Load balancing routing in RPL for the internet of things networks: a survey

Presently, when the Internet of Things (IoT) makes virtually everything smart by improving every aspect of our life, continuous development in this area is imperative. As IoT deals with the Low-Power Lossy Networks (LLNs) with constrained resources, Routing in such constrained networks is considered an acute problem. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has come out with a de facto routing protocol for IoT networks called the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy networks (RPL). Unfortunately, though RPL is formulated with numerous salient characteristics, load balancing is a principal concern that is left unaddressed. Load balancing in IoT guarantees fair dissemination of traffic load amid the nodes in the network and affects the connectivity, stability, reliability and lifetime of LLNs. This paper elucidates the state-of-the-art load balancing routing protocols and issues of load balancing, aiding researchers to design efficient and reliable load balancing routing protocols for IoT networks. © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.