Thread

Zach Shelby

VP Marketing

Internet of Things Business Unit

mbed Connect / Shenzhen, China

15th Dec 2015

© ARM 2015 2

The Need For a New Wireless Network

A new era of connected products in homes worldwide

Enable the INTERNET of things

Existing wireless protocols did not meet requirements

Other companies shared the same concerns

© ARM 2015 3

Thread Requirements

Whole-home coverage

Low power

Resilient

Internet Protocol (IP) based

Secure

Consumer friendly

Fast time-to-market

Worldwide

Use existing radios, silicon

© ARM 2015 4

Why Use A Mesh?

Whole-home coverage

Very low power, sleepy endpoints

Self extending

Self healing

Robust

Reliable

© ARM 2015 5

Applications / Device Management

Application

Level

Network

Level

Internet

Level

Web

Level

The “I” in IoT – IP (and Web) Protocols to the Edge

802.11 MAC/PHY 3GPP | LTE

ZigBee

Network Layer

ZigBee App Layer

ZigBee Cluster Lib

BT MAC/PHY

Host Control I/F

L2CAP | IP | UDP

Security Manager

GATT profiles

Application layer

Bluetooth® ZigBee® WiFi Cellular

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC / PHY

Thread

DTLS TLS

TCP UDP

IPv6 | IPv4 6LoWPAN

Application level protocols and standards

IP / Web Applications / Device Management

Constrained devices

Web to the edge

CoAP HTTP / MQTT

™

© ARM 2015 6

Bluetooth® ZigBee®

The “I” in IoT – IP (and Web) Protocols to the Edge

Application

Level Application level protocols and standards

Network

Level

Internet

Level

Web

Level

802.11 MAC/PHY 3GPP | LTE

ZigBee

Network Layer

ZigBee App Layer

ZigBee Cluster Lib

BT MAC/PHY

Host Control I/F

L2CAP | IP | UDP

Security Manager

GATT profiles

Application layer

WiFi Cellular

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC / PHY

Thread

IP / Web Applications / Device Management

CoAP HTTP / MQTT

DTLS TLS

TCP UDP

IPv6 | IPv4 6LoWPAN

Applications / Device Management

Web to the edge Web to the Edge

4.2: IPSP profile Constrained devices

© ARM 2015 7

Bluetooth® ZigBee®

The “I” in IoT – IP (and Web) Protocols to the Edge

Application

Level Application level protocols and standards

Network

Level

Internet

Level

Web

Level

802.11 MAC/PHY 3GPP | LTE

ZigBee

Network Layer

ZigBee App Layer

ZigBee Cluster Lib

BT MAC/PHY

Host Control I/F

L2CAP | IP | UDP

Security Manager

GATT profiles

Application layer

WiFi Cellular

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC / PHY

Thread

IP / Web Applications / Device Management

CoAP HTTP / MQTT

DTLS TLS

TCP UDP

IPv6 | IPv4 6LoWPAN

Applications / Device Management

Thread

© ARM 2015 8

What Thread Delivers

A secure wireless mesh network for your home

Built on proven, existing technologies

Runs on existing 802.15.4 silicon

IPv6 addressing via 6LoWPAN

UDP transport

New security architecture and commissioning

Simple and secure to add / remove products

250+ products per network

© ARM 2015 9

What Thread Delivers

User-friendly network joining

Easy to add new nodes to network

Thread provides a sample app to members

Runs on Android, iOS

Phone connects to Thread network via

LAN or WAN

App uses QR or bar code to identify product

Product is automatically joined to Thread mesh

© ARM 2015 10

Thread Applications

Other IP-based application protocols

• Thread is a network and transport level stack

• Thread is “application-layer agnostic”

• Thread can support multiple application layers • Any low bandwidth application layer that can run over IPv6

© ARM 2015 11

Thread Target Applications

Thread is designed for all sorts of products in the home

Appliances

Climate control

Energy management

Lighting

Safety

Security

Access control

Devices work together to form a cohesive mesh network

© ARM 2015 12

Added Over 200 Members in the Last 12 Months

Sponsor members

Contributor members (not a complete list)

Affiliate members: >85

Members span the value-chain: Semiconductors, consumer products, IoT focused, software, services, …

© ARM 2015 13

Thread Status

Schedule

Specification V1.0 – Completed on schedule – July, 2015

Certification program gets underway Q4 2015

Product demos at CES 2016

Products in-market 2016

Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

2015 2014 2016

July 14, 2015

Thread V1.0 Specification

completed

July, 2014

Thread, Inc.

Founded

Spec Development Q4, 2015

Thread Certification

Program startup

January, 2016

Thread product

demonstrations at CES

© ARM 2015 14

Thread in mbed

mbed OS 3 Technology Preview

Includes a preview of ARM’s Thread 1.0 implementation

ARM is using this same implementation for interoperability testing with NXP

and Silicon Labs

This implementation of the Thread 1.0 specification is almost complete, pending final

interoperability work in Q4

Recommended development platform

K64F plus Atmel 802.15.4 radio shield

Additional platforms coming soon

Border router code available Q1 2016

Thread Technical Overview

© ARM 2015 16

Thread mesh

System Messaging Model

Thread

Border

Router

Home

Router Wi-Fi

Home router

Routes Thread traffic to/from LAN

(Wi-Fi and Ethernet)

Routes Thread traffic to/from WAN

to enable

• Mobile device access anywhere

• Cloud services

Border Router

Border Router forwards

data to “big” home

network, typically Wi-Fi

or Ethernet

Thread-enabled Devices

Device-to-device communication

Internet

WAN

© ARM 2015 17

• Collection of existing IEEE and IETF standards

• Uses existing 802.15.4 based radios

• Support for low power, “sleepy” devices

• Simple security, user-friendly commissioning

• 250+ devices

• No single point of failure

• Direct device addressability

• Point-to-point device connectivity

• Low cost bridging to other IP networks

Standard

Application Layer

UDP + DTLS

Distance Vector Routing

6LowPAN (IPv6)

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC (including MAC security)

IEEE 802.15.4 PHY

RFC 768, RFC 6347, RFC 4492, RFC

3315, RFC 5007

Based on RFC 2080

RFC 4944, RFC 4862

IEEE 802.15.4 (2006)

IEEE 802.15.4 (2006)

Thread Standards

© ARM 2015 18

End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

Thread Network Architecture

Thread Node Types

End Devices may be “Router Capable”

Router Capable devices may be Routers

A Router may be elected Leader

Border Routers have both Thread and LAN (or

WAN) connectivity

© ARM 2015 19

Direct Device Addressability

End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

• All Thread nodes have IPv6 addresses (6LoWPAN)

• CoAP messages assign Router addresses

(TMF – Thread Management Framework)

• Devices on LAN can directly address Thread nodes

through Border Routers

• Mobile devices can address Thread nodes

via LAN or Internet

• Cloud Services can address Thread nodes

from the Internet

© ARM 2015 20

Network Topology • New nodes initially join network as End Devices

• Router Eligible End Devices can become routers

based on the number of existing routers

• Routers maintain state to all other Routers through

trickle mechanism and MLE advertisements

• All Routers maintain state of Border Routers through

trickle mechanism and MLE advertisements

• End Devices route through parent Router

• Leader is a Router that controls and propagates state

of network to all other nodes

End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

© ARM 2015 21

• Leader controls and propagates state of network.

If it fails, another Router will become Leader.

• Adding more Router Eligible nodes may improve

connectivity. Thread automatically maintains an

optimal number of Routers.

• Multiple border routers can be used

• Thread nodes can operate without Border Router

No Single Point of Failure

End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

© ARM 2015 22

Security and Commissioning

• Adding new nodes on the network is easy and secure

• User authorizes new nodes using a smart phone,

tablet, or other networked device

• Security session is established between new node

and commissioning device to authenticate the new

node and to securely provide credentials

• Once commissioning session is done, new node

attaches to network

• Once attached, MAC security used for all messages

• Application-level security may be used in addition to

MAC security based on application requirements

End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

© ARM 2015 23

zzzz zzzz

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End Device

Thread Router

Leader

Border Router

Thread Link

• Parents hold messages for sleeping nodes

• When sleeping nodes wake up they poll parents

for messages

• Sleeping nodes are not required to check in

on a regular schedule

• A sleeping node automatically switches parent

if it loses connectivity

Low Power (sleepy) Nodes

© ARM 2015 24

Certification

• Thread devices must be certified in order to receive the logo

• First wave of product testing is currently underway

• Testing validates device behavior

• Commissioning

• Network functionality and interoperability

• Device operation in network

• Members have access to the standard Thread test harness

and sample commissioning app

• Certification uses a 3rd party test lab

CONNECTS

WITH

THREAD

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respective owners.

Copyright © 2015 ARM Limited

Thank you!