Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks
RFC 4944

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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