Connecting IPv6 capable Bluetooth

Low Energy sensors with the Internet

of Things

Johanna Nieminen (Nokia),

Future Internet SHOK
preconference 30.05.2012
IoT Taxonomy
ZigBee

Bluetooth
802.5.4

Infrared
RFID
Positioning
Video

Communication Temperature
Biometry

Identification Sensors Sensing

RFID Reader
Internet
Localization
and Tracking of Actuators

GPS
Things

Data
Security
Management
Message
security Devices
Representation
Privacy
RFID Tag Schema
Authentication/ Mobile
Authorization Phone
XML/EXI/JSON
Embedded
Mobile Constrained
device with radio
 Research challenges
Billions of sensors and actuators will be deployed in the
next few years
An emerging trend is to connect sensors with the Internet of
Things (IoT)
Digitalization of the physical world
Technology disruption

WiFi
(IPv6)
Low Power
Internet
LAN (IPv4 & IPv6)
(IPv6)
Cellular
(IPv6)
 Technology: IoT- Three views
The IETF/Internet view
We should enable constrained nodes to connect to the Internet, and have
low-overhead application, transport, security and auto-config protocols for
them.
Otherwise it is the good old Internet, and apps are what app developers
do. IP over everything and everything over IP. Emphasis on web concepts
such as URIs, RESTful operations.
The M2M/cellular view
Cellular networks should serve efficiently the increased M2M deployment,
using IP or non-IP (SMS) methods. Focus on access-operator centric
deployments. Internet use cases supported as a side effect, though.
A generic service layer for constrained nodes is needed covering
addressing, security, device management etc. IP is the baseline, but focus
on higher layers.
The low-power radio view
Each low-power radio should include its own protocol stack and
application profiles to communicate within a subnet. IP is extra overhead.
Internet/cloud use cases are important, But data can be conveyed to
Internet by applying gateways.
This is a valid approach e.g. for BT-LE with a smartphone as a gateway.
Networking and connectivity technologies

APPLICATION BT/BT-LE/ZIGBEE/SEP2.0 PROFILES,

CoAP/REST APIs

CoAP, SoAP/HTTP, XMPP, OMA

SESSION/
management protocol, GAP, GATT, TCP/
TRANSPORT/
UDP, XML, EXI, JSON
REPRESENTATIO
N
IPv4/IPv6, 6LoWpan technologies (IPv6
NETWORK header compression, routing, neighbor
discovery, address autoconfiguration)

Bluetooth variants, ZigBee, Z-Wave,

PHY/LINK ANT, NFC, 802.11ah, WiFi Low Power
(WiFi Direct), Cellular radios, Google
proprietary low power radio, UWB
Bluetooth Low Energy use-cases

Bluetooth Low Energy (BT-LE) is expected to appear in

billions of devices and sensors in the next few years
BT-LE can be implemented in several types of devices
accessories such as wrist units, key fobs, monitoring sensors,
wearable sensors and programmable actuators
home gateways and mobile devices
Today, BT-LE enabled sensors typically communicate locally
with a central node
applications such as wireless audio and use of a mobile device
in a hands-free mode
Connecting BT-LE sensors to the Internet will
enable new types of use-cases and applications
enhance the operation of existing use-cases
Technical solutions
6LoWPAN standard describes how to run IPv6 over IEEE
802.15.4 family radios in a power efficient way
at the moment there is no specification on how to run IP/IPv6
over other constrained links such as BT-LE
It is currently possible to connect BT-LE sensors with the
Internet using protocol translation in the mobile device acting
as a gateway
However, solutions are application and operating system
specific do not scale and do not enable open web services
creation environment for sensor application developers
The most flexible approach would be to use IP for end-to-
end communication between the sensors and a server
IPv6 would be the ideal protocol due to the large address
space it provides.
Our solution
We have designed a generic BT-LE <-> Cellular IP router
and a CoAP/HTTP proxy on top of it

APP Data APP Data

CoAP CoAP/HTTP proxy CoAP/HTTP

IP IP router IP

BT-LE BT-LE L2 L2

BT-LE node Gateway Internet server

Our solution
Key components of the solution include adapting 6LoWPAN
for BT-LE
differences in the header compression and fragmentation
functionality
BT-LE operates in a star topology, thus source and/or destination
IPv6 addresses can be elided in many cases based on known
context
Fragmentation will be performed in the link layer, not in the
network layer
Additional technical issues include
configuration, application protocol efficiency and security,
context awareness as well as gateway operation
Proposed solution on Sensor
Resulting IP over BT-LE Ecosystem
Standardization

IPv6 over BT-LE IETF draft Working Group Last Call

completed, moving the draft to IESG approval queue
RFC expected in a few months
Other related drafts prepared
Starting to promote the concept through IPSO
Sensor Internet protocol FRD approved in BT-SIG BARB
Goal is to have BT-SIG stamp on the solution, and a fixed
channel ID reserved for IP traffic
Nokia prototype implementation completed, interoperability
implementations with another company already started
Prototype implementation: Internet
connected heart-rate belt

CoAP S erver
LE
er BT
PAN ov
6LoW
NOKIA N9

Wi-
Fi /
3G
Router / G
PRS
End-t
o-end
IPv6
conn
ectio
n

Internet HTTP Server

CoAP Client