2018
June
25

Like Wi-Fi for the IoT: How being application agnostic sets Thread apart from the rest.

By Jorg Kennis and Jos Bruins, OSRAM Standardization Office

Numerous wired and wireless solutions for connecting IoT devices in a home or building exist on the market today. Often, these technologies form a full stack covering the physical connection through the application and control protocols that run on top of it. Though this might sound good for interoperability, it can also result in some severe drawbacks.

Consider this: What if your wireless internet connection would also specify the applications that you could run on it? You would need one network to print a paper, another one to read e-mails and yet one more to transfer a file. This would very quickly become untenable. It would require setting up and maintaining multiple networks in parallel, while also making sure that all networks connect to all of the individual devices and services.

Luckily, the Internet Protocol (IP) standard is transparent to the things we do with it. By simply joining one Wi-Fi network, due to the common Internet Protocol we can access every service, regardless of who is offering it or from where in the world it is being served. Furthermore, we can choose the devices and the applications they run from several suppliers, without worrying about the underlying application protocols they use.

Today's wide offering of IoT solutions often require that we set up and maintain a network for every protocol we want to use. This becomes quickly cumbersome in residential applications that employ multiple protocols, when for example our connected lights, our fire detectors and our door lock are based on different standards. This might get overwhelmingly complex in commercial buildings where the number of lights, sensors, blinds, air- and heat control units can quickly grow into thousands, all scattered over multiple networks, possibly connected through bridges and convertors. It not only needs a lot of surveillance and maintenance to keep them up and running, but networks might also interfere with each other. Furthermore, since they are separate networks, devices do not "talk" to each other and there is no way to control them effectively from a single location, to monitor and analyze their data, or to provision them over various locations and users, in an end-to-end secure manner.

This is where Thread comes in. Thread isn't yet another smart building protocol similar to those described above. Instead, it's like a Wi-Fi network, which is specifically designed for low-power, mesh IoT devices. Like Wi-Fi, it works with the Internet Protocol. And like Wi-Fi, it can run every modern IoT application that runs over IP.

Thread is based on existing standards. All the way from the physical radio technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 that has been in use for more than a decade, up until IPv6 routing and security mechanisms (defined and ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force). Thread combines these technologies with the specific aim of providing reliability, security and scalability specifically aimed at battery-friendly, low-energy, low-cost, IoT-devices.

And Thread offers intelligent mesh-networking, meaning that almost every device in the network can be used to route data to other devices, thereby extending the network's reach without the need for extra extender hardware and needlessly introducing multiple points of failure. A Thread border router connects a Thread network to the rest of the building's IP-based network, so that it can be controlled and monitored from the cloud or any PC, mobile phone or tablet that is connected to the network. More and more Wi-Fi base stations come with Thread radios built-in (like the popular and affordable eero and D-Link base stations), so there is no longer a need to set up extra hardware to get your Thread network up and running.

Having one single network for all your IoT-devices provides major benefits. They do not interfere with each other, but instead can even work together to extend the reach of the network by forming a mesh. Since the entire network is IPv6-based and does not need some form of "conversion" for application data, encryption of data-packets remains intact throughout the entire chain, all the way from the individual device up to the cloud. Every device is uniquely addressable, making it easier for system administrators to commission them individually or as a group, and to flexibly change those arrangements. All devices can be managed and monitored from a single location, opening up the possibility for powerful data analysis.

What's more: Thread is designed in such a way that in networks consiststing of devices that are based on different application protocols, all of these benefits remain in effect. Thread can run multiple application layers concurrently on the same network. This is simply impossible with other IoT solutions in the market today. If you use multiple devices based on different systems, all of them require their own network and the maintenance hassle that comes with them. And if sometime in the future you want to replace or add an application layer, you need to replace the underlying wireless network. As with Wi-Fi, Thread allows you to simply start using the new application on the existing network.

So, which applications run on top of a Thread network?

Simply put, almost all of the popular IoT-standards for building automation control recognize the importance of moving towards a universal, secure and interoperable IPv6-based network. And most of them have chosen Thread to be their future-proof solution.

Zigbee is a popular standard that is mostly being used for applications like connected lighting, automation and energy control. In its over a decade long existence, the Zigbee Alliance has created an extensive suite of application protocols, called the Zigbee Cluster Library (ZCL). Now, the Zigbee Alliance is offering this proven technology to be used on IP-based networks like Thread. Called "dotdot", the full stack of Zigbee device definitions and control parameters are made available to Thread. This means that developers who choose their Thread products to use dotdot, can leverage significant expertise from the field. It also means that for system integrators it will be much easier to transition networks that contain Zigbee products to a new fully IP-based Thread network, as the devices already speak the same application language.

The successful home and building automation standard KNX will also make its application stack available to IP-networks like Thread. As demonstrated at Light+Building 2018, the world's largest building automation expo in Frankfurt, KNX chose Thread to be its future-proof, wireless and fully IPv6-based network solution. KNX has a huge installed base of products worldwide, and an enormous network of trained installers who know the ins and outs of the KNX system. For them, the transition to KNX over Thread will be within their field of knowledge. They can even provide solutions to integrate existing KNX products and networks with Thread-based KNX networks, to streamline the operation for end users and building managers.

Other technologies that are designed for IP or are likely being adapted to be used on IP (like Weave, OCF, BACnet, Echonet, Lightweight M2M and many others) can also be used on Thread. And remember, since Thread is fully agnostic to the application layer that is being used, it is even possible to design and develop a custom application layer to suit specific company needs (like for dedicated factories and machinery, or medical applications).

Instead of developing yet another IoT-protocol, Thread is combining current and proven Internet-based technologies into a standard that is being optimized for security and mesh-networking in low-cost, low-power devices, while being transparent to the applications that run on the network. This makes Thread the only future-proof choice for modern IP-based networks for IoT devices.