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1. Introduction
Thread is an IPv6-based, low power and secure mesh networking protocol for IoT developed and supported by Thread Group
[1]. It is designed specifically for Home Automation applications.
The Thread standard is based on IEEE 802.15.4 MAC and physical layer operating at 250 kbps in 2.4 GHz band.
OpenThread is an open-source implementation of Thread released by Google [2].
The STM32WB [3] is a certified component for whatever Full Thread Device (FTD) or Minimal Thread Device (MTD) type of role is intended.
2. Thread Specification
Thread is a networking layer based on IPv6. Thread specification is based on 7 layers as shown in the figure below. It uses the IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC layers for link layer communication. MAC layer supports a maximum packet size of 127 bytes. IPv6 requires a minimum of 1280 bytes of MTU. For that, 6LoWPAN performs IP packet fragmentation and header compression to fit in 127 bytes.
Thread Specification |
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3. Node Roles
3.1. Thread Router
3.2. Thread Leader
It is responsible of managing the routers in a Thread network.
3.3. Thread End Device
An End Device (ED) is a node that communicates with a single Router.
3.4. Thread Border Router
A Thread Border Router (TBR) is a specific router that connects a Thread network to others IPv6-based networks like Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
A Thread network can contain one or more TBRs.
Thread Border Router |
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4. Acronyms and definitions
Term | Definition |
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DTLS | Datagram Transport Layer Security |
FTD | Full Thread Device |
MAC | Media Access Control |
MTD | Minimal Thread Device |
PHY | Physical |
REED | Router Eligible End Device |
UDP | User Datagram Protocol |