Standards related to 802.15.4, 6LoWPAN, RPL, COAP (IEEE 802.15.4)

Summary

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard provides the physical and media access control layers for low-cost, low-power, and low-speed wireless personal area networks (WPANs), catering to applications like home networking, industrial networks, and automotive networks. It supports various topologies, including star, peer-to-peer, and cluster tree, with two types of devices: Full Function Devices (FFDs), which can coordinate networks, and Reduced Function Devices (RFDs), which have simpler roles.

The standard’s versions evolved from the original 802.15.4-2003 with Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) to 802.15.4a-2007, which introduced Ultra-wideband (UWB) and Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) for enhanced capabilities. It employs Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) for media access and offers both slotted and unslotted communication modes.

For security, IEEE 802.15.4 provides multiple options, including encryption and message authentication using AES. It also plays a foundational role in IPv6 over low-power WPANs (6LoWPAN), which enables IP-based communication over 802.15.4 networks by utilizing header compression, fragmentation, and reassembly.