[Fli] assembled an AVR based system that can assign IPv6 addresses to 1-wire components. An AVR ATmega644 microcontroller is used in conjunction with an ENC28J60 ethernet controller chip. To get up and running with IPv6 on this meek hardware [Fli] ported the uIPv6 stack from the contiki project over to the AVR framework. Although he encountered some hardware snafus along the way, in the end he managed to get five sensors connected to the device, each with their own IP assigned using the stack’s alias capability.
This is great if you’re looking for a low-cost IPv6 solution. We’re not sure if there’s much demand for that, but it’s useful for that 1-wire home automation setup you’re considering.
It’s reassuring to see that people are already considering embedded devices and IPv6 compatibility in the hacking world. How many devices are still using RS232 nowadays, even though USB is so common? How many projects use USB-serial emulation instead of creating real USB drivers, simply because it’s so much simpler? The fact that IPv6 will mostly be networking as usual, just with a different addressing scheme, makes me feel like it has serious potential in the hacking community for quick adoption. This in turn may ease (or force a speed up of) the transition in the general market.
kinda nifty that one of the reasons put forward for IPv6 (addresses for every embedded device) is being implemented.
If the interface is for one-off config, why not use the simplest possible? The overheads of this maybe fine for something that needs to be network-connected, but otherwise the simplicity of USB-serial emulation is best.
@CH
IPv6 is all about everything being network-connected :P
CH: Oh, certainly USB-serial emulation is the best for many simple situations (like the arduino). Direct USB is more complex, and I imagine this is why we see it in fewer projects, coupled with the fact that Serial data speeds are sufficient for most communication between a small device and a computer. My impression so far is that IPv6 is not as tough to implement, and might see faster and wider adoption for one-off network projects than USB-HID or other USB driven stuff has seen has for similar, non-network projects.
Wow, that’s freaking sweet!
Very nice! I wonder if ethernet could be implemented entirely in software?
Direct USB support is quite straightforward on AVRs if you use the GPLed V-USB!
Nice, but ethersex does support ipv6 and onewire for nearly 2 years now and other stuff, like OpenVPN or SNMP on an Atmega
There is a softwarestack with some nice features (ipv6,openvpn,rfm12,buildsystem ….) on http://www.ethersex.de (sorry german only).
Wow!!!
IPv6 with AVR microcontrollers?!
Wow again!
What no arduino ??
Nice project indeed ! Maybe it is not as power-efficient as RS-232 … But easier to interface with.
IPV6 seems like overkill, 4 would have been just as good, but nice hack either way.
I’m with Christian and hueyduck – I think this has has been done long ago at ethersex.de. Nice work though, the new stack might be smaller than ethersex plus there’s a little Web server too. All <3kB.
@EvilNCarnate: IPv4 would be fine on a LAN, but the idea here is that the devices can be accessed anywhere on the net without ugly hacks like NAT.
@fsphil: Well NAT is the thing that hinders IPv4 to be accessed from the net.. :-)
@Drone: it seems they both use the same IPv6 stack from Contiki. http://www.sics.se/~adam/uip
They can warn you about something before it goes too far into development, and you can avoid getting a bad reputation due to misunderstandings. You are also able to get web site services and document translation services. You may think you can speak the specific language well, but how well can you read it, and how well can you write it? Putting together press releases and a special website would be incredibly hard if not impossible, and you wouldn’t be able to visit rival websites, either.