Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks
RFC 4944
Network Working Group G. Montenegro
Request for Comments: 4944 Microsoft Corporation
Category: Standards Track N. Kushalnagar
Intel Corp
J. Hui
D. Culler
Arch Rock Corp
September 2007
Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document describes the frame format for transmission of IPv6
packets and the method of forming IPv6 link-local addresses and
statelessly autoconfigured addresses on IEEE 802.15.4 networks.
Additional specifications include a simple header compression scheme
using shared context and provisions for packet delivery in IEEE
802.15.4 meshes.
Montenegro, et al. Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 4944 IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 September 2007
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. Terms Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. IEEE 802.15.4 Mode for IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Addressing Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Maximum Transmission Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. LoWPAN Adaptation Layer and Frame Format . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.1. Dispatch Type and Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2. Mesh Addressing Type and Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3. Fragmentation Type and Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. Stateless Address Autoconfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7. IPv6 Link Local Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8. Unicast Address Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9. Multicast Address Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10. Header Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10.1. Encoding of IPv6 Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.2. Encoding of UDP Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10.3. Non-Compressed Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
10.3.1. Non-Compressed IPv6 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
10.3.2. Non-Compressed and Partially Compressed UDP Fields . 21
11. Frame Delivery in a Link-Layer Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
11.1. LoWPAN Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
12. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
13. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
14. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
15. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
15.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
15.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Appendix A. Alternatives for Delivery of Frames in a Mesh . . . . 28
1. Introduction
The IEEE 802.15.4 standard [ieee802.15.4] targets low-power personal
area networks. This document defines the frame format for
transmission of IPv6 [RFC2460] packets as well as the formation of
IPv6 link-local addresses and statelessly autoconfigured addresses on
top of IEEE 802.15.4 networks. Since IPv6 requires support of packet
sizes much larger than the largest IEEE 802.15.4 frame size, an
adaptation layer is defined. This document also defines mechanisms
for header compression required to make IPv6 practical on IEEE
802.15.4 networks, and the provisions required for packet delivery in
IEEE 802.15.4 meshes. However, a full specification of mesh routing
(the specific protocol used, the interactions with neighbor
discovery, etc) is out of the scope of this document.
Montenegro, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 4944 IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 September 2007
1.1. Requirements Notation
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
1.2. Terms Used
AES: Advanced Encryption Scheme
CSMA/CA: Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance
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