Categorization of Internet Protocol Addressing Standards for Sustainable Global Internet of Things Devices

Abstract

This paper surveys the challenges and solutions of the astronomical growing demand of Internet devices available in the global network and Internet of Things (IoT). It is obvious that the availability of these internet infrastructures had led to the depletion of assigned Internet Protocol version 4.0 (IPV4) addresses worldwide. It extensively and equally studies the categories of IP address standards and features for sustainable IoT infrastructures. At the moment, four out of the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) namely: Annenberg Research Network on International Communication (ARNIC), Reseaux Internet Protocol (IP) Europeens (RIPE), Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Center (LACNIC), and Asian Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) have exhausted their allocated IPV4 addresses. The Africa Network Information Centre (AFRICNIC) which is known as Regional Internet Registry for Africa (Africa’s RIR) is also reportedly depleted. The study examined the limitations of IPV4, the features of IPV6 and different methods of operating IPV6 standard. Findings show that the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and others are still operational while the current population of the world is over 8billion people with a projection of 9.5billion people by the year 2050.  It is vivid that IPV6 can conveniently accommodate 2¹²⁸=3.4028 x 10³⁸ devices at a global scale. The research work has equally show that the acquisition and implementation of IPV6-based infrastructures could only be the possible solution to sustain Internet of Things (IoT) devices worldwide.

Keywords: Internet of Things, IoT Infrastructures, Internet Protocol Address, IP Address Depletion, Migration, Implementation, Global Scale.

DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/15-2-04

Publication date: May 28^th 2025