contiki/doc/sicslowpan-doc.txt

/**
\addtogroup uip
@{
*/

/**
 * \defgroup sicslowpan 6LoWPAN implementation
 * @{

6lowpan is a Working Group in IETF which defines the use of IPv6 on 
IEEE 802.15.4 links.

Our implementation is based on RFC4944 <em>Transmission of IPv6
Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks</em>, draft-hui-6lowpan-interop-00 
<em>Interoperability Test for 6LoWPAN</em>, and draft-hui-6lowpan-hc-01
<em>Compression format for IPv6 datagrams in 6lowpan Networks</em>.

<HR>

\section drafts Specifications implemented

\note We currently only support 802.15.4 64-bit addresses.

\subsection rfc4944 RFC 4944

RFC4944 defines address configuration mechanisms based on 802.15.4
16-bit and 64-bit addresses, fragmentation of IPv6 packets below IP 
layer, IPv6 and UDP header compression, a mesh header to enable link-layer
forwarding in a mesh under topology, and a broadcast header to enable
broadcast in a mesh under topology.


We implement addressing, fragmentation, and header compression. We support
the header compression scenarios defined in draft-hui-6lowpan-interop-00.
This draft defines an interoperability scenario which was used between 
ArchRock and Sensinode implementations.

We do not implement mesh under related features, as we target route over
techniques.

\subsection hc01 draft-hui-6lowpan-hc-01

draft-hui-6lowpan-hc-01 defines a stateful header compression mechanism 
which should soon deprecate the stateless header compression mechanism 
defined in RFC4944. It is much more powerfull and flexible, in
particular it allows compression of some multicast addresses and of all
global unicast addresses.

<HR>

\section general Implementation overview

6lowpan does not run as a separate process. It is called by the MAC %process
when a 6lowpan packet is received, and by the tcpip %process when an
IPv6 packet needs to be sent.

It is initialized from the MAC %process, which calls sicslowpan_init
(giving as argument a pointer to the mac_driver structure).

The main 6lowpan functions are implemented in the sicslowpan.h and
sicslowpan.c files. They are used to format packets between the
802.15.4 and the IPv6 layers. 

6lowpan also creates a few IPv6 and link-layer dependencies which are
detailed in the next section.

<HR>

\section implementation Implementation details

\subsection Addressing

<b>Link-layer addresses</b><br>
The format of a 802.15.4 address is defined in uip.h.
\code
/** \brief 64 bit 802.15.4 address */
struct uip_802154_shortaddr {
  uint8_t addr[2];
};
/** \brief 16 bit 802.15.4 address */
struct uip_802154_longaddr {
  uint8_t addr[8];
};
/** \brief 802.15.4 address */
typedef struct uip_802154_longaddr uip_lladdr_t;
#define UIP_802154_SHORTADDR_LEN 2
#define UIP_802154_LONGADDR_LEN  8
#define UIP_LLADDR_LEN UIP_802154_LONGADDR_LEN
\endcode

<b>Neighbor Discovery Link Layer Address options </b><br>
The format of ND link-layer address options depends on the length of 
the link-layer addresses. 
802.15.4 specificities regarding link-layer address options are implemented in uip-nd6.h.
\code
#define UIP_ND6_OPT_SHORT_LLAO_LEN     8
#define UIP_ND6_OPT_LONG_LLAO_LEN      16
#define UIP_ND6_OPT_LLAO_LEN UIP_ND6_OPT_LONG_LLAO_LEN 
\endcode

<b>Address Autoconfiguration</b><br>
The address autoconfiguration mechanism also depends on the format of
the link-layer address. The dependency is reflected in the 
#uip_netif_addr_autoconf_set function in #uip-netif.c.
\code
#if (UIP_LLADDR_LEN == 8)
  memcpy(ipaddr->u8 + 8, lladdr, UIP_LLADDR_LEN);
  ipaddr->u8[8] ^= 0x02;  
\endcode

\subsection io Packet Input/Output

At initialization, the #input function in sicslowpan.c is set as the
function to be called by the MAC upon packet reception. The #output
function is set as the tcpip_output function.<br>
At packet reception, the link-layer copies the 802.15.4 payload in the
rime buffer, and sets its length. It also stores the source and
destination link-layer addresses as two rime addresses.
\code
packetbuf_copyfrom(&rx_frame.payload, rx_frame.payload_length);
packetbuf_set_datalen(rx_frame.payload_length);
packetbuf_set_addr(PACKETBUF_ADDR_RECEIVER, (const rimeaddr_t *)&rx_frame.dest_addr); 
packetbuf_set_addr(PACKETBUF_ADDR_SENDER, (const rimeaddr_t *)&rx_frame.src_addr);
\endcode
It then calls the sicslowpan #input function. Similarly, when the IPv6 layer 
has a packet to send over the radio, it puts the packet in uip_buf,
sets uip_len and calls the sicslowpan #output function.

\subsection frag Fragmentation

\li #output function: When an IP packet, after header compression, is
too big to fit in a 802.15.4 frame, it is fragmented in several packets 
which are sent successively over the radio. The packets are formatted 
as defined in RFC 4944. Only the first fragment contains the IP/UDP
compressed or uncompressed header fields.

\li #input function: This function takes care of fragment
reassembly. We do not assume that the fragments are received in order. 
When reassembly of a packet is ongoing, we discard any non fragmented 
packet or fragment from another packet. Reassembly times out after
#SICSLOWPAN_REASS_MAXAGE = 20s.

\note Fragmentation support is enabled by setting the #SICSLOWPAN_CONF_FRAG
compilation option.

\note As we do not support complex buffer allocation mechanism, for now
we define a new 1280 bytes buffer (#sicslowpan_buf) to reassemble packets.
At reception, once all the fragments are received, we copy the packet 
to #uip_buf, set #uip_len, and call #tcpip_input.

\note #MAC_MAX_PAYLOAD defines the maximum payload
length in a 802.15.4 frame. For now it is constant and equal to 102
bytes (the 802.15.4 frame can be maximum 127 bytes long, and
the header 25 bytes long).

\subsection hc Header Compression

<b>Compression schemes</b><br>
The #SICSLOWPAN_CONF_COMPRESSION compilation option defines the
 compression scheme supported. We support HC1, HC01, and IPv6 compression.
HC1 and IPv6 compression are defined in RFC4944, HC01 in 
draft-hui-6lowpan-hc. What we call IPv6 compression means sending packets
with no compression, and adding the IPv6 dispatch before the IPv6 header.<br>
If at compile time IPv6 "compression" is chosen, packets sent will never 
be compressed, and compressed packets will not be processed at reception.<br>
If at compile time either HC1 or HC01 are chosen, we will try to compress
all fields at sending, and will accept packets compressed with the 
chosen scheme, as well as uncompressed packets.<br>
Note that HC1 and HC01 supports are mutually exclusive. HC01 should soon
deprecate HC1. 

<b>Compression related functions</b><br>
When a packet is received, the #input function is called. Fragmentation 
issues are handled, then we check the dispatch byte: if it is IPv6, we
treat the packet inline. If it is HC1 or HC01, the corresponding 
decompression function (#uncompress_hdr_hc1 or #uncompress_hdr_hc01)
is called.<br>
When a packet needs to be sent, we try to compress it. If only the IPv6
compression support is enabled, we just add the IPv6 dispatch before the 
802.15.4 payload. If HC1 or HC01 support is enabled, we call the
corresponding compression function (#compress_hdr_hc1 or #compress_hdr_hc01)
to compress the packet as much as possible.

<b>HC1 comments</b><br>
In HC1, if the IPv6 flow label is not compressed, we would need to copy
the fields after the flow label starting in the middle of a byte (the
flow label is 20 bits long). To avoid this, we compress the packets only 
if all fields can be compressed. If we cannot, we use the IPv6 dispatch
and send all headers fields inline. This behavior is the one defined in
draft-hui-6lowpan-interop-00.<br>
In the same way, if the packet is an UDP packet, we compress the UDP 
header only if all fields can be compressed.<br>
Note that HC1 can only compress unicast link local addresses. For this 
reason, we recommend using HC01.

<b>HC01 comments</b><br>
HC01 uses address contexts to enable compression of global unicast 
addresses. All nodes must share context (namely the global prefixes in
use) to compress and uncompress such addresses successfully. The context
number is defined by 2 bits. Context 00 is reserved for the link local 
context. Other contexts have to be distributed within the LoWPAN 
dynamically, by means of ND extensions yet to be defined.<br>
Until then, if you want to test global address compression, you need
to configure the global contexts manually.

<HR>

*/
/** @} */
/** @} */