Mesh Link Establishment
draft-kelsey-intarea-mesh-link-establishment-05

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Technical Summary: 

   MLE is a protocol for link-layer configuration, including link
   layer addressing, transmit and receive modes, wake/sleep cycles and
   security.  Its use in ad hoc mesh networks is complementary to
   existing IETF neighbor discovery protocols, such as IPv6 ND
   [RFC4861] and NHDP [RFC6130].  MLE can be used to configure
   individual links and to distribute configuration values that are
   shared across a network.  Per-link configuration uses one-hop
   messages with link-local addresses.  Network-wide configuration
   uses multicasts and requires some form of multi-hop multicast
   forwarding.  MLE resolves the issue of determining two-way link
   quality between nodes in a lossy network (e.g. wireless) by
   allowing a node to periodically multicast an estimate of the
   quality of its links.  This allows a node to determine if it has a
   usable link to a neighbor without first configuring that link.

Working Group Summary: 

   Due to the general nature of the protocol and its application to
   link layer technology, there was no particular WG which suited the
   draft. It has been discussed in the 6lowpan and roll WG mailing
   lists. The only controversy notable was the use of UDP as the base
   protocol for MLE.  Some suggested ICMPv6 would be more appropriate
   tied to RPL messages, however this had the criticism of narrowing
   the scope of MLE, which has been written without any specific IETF
   protocol in mind.

Document Quality: 

   There are numerous existing implementations of the protocol as it
   is currently being adopted and tested by ZigBee Alliance members
   involved in the development of the ZigBee IP stack. There are
   currently 7 independent vendors implementing the protocol. Thomas
   Clausen has performed a thorough review of draft version 02 and his
   comments have been incorporated in version 03 onwards.

Personnel: 

   The Document Shepherd is Robert Cragie. The Responsible Area
   Director is Ralph Droms.


RFC Editor Note

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IRTF Note

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IESG Note

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IANA Note

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