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190 From smart grid to internet of energy

packets to be transmitted to and/or received from 802.15.4 based wireless
networks. In addition, the 6LoWPAN is a promising technology for the IoT
applications since it makes possible all capabilities of the IPv6 protocol on
small-scale devices. The data payload length of IEEE 802.15.4 standard
is 127 bytes whereas the standard IPv6 packet header size is 40 bytes. The
packet size adaptation between IEEE 802.15.4 network and IPv6 network,
and address resolution arranging among these networks should be provided
by the 6LoWPAN technology. Therefore, an adaptation layer is characterized
by the 6LoWPAN technology that is defined on the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer,
and the adaptation layer intends to meet requirements of the IPv6.
Since the 6LoWPAN employs a new concept, this feature of technology
makes it superior than that of the other low-powered WSN technologies based
on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. However, the technology is not yet as popular as
the other ones. In the event of considering the progress of systems exploiting
data packets, it is predicted that the 6LoWPAN will be a common wireless tech-
nology in a short while.

5.3.8 6TiSCH
The advances on time slotted channel hopping (TSCH), deterministic and syn-
chronous multichannel extension (DSME) methods, which are specified by the
IEEE 802.15.4e standard in 2012, encouraged the use of IPv6 protocol in indus-
trial networks. IETF 6TiSCH working group adapted these improvements to
develop a new wireless technology [30] that is called as 6TiSCH technology.
It is a novel standard depend on IEEE 802.15.4 standard similar to ZigBee
Pro, WirelessHART, 6LoWPAN, and ISA100.11a [31, 33, 34]. By connecting
MAC sublayer with network layer, the 6TiSCH technology intends to provide
wireless communications through IPv6 protocol over the TSCH. Moreover, this
technology intends to develop a novel standardizing method for assisting var-
ious resource scheduling procedures. The deficiencies appeared in scheduling
and managing processes, which was not accomplished by the IEEE 802.15.4e
standard, are resolved by operation sublayer of the 6TiSCH technology. The
main procedures utilized in IEEE802.15.4e TSCH such as the combining of
channel hopping and time synchronization are very similar to procedures
employed in ISA100.11a and WirelessHART technologies. Thus, it is predicted
that the scheduling procedures to be exploited by the 6TiSCH technology may
be compatible with these standards. In addition, there exist well-known wireless
devices such as OpenWSN, Contiki and RIOT that promote the utilization of
6TiSCH in the WSNs [33, 34].

5.4 IEEE 802.11 based technologies for WLANS

The IEEE 802.11 based standards are the most widely utilized wireless standard
for WLANs. One of the most popular standards based on the IEEE 802.11 is