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RFC 9914 - Root-Initiated Routing State in the Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL)

  • Status: Proposed Standard
  • Published: April 2026
  • Stream: IETF
  • Pages: 75
  • Updates: RFC 6550, RFC 6553, RFC 8138
  • Errata: No Errata

Abstract​

The Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL), defined by RFC 6550, enables packet forwarding along a Destination-Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG). The default establishment mechanism depends on hop-by-hop forwarding along that graph, which may not always produce the most efficient route.

This document introduces Destination Advertisement Object (DAO) Projection, a mechanism that allows a RPL Root or an external controller to install optimized routing state inside an RPL domain. DAO Projection can create optimized unicast or multicast Projected Routes (P-Routes) that do not strictly follow the DODAG structure, improving routing efficiency, reliability, availability, and resource utilization. It specifies both Storing Mode and Non-Storing Mode P-Routes and the signaling procedures used to establish, maintain, and remove them.

This document updates RFC 6550, RFC 6553, and RFC 8138.

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