Efficient 6LoWPAN Neighbor Discovery applied to Multilink IoT subnets

One fundamental component of the IPv6 protocol suite, the Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol, is undergoing a major evolution to adapt to the needs of mobile and low-power devices. The traditional model of multicast-based advertisements is being extended with a registration mechanism that exhibits a number of interesting properties. This paper explores how this new model, called Efficient-ND or Wireless ND (WiND), can be used as an open abstraction for any IPv6 mesh network, and can enable the interconnection of multiple such meshes over a federating backbone, effectively forming what the IETF refers to as a “MultiLink subnet”. A method based on IPv6-ND proxy operation is demonstrated on a prototype based on existing industrial-class systems.