The Internet of Things through IPv6: An Analysis of Challenges, Solutions and Opportunities

The number of things that are connected to the Internet is growing exponentially. This has led to defining a new conception of Internet, the commonly called Internet of Things. Internet of Things ecosystems are composed, on the one hand, of so called smart objects, i.e., tiny and highly constrained physical devices in terms of memory capacity, computation capability, energy autonomy, and communication capabilities. On the other hand, Internet of Things is made up of identification tags and codes that allow identifying a specific thing in a unique and global way. Several technologies are enabling these types of things. First, dealing with smart objects we can find technologies such as 6LoWPAN for Wireless Sensor Networks (IEEE 802.15.4), Bluetooth Low Energy (IEEE 802.15.1) for Wireless Personal Area Networks, WiFi Low Power (IEEE 802.11) for Wireless Local Area Networks, and finally Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) for machine to machine communications in Wide Area Networks. Second, for the identification of things the most extended technologies are barcode for the simple identification of a resource (e.g., product identifier), Quick Response (QR) or matrix barcodes for the extended identification of a resource (e.g., plain text and Universal Resource Locators (URLs)), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for the digital identification of resources with capabilities for multiple resource identification, identification out of line of sight, and extended identification capability. Finally, Near Field Communication (NFC) for the digital identification of resources through personal devices such as smart phones, and the establishment of peer-to-peer (P2P) communications. Finally, other existing Internet technologies and devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, industrial technologies, appliances, and building automation are also considered part of the Internet of Things. This new conception of extending Internet to any relevant thing is feasible thanks to the new version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6). IPv6 spreads the addressing space in order to support all the emerging Internet-enabled devices. IPv6 has been designed to provide secure communications to users and mobility for all devices attached to the user; thereby users can always be connected. by Antonio J. Jara, Latif Ladid and Antonio Skarmeta. An extract from their research project IoT6