Mechanism for IPv6 adaptation in LoRa topologies

Abstract

One of the main requirements of an IoT solution is the support of end-to-end IPv6 connectivity. Most Wireless Personal Area (WPAN) physical and link layers like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ITU-T G.9959 and IEEE 802.15.4 support adaptation mechanisms that, based on the IPv6 over Low Power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN) protocol, enable IPv6. On the other hand, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRa and SigFox are not typically designed to support access-side IPv6 and rely on gateways for translation and overall cloud connectivity. Lack of end-to-end IPv6 connectivity implies that many of these LPWAN technologies do not fully comply with the IoT paradigm preventing the direct interaction between devices of different physical technologies. In this paper we present an adaptation mechanism that enables end-to-end IPv6 support in an LPWAN scenario that relies on a LoRa physical layer. The scheme is analyzed, modeled and implemented by means of an experimental framework that serves to examine the efficiency of the proposed solution.