Technology

POWERFUL TECHNOLOGY
DESIGNED FOR THE HOME

It’s hard to get devices to talk to one another. And once they do, the connection is often spotty and power hungry. Thread changes all that. It’s a mesh network designed to securely and reliably connect hundreds of products around the home – without blowing through battery life.

Designed specifically for the home
Robust self-healing mesh network
No single point of failure
Interoperable by design using proven, open standards and IPv6 technology with 6LoWPAN as the foundation
Requires just a software enhancement for today’s 802.15.4 products

Designed to support a wide variety of products for the home: appliances, access control, climate control, energy management, lighting, safety, and security

SIMPLE. SECURE. SCALABLE.

All Thread networks are encrypted.

All Thread networks are easy to set up and secure to use. They use a smartphone-era authentication scheme and AES encryption to close security holes that exist in other wireless protocols.

Simple installation using your smartphone, tablet or computer
Scalable to connect 250+ devices into a single network supporting multiple hops
Provides security at network and application layers
Product install codes are used to ensure only authorized devices can join the network
Supported by banking-class, public-key cryptography

BATTERY FRIENDLY DESIGN

Better for consumers and the environment.

Designed from the ground up to have extremely low power consumption. Devices efficiently communicate to deliver a great user experience, yet still run for years on the smallest of batteries.

Extensive support for sleepy nodes allows for years of operation, even on a single AA battery
Based on the power efficient IEEE 802.15.4 MAC/PHY
Short messaging conserves bandwidth and power
Streamlined routing protocol reduces network overhead and latency
Designed to run on readily available, low power wireless system-on-chips

Thread Certified Products

The following Thread Group Certified Products and Components are available.

ARM mbed OS (NXP FRDM-K64F + Atmel ATZB-RF-233)

ARM mbed OS is an open source embedded operating system designed specifically to facilitate the creation and deployment of commercial, standards-based IoT solutions at scale. mbed OS features full support for Thread to simplify development of secure IoT applications in the home and to ease Thread product certification. Product Link

Express Logic X-WARE IoT PLATFORM

An Industrial Grade IoT platform for Thread devices that is based on the SIL 4 safety certified ThreadX RTOS and NetX Duo IPv4/IPv6 TCP/IP solutions. This platform contains no open source. X-WARE IoT PLATFORM for Thread is highly portable and currently available for most leading semiconductor solutions. Designed to be small, fast and easy to use, X-WARE IoT PLATFROM greatly eases Thread development and subsequent deployment. Product Link

Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 (OpenThread)

The nRF52840 is a multi-protocol SoC supporting Bluetooth 5 / ANT / 802.15.4 / 2.4 GHz proprietary, with a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M4F CPU with 1MB flash and 256kB RAM on chip. The nRF52840 and the “nRF5 SDK for Thread,” which is based on the OpenThread stack makes a powerful solution for battery powered Thread devices. Product Link

NXP Kinetis Thread Stack (KW2xD)

NXP's Kinetis Thread Stack is a complete, robust and scalable certified stack, architected and tested to meet the most demanding product requirements including very low power end nodes, large Thread networks and gateway solutions. The stack is available across multiple NXP microcontrollers and easily connects to host processors to create Thread Border Router solutions. Product Link

NXP Kinetis Thread Stack (KW41Z/21Z)

OpenThread (TI CC2538)

OpenThread, released by Nest and supported by Google, is an open-source implementation of the Thread networking protocol. It is a highly portable library that is OS and platform agnostic with a radio abstraction layer that is supported on multiple platforms. Product link

Qorvo GP712 System-on-Chip

The Qorvo GP712 System-on-Chip is an IEEE 802.15.4 multi-stack multi-channel communications controller for integration into a Zigbee or Thread (OpenThread) node. It is compliant with the IEEE Standard 802.15.4, providing robust spread spectrum data communication with a secure encrypted data flow, and supports multiple ZigBee 3.0 and Thread protocol stacks in the host processor. Product Link

Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.(QCA 4020/4024/4025)

802.15.4 / Wi-Fi / BLE application processor with Thread stack/ Product Link

Silicon Labs Mighty Gecko Module MGM12P

Silicon Labs' Mighty Gecko MGM12P module integrates our EFR32MG12 SoC into a small form factor module supporting Thread, Zigbee and Bluetooth protocols. With 1024 kB of Flash and 256 kB of RAM, this module is ideal for applications requiring multi-protocol support. The MGM12P integrates all necessary system components including crystals, RF passives and antenna and also has worldwide regulatory compliance including FCC/IC/CE certifications. Product link

Silicon Labs Mighty Gecko SoC (EFR32MG1x)

The Mighty Gecko SoC is a highly integrated wireless SoC featuring an ARM® Cortex®-M4 core and multi-protocol, multiband radio supporting IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread/zigbee), Bluetooth low energy and proprietary RF protocols. This family supports up to 1 MB flash and 256 kB RAM. Additional features include a +20 dBm PA and Silicon Labs’ unique Packet Trace Interface (PTI). Product link

Silicon Labs Thread stack (EM35x)

The Silicon Labs Thread stack is a robust implementation of the Thread 1.1 protocols suitable for field deployment and certified on the EM35x platform. Product link

TI OpenThread (CC2652)

TI OpenThread is the Thread implementation from TI using the open source OpenThread stack as networking core, and integrated in the TI SimpleLink ™ MCU environment, a SW framework including support for RTOS, drivers and tools common across all TI embedded devices. TI OpenThread runs on CC2652 silicon, a 2.4 GHz multi-protocol (BLE, Zigbee, Thread, Proprietary 2.4 GHz) low power wireless MCU which can be used to build all applications atop of any Thread device type. TI OpenThread is supported on the low-cost LaunchPad ™ development kit. Product link

THREAD READY PRODUCTS

The following Thread Ready Products are available.

Nest Guard (model A0024)

The alarm, keypad, motion sensor and the brains of the Nest Secure alarm system.
Product Link

Excluded testing: Thread Commissioning and related services (supports only Nest Weave commissioning)

Nest Detect (model A0028)

The Nest Secure alarm system multi-sensor that looks out for doors, windows and rooms.
Product Link