Thesis Title: Openthread Vs. Contiki Ipv6: an Experimental Evaluation

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Thesis Title: OpenThread vs. Contiki IPv6: An Experimental Evaluation

Description of the units: The Networked Embedded Systems (NES) group is part of the Computer Systems Laboratory at SICS Swedish ICT, a non-profit research institute. Our current research focus is on the Internet of Things and wireless sensor networks. Among the group's key technologies are the Contiki operating system, uIP stack, Coffee file system, Antelope DBMS, ContikiRPL, SICSLoWPAN, lightweight implementations of various security protocols, and the IoT cloud service SICSthSense. The NES group conducts projects together with industry and academic partners from Sweden and across the world. Thesis description: As the Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly moving from the research stage to commercialization, the development of industry standards for communication is essential. Different standardization bodies and industry alliances are driving their own standards, but there is little knowledge on how the standards compare in performance. In this Master’s thesis project, the objective will be to compare the performance of the OpenThread stack with that of the Contiki operating system’s current low-power IPv6 stack. The former stack implements the Thread group’s network stack, whereas the latter implements a variety of IETF RFC:s for low-power wireless IPv6 networking, including 6LoWPAN (RFC 4944) and RPL (RFC 6550.) Understanding the performance of these two networking stacks will be of benefit to the IoT community, and can guide future work in the Contiki operating system.

As part of the work, the student will become familiar with the different communication protocols used in these stacks, and port the OpenThread stack to Contiki. After that, the two stacks should have their performance com- pared in SICS’s COOJA simulator, or, possibly, in a testbed of real IoT devices. Various metrics such as latency, throughput, energy-efficiency, implementation complexity, and scalability will be of interest to measure for both communication stacks. We expect the student to benefit from this work by gaining knowledge of IoT networking, the Contiki operating system, and the basics of conducting an experimental evaluation. In case of a highly suc- cessful project, the student’s work may be developed into an academic paper.

To help the student along the way, SICS will provide expert knowledge of the technologies used as part of the project, as our researchers are the primary authors of much of the relevant software. The student will be given a workplace in the SICS office in Kista, Stockholm.

In summary, the tasks of the Master’s student are the following.

 Study a variety of communication protocols used in the IoT, including IPv6, RPL, 6LoWPAN.  Learn how to program Contiki software, and get intricate knowledge of how its networking stack is designed.  Create Contiki applications for measuring the performance of the two network stacks.  Describe the technical background, the port of the OpenThread stack, the evaluation, and lessons learned in a Master’s Thesis.

Competence: We are looking for a bright M.Sc. student who has fulfilled the course requirements to start on the final thesis project. Good C programming skills are required, as is good spoken and written English. Experience with embedded systems and IPv6 networking is beneficial. Applications should include a brief cover letter, CV, and transcript of your university course grades. In your application, make sure to give examples of previous project work that you consider relevant for the position. Such examples may include project reports and written source code. Candidates are encouraged to send in their application as soon as possible. Suitable applicants will be interviewed as applications are received.

Start time: As soon as possible City: Stockholm 2

Contact persons: Nicolas Tsiftes, Ph.D. and Senior Researcher at SICS E-mail: [email protected] Web: https://www.sics.se/people/nicolas-tsiftes

Joakim Eriksson, Ph.Lic. and Senior Researcher at SICS E-mail: [email protected] Web: https://www.sics.se/people/joakim-eriksson

SICS Swedish ICT AB Networked Embedded Systems Group, Electrum Building, Isafjordsgatan 22 SE-164 40 Kista, Stockholm