Some Implications of Low Power Wireless to IP Networking

We examine and outline challenges in IPv6 routing over low-power wireless personal area networks (PANs). We present empirical measurements and analysis of an increasingly popular PAN link layer, 802.15.4. We show that over short periods 802.15.4 exhibits bimodal connectivity, but over longer periods has many intermediate links. We quantify how synchonous acknowledgments affect common lowpower routing metrics, such as ETX. We identify metrics for detecting modal changes in link quality. We explore how these behaviors affect IP routing and IPv6 requirements, such as route selection and maintenance, sub-IP fragmentation and assembly, and packet scheduling.