Supporting IPv6 interaction with wireless sensor networks using NP++

There is growing interest in exploiting standard Internet protocols such as IPv6 in wireless sensor networks. Support for IPv6 has the potential to facilitate application development, increase the flexibility of sensor node interaction, and better integrate sensor nodes into the 'Internet of things'. Unfortunately, IPv6 is poorly suited for resource-constrained environments and is particularly wasteful for typical wireless sensor network data flows. This paper presents NP++, a flexible network protocol that provides efficient mapping of IPv6 onto heterogeneous physical networks. The performance of NP++ is evaluated in the context of a deployed WSN-based flood monitoring and warning system. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.