Towards an FPGA-based network layer filter for the Internet of things edge devices

In the near future, billions of new smart devices will connect the big network of the Internet of Things, playing an important key role in our daily life. Allowing IPv6 on the low-power resource constrained devices will lead research to focus on novel approaches that aim to improve the efficiency, security and performance of the 6LoWPAN adaptation layer. This work in progress paper proposes a hardware-based Network Packet Filtering (NPF) and an IPv6 Link-local address calculator which is able to filter the received IPv6 packets, offering nearly 18% overhead reduction. The goal is to obtain a System-on-Chip implementation that can be deployed in future IEEE 802.15.4 radio modules.Tiago Gomes is supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (grant SFRH/BD/90162/2012). This work has been supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: PEst-UID/CEC/00319/2013.