A Survey of Limitations and Enhancements of the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks: A Focus on Core Operations

Ghaleb, Baraq; Al-Dubai, Ahmed Y.; Ekonomou, Elias; Alsarhan, Ayoub; Nasser, Youssef; Mackenzie, Lewis M.; Boukerche, Azzedine

Abstract

Driven by the special requirements of the Low-power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), the IPv6 Routing Protocol for LLNs (RPL) was standardized by the IETF some six years ago to tackle the routing issue in such networks. Since its introduction, however, numerous studies have pointed out that, in its current form, RPL suffers from issues that limit its efficiency and domain of applicability. Thus, several solutions have been proposed in the literature in an attempt to overcome these identified limitations. In this survey, we aim mainly to provide a comprehensive review of these research proposals assessing whether such proposals have succeeded in overcoming the standard reported limitations related to its core operations. Although some of RPL’s weaknesses have been addressed successfully, the study found that the proposed solutions remain deficient in overcoming several others. Hence, the study investigates where such proposals still fall short, the challenges and pitfalls to avoid, thus would help researchers formulate a clear foundation for the development of further successful extensions in future allowing the protocol to be applied more widely.

Citation

Ghaleb, B., Al-Dubai, A. Y., Ekonomou, E., Alsarhan, A., Nasser, Y., Mackenzie, L. M., & Boukerche, A. (2019). A Survey of Limitations and Enhancements of the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks: A Focus on Core Operations. Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Communications Society, 21(2), 1607-1635. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2018.2874356

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 19, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Oct 11, 2018
• Publication Date: 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 24, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 11, 2018
• Journal: Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Communications Society
• Print ISSN: 1553-877X
• Electronic ISSN: 2373-745X
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1607-1635
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2018.2874356
• Keywords: Internet of Things, Low-power and Lossy Networks, Routing Protocols, RPL, Objective Functions, Trickle Timer, Routing Maintenance
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1304725
• Contract Date: Sep 25, 2018