# IPv6 Convergence for IoT Cyber-Physical Systems
## 2 Background  
We focus on the convergence of wireless technologies associated with the IoT and conventional enterprise networks. We propose a common data/control plane operating on an IP-interconnected hetnet comprising low power wide area (LPWA), IEEE 802.15.4 mesh, Ethernet, and wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies. Wireless technologies commonly associated with the IoT include IEEE 802.15.4 mesh [2], LoRaWAN [3], Sigfox [4], NB-IoT [5], Weightless-P [6], random-phase multiple access (RPMA) by Ingenu [7], and MIoTy from Fraunhofer-IIS [8], amongst others. In a previous work, we provided additional detail regarding the real-world performance of a selection of these wireless IoT networking technologies [9]. An example depicting LPWA and mesh is shown in Figure 3, where two non-IP technologies, LPWA and IEEE 802.15.4 mesh, are used as part of a WLAN- and Ethernet-based heterogeneous network. Our research focused on how we could enable these different systems to form a single connected layer abstracted from the underlying hetnet infrastructure, and upon which, support more services. We briefly outline the following wired and wireless communications standards because they are already in use in the IoT but do not yet support an ability to interconnect with each other. * **Ethernet**: IEEE 802.3 is a working group and a collection of IEEE standards produced by the working group defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control (MAC) of wired Ethernet. Data rates range from 10 Mbps to 5 GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3 bz), 25 Gbps (IEEE 802.3 by) and 400 Gbps (IEEE 802.3 bs). This is generally a local area network technology used for core network backhaul with some wide-area network applications. Physical connections are made between nodes and/or infrastructure devices (hubs, switches, routers) by various types of copper or fiber cable. * **EIA/TIA-485 (RS-485)**: The RS-485 standard was developed jointly by two trade associations: the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). The EIA once labeled all its standards with the prefix \"RS\" (Recommended Standard). Many engineers continue to use this designation, but the EIA/TIA has officially replaced \"RS\" with \"EIA/TIA\" to help identify the origin of its standards. It is a differential full duplex multipoint system supporting a maximum data rate of 10 Mbps up to a distance of 4000 ft [10]. * **IEEE 802.15.4:** IEEE 802.15.4 is a standard created and maintained by consultants which specifies the physical layer and media access control for low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs). It is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, which has defined it in 2003 [11]. * **IEEE 802.15.4g:** This is an amendment to IEEE Std 802.15.4-2011, where requirements for outdoor low-data-rate, wireless and smart-metering utility network requirements are addressed. * **IEEE 802.11:** IEEE 802.11 is a set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication in the 900 MHz and 2.4, 3.6, 5 and 60 GHz frequency bands. Figure 3: Interconnecting IP and Non-IP networks. * **LTE Rel. 12+: NB-IoT**: Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced [12; 13] are 4 th generation (4G) wireless communications standards designed to support low-latency (e.g., 5 ms at the user plane and 50 ms at the control plane) and high-bandwidth requirements (e.g., 50 Mb/s-1 Gb/s) between connected devices and the core network. From Release 12 onwards, Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) is supported. NB-IoT is a 3 GPP cellular technology for low-data-rate and low-power wide-area IoT networking. Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) is used and the uplink and downlink bandwidth for a single NB-IoT carrier is 180 kHz [14]. Deployment options include standalone operation, within an existing LTE band, and/or within LTE guard bands. The MAC layer transport block size (TBS) can range from 2 bytes up to 125 bytes as specified by 3 GPP TS36.213 [15].