World's Smallest IPv6 Stack By Cisco, Atmel, SICS 287
B Rog writes "Cisco, Atmel, and the Swedish Institute of Computer Science have released uIPv6, the world's smallest IPv6 compliant IPv6 stack, as open source for the Contiki embedded operating system. The intent is to bring IP addresses to the masses by giving devices such as thermometers or lightbulbs an IPv6 stack. With a code size of 11 kilobytes and a dynamic memory usage of less than 2 kilobytes (yes, kilobytes!), it certainly fits the bill of the ultra-low-power microcontrollers typically used in such devices. When every lightbulb has an IP address, the vast address range of IPv6 sounds like a pretty good idea."
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's just one example of hundreds of little features that become trivial when everything in your house (not just bulbs) has a data connection.
Lightbulb? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not everything needs an IP address. That's just silly.
There is still the rather big issue of security. I don't think it has been addressed to anyone's satisfaction yet. Certainly not mine.
Right now the worst somebody could do is take out my computer. I could deal with that, given enough time and resources. However, dealing with the loss of my computer requires "light" and "coffee". You take that away from me and I am really screwed. Without my computer I am bereft of all the wonderful porn on the internet. Of course, I have a backup plan that involves a rather large library of tapes and magazines. Once again, I still need light!
Put IP addresses in light bulbs and other appliances and you risk a natural disaster creating a large population of pissed off men in the dark unable to "relieve their stress".
How's that for a "Ripple of Evil"?
Re:Lightbulb? (Score:5, Interesting)
How about more nefarious things, like home heating/cooling systems. Power outlets that heart monitors are plugged into. Space heaters, electrical closets.
Kill the power to the fridge. Damn, there goes $400 worth of food. Turn on someones microwave while they are on vacation, and they come back to a $500 electric bill.
Not to mention the worry about botnets. Right now, they number in the millions. If every appliance can suddenly participate, it'll be billions.
No thanks, you can keep my appliances/lights/furnaces/toiletpaper off the net. Thanks, k, bye.
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not just for internet connectivity purposes. The range of addresses used by IPv6 is broad enough that everyday objects can be identified with an IPv6 address for indexing and tracking purposes.
Let's say Wallmart is selling a lawn furniture set, and each one has a unique IPv6 address. Suddenly, keeping track of the stock is immensely easier. Need to know if the furniture set that the person returned was really the one that he bought from Wallmart? No worries, just scan the IPv6 chip in it. An employee has a garden gnome that looks suspiciously like the one that disappeared from the store a few weeks ago? Scan it and find out.
It's uses are significant. Don't dismiss the possibilities of having mundane objects having an address.
Re: Better than that (Score:4, Interesting)
> Go to the computer, click file ..
Now imagine that this computer is a size of a card deck, with a touchscreen. And it understands which area of the house it is in. And it automatically shows you all actionable elements in the interior - lights, fireplace, shades, speakers, etc. And it has an IR transmitter, so it also acts as a TV remote. And it has a WiFi, so it is hooked up to all networked devices in the house such as DVR and media box. And it run a SIP client that is hooked up to a landline. And a module for the cell calls. That would've been pretty sweet, wouldn't it ?
Actually that's a pretty good idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Laugh if you will, but a light bulb with an IP address would be a good idea for an environment which has thousands and thousands of them. Any industrial plant, stadium, etc., would probably benefit from being able to generate a report based on pinging each bulb to see which responded and which didn't, and to change the ones that didn't.
One place I think this could really be useful is an airport...think of all those lights everywhere, scattered about the runways and taxiways.
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The IP stack isn't the limiting factor (Score:4, Interesting)
You CAN fit authentication into these devices. The Contiki example was in a device with 16K of RAM and 128K of ROM.
So the fact you have a tiny stack leaves enough room to run authentication. Simple authentication, yes, but hopefully enough...
DVDs, Bluray, EULA (Score:1, Interesting)
So your standard $50 DVD player can dim the lights in your living room when a movie starts?
That's just one example of hundreds of little features that become trivial when everything in your house (not just bulbs) has a data connection.
Will I have to read a 200 page EULA before accessing the online functionality of the DVD player? Will the lights be held hostage when Sony ships a DVD or Blu-ray player with a root kit?
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:3, Interesting)
Just imagine a house that gives you recommendations for power savings: "If you turned your computer off at night, you could save $50/year!" OR, with the click of a button you could put your house in "power savings mode" while you head out to work, or go on vacation.
Sure we could do these things using other tech, but why? IPv6 is a standard, ubiquitous (well, at some point it will be), and can be implemented in only 11kb =]
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:3, Interesting)
They have unique SERIAL numbers, but serial numbers aren't tracked by the store and are not part of the barcode.
The also have model numbers, but those often aren't tracked either. 2000 model Playstation 2 versus an 8000 is a minor revision of internal components. Externally they are pretty much identical. Stick one into the box of another and the cashier of any big box store could never tell the difference. As a matter of fact unless you suspected the person, opened the package, recorded the model, and then waiting to check on the model of the one being returned, I'd wager that 99.9999997 percent of geeks wouldn't notice the difference either.
The simple fact is that there is currently no quick and easy way to tell one product of the same line from another. Wal-mart is VERY interested in such things though, as evidenced by their push for RFID technology.
Re:Sweet (Score:1, Interesting)
Nice geeky example however ZFS Project leader Jeff Bonwick's claim that "You couldn't fill a 128-bit storage pool without boiling the oceans." beats it! His proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS#Capacity
Re:Lightbulb on the internet? (Score:4, Interesting)
What happens when your "controller" runs out of output connectors?
Say I want to add another lamp but the controller box has no more ports. Am I supposed to go and replace it? I bet that won't be cheap.
Now if each bulb has it's own intelligence I don't need to, I just plug it in and it will report to the central PC over the power cable.