Time multiplexed channel hopping for LLNs

A method comprising:

• identifying, by a sender node in a network, a neighboring receiver node to which the sender node is to send a communication;
• identifying, by the sender node, a first subset of receive timeslots in a slotframe of a communication schedule associated with the receiver node and corresponding to send timeslots associated with the sender node, wherein a number of timeslots in the first subset is a function of the network depth of the particular node relative to the root node, such that the number of timeslots in the first subset when the particular node is the root node is greater than the number of timeslots in the first subset when the particular node is a node that is deeper in the routing topology than the root node;
• selecting, by the sender node, a second subset of receive timeslots from the first subset pseudo-randomly based in part on a media access control (MAC) address of the receiver node;
• shuffling, by the sender node, the second subset of receive timeslots based on a MAC address of the sender node;
• and
• sending, by the sender node, the communication to the receiver node according to the shuffled second subset of receive timeslots.

An apparatus, comprising:

• one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;
• a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes;
• and
• a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:
• receive data indicative of a routing topology of a network, wherein the network comprises a root node and each node in the network has an associated network depth relative to the root node;
• select a first subset of timeslots from a slotframe of a communication schedule based on the network depth of a particular node in the network, wherein a number of timeslots in the first subset is a function of the network depth of the particular node relative to the root node, such that the number of timeslots in the first subset when the particular node is the root node is greater than the number of timeslots in the first subset when the particular node is a node that is deeper in the routing topology than the root node;
• select a second subset of timeslots from the first subset pseudo-randomly, based on a media access control (MAC) address of the particular node;
• assign the second subset of timeslots to the particular node for reception in the slotframe of the communication schedule;
• and
• send the communication schedule to one or more nodes in the network.