Abstract— Current home networks are often split up in high
data rate networks for multimedia and internet applications and
low data rate networks for home automation. This separation
leads to inefficient and cumbersome network configurations. It
also hinders the widespread use of home automation networks.
The IPv6 adaptation for resource constrained devices can help to
realize a common addressing scheme for the complete home
network. Often the overhead of IPv6 is considered as a drawback
for its utilization in home automation networks with low data
rates. In this paper, the overhead and the energy consumption of
6LoWPAN in an exemplary home network is calculated and
compared with Zigbee. Assuming efficient configurations of both
protocol stacks only small differences can be observed.
Additionally, the energy consumption of both 6LoWPAN and
Zigbee reference implementations on the same hardware is
evaluated. Both protocols have comparable energy consumption.
For an energy efficient home automation network an intelligent
network configuration with only a small number of routers is
most important.