 1280 bytes

– Fragmentation of forwarded packets not allowed• Not best option for constrained devices operating

over LLNs• Currently, vendors are creating proprietary protocols

for Smart devices

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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IETF Creates 6LoWPAN Working Group

• Defined 6LoWPAN Adaptation Layer– Allows integration of IPv6 over Wireless Personal

Area Networks• The result:

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6LoWPAN Benefits

• Supports packet fragmentation and reassembly• Allows header compression• 127 byte packet size• Scalable• Easy to deploy• Low memory footprint• Energy efficient

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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ROLL (Routing Over Low-Power Lossy-Networks)

• Current 802.15.4 MAC protocol for short range communications requires a star network topology

• RPL created by ROLL (Routing Over Low-Power Lossy-Networks) IETF working group

• RPL (Routing Protocol Over Low-power Lossy-networks ) defines standard for routing between devices with mesh topology

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RPL Benefits

• RPL makes efficient use of resources– After each ‘ping’ for new nodes• If none are detected

– Wait longer before next request

• If a change is detected– Shorten time between requests

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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CoRE (Constrained RESTful Environments)

• IETF working group responsible for defining CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol)

• CoAP is a data transfer protocol that defines communication between constrained devices– Makes efficient use of limited resources

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CoAP and HTTP

• CoAP is a subset of HTTP• Uses HTTPs REST (Representational State Transfer)

paradigm and applies it to constrained devices• CoAP uses UPD instead of TCP for packet

retransmission• 4 byte binary header• 1 byte options (extendable to 2 bytes)• Makes use of PUT, GET, POST, DELETE• Uses HTTP response condes

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CoAP Benefits

• Can be implemented behind reverse proxy to enable seamless integration between HTTP and CoAP

• Devices on either side of proxy do not have to know they are transmitting beyond the proxy

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Organization

• Introduction• Internet of Things• Computer Network Challenges• 6LoWPAN• ROLL• CoRE• Conclusions

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Conclusions

• IETF has recognized challenges presented by IoT• Any/all protocols must be defined knowing it will

be operating on constrained devices over LLNs– Must be very efficient in terms of resources

• All protocols discussed can be implemented over IPv6 networks

• It will take large amount of effort and standardization, but IoT can be made possible

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Questions?