Imagine any device, no matter how small its power or memory, capable of having an IP address. Well, it’s no longer science fiction.
Atmel Corp. (ATML), Cisco (CSCO) and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science have announced the availability of uIPv6, one of the world's smallest open-source, IPv6-ready protocol stacks, which could enable every device to have an Internet Protocol address. Size really doesn’t matter.
"uIPv6 has the potential to impact a wide range of market verticals where automation is key, just as voice over IP did in enterprise telephony," said Rob Adams, senior director of Cisco's Corporate Development technology group.
"Smart" objects powered by a wide range of sensors and actuators are poised to enable a wide range of next-generation applications in building automation, industrial monitoring, smart cities and energy management, among many other areas. These applications help transmit information in the physical world about conditions or the environment (for example, temperature, light, motion, health status) to locations where the information can be analyzed, correlated with other data and acted upon.
Some believe the proliferation of such applications has however been held back by the large number of proprietary or semi-closed systems, and the cost associated with translating information before it can be effectively shared with other devices and systems. The use of IP as networking technology is seen by many as the solution to this interoperability issue. Now, thanks to unique lower-layer energy management mechanisms and limited memory capacity, uIPv6 is highly power-efficient. The creators consider it ideal for most constrained devices.
Open-source uIPv6 includes standard IP applications and can be customized for specific requirements. It is integrated in the Contiki operating system developed by SICS, which provides all of the necessary functionalities for networked smart objects. In addition, uIPv6's small footprint and memory usage allows it to run on the most constrained platforms.
uIPv6 is released under a permissive open-source license, and as a result can be used for both commercial and noncommercial applications.