VLI: Variable-Length Identifier for Interconnecting Heterogeneous IoT Networks

Long identifier brings low packet forwarding efficiency in Internet of Things (IoT), whereas short identifier may suffer from the exhaustion of identifier space. Compared with fixed-length identifiers (e.g., IPv4 and IPv6), flexible identifiers are expected for balancing the packet processing efficiency with the various IoT scales. However, it is challenging to make IoT support the flexible identifier-based forwarding. In this letter, we firstly proposed a novel variable-length identifier (VLI) solution for interconnecting IoT networks. In particular, a VLI datagram header is designed to effectively support a flexible identifier field. Following a basic VLI header, one (multiple) extension header(s) can be added if require. Each extension header includes a fixed-size identifier field. According to the combination of multiple identifier fields, the variable-length identifier can be easily achieved, resolved and supported by the IoT nodes in a flexible way. Experimental results show that VLI can decrease the processing delay effectively.