Reliable and Low-Latency Routing Mechanism for IoT-based Networks

Routing discovery is an essential component of the communication stack in low-power and lossy networks (LLNs). IPv6 routing protocol for LLNs, termed RPL, has been recently standardized for routing in LLNs leading to the Internet of Things (IoT) concept. RPL is designed with an assumption of gathering data towards a single destination, typically the root node. On the other hand, the arbitrary communication, where neither the source nor the destination is the root, is a prime requirement in most of LLNs-based actuating, decision making, and controlling applications. In this paper, we propose a reliable and low-latency routing mechanism based on RPL for high arbitrary communications in LLNs that is referred to herein by RL-RPL. RL-RPL utilizes the original RPL control features to guarantee backward-compatibility with RPL specifications. Using the cooja emulator as a platform, RL-RPL shows enhanced packet delivery ratio relative to the standard routing mechanism. In addition, it shows an average 74% reduction in delay together with an average 21.3% reduction in energy consumption across the considered traffic intensities.