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Concept
6LoWPAN
Summary
6LoWPAN (acronym of "IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks") was a working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
It was created with the intention of applying the Internet Protocol (IP) even to the smallest devices, enabling low-power devices with limited processing capabilities to participate in the Internet of Things.
The 6LoWPAN group defined encapsulation, header compression, neighbor discovery and other mechanisms that allow IPv6 to operate over IEEE 802.15.4 based networks. Although IPv4 and IPv6 protocols do not generally care about the physical and MAC layers they operate over, the low power devices and small packet size defined by IEEE 802.15.4 make it desirable to adapt to these layers.
The base specification developed by the 6LoWPAN IETF group is (updated by with header compression, with neighbor discovery optimization, with selective fragment recovery and with smaller changes in and ). The problem statement document is . IPv6 over Bluetooth Low Energy using 6LoWPAN techniques is described in .
The targets for IPv6 networking for low-power radio communication are devices that need wireless connectivity to many other devices at lower data rates for devices with very limited power consumption. One real-world example is Tado°'s individual room heating controllers. The header compression mechanisms in are used to allow IPv6 packets to travel over such networks.
IPv6 is also in use on the smart grid enabling smart meters and other devices to build a micro mesh network before sending the data back to the billing system using the IPv6 backbone. Some of these networks run over IEEE 802.15.4 radios, and therefore use the header compression and fragmentation as specified by RFC6282.
Thread is a standard from a group of more than fifty companies for a protocol running over 6LoWPAN to enable home automation. The specification is available at no cost , but paid membership is required to implement the protocol. Version 1.0 of the specification was published on 2015-10-29.
Official source
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Internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks. The Internet of things encompasses electronics, communication and computer science engineering. Internet of things has been considered a misnomer because devices do not need to be connected to the public internet, they only need to be connected to a network, and be individually addressable.
Zigbee
Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and other low-power low-bandwidth needs, designed for small scale projects which need wireless connection. Hence, Zigbee is a low-power, low data rate, and close proximity (i.e., personal area) wireless ad hoc network.
Wireless sensor network
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental conditions such as temperature, sound, pollution levels, humidity and wind. These are similar to wireless ad hoc networks in the sense that they rely on wireless connectivity and spontaneous formation of networks so that sensor data can be transported wirelessly.