Securifi Community Forum
Sensors and Home Automation => Home automation => Topic started by: uchuff on July 15, 2014, 06:23:15 am
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Samsung, ARM, Nest and four other companies have gotten together to build a new radio standard for the smart home. Dubbed Thread, it is a low-power, mesh network protocol that also supports IPv6. The standard is built on the existing radio hardware used by ZigBee devices (802.15.4), which means that a company could update their ZigBee devices to support Thread with software if they chose.
As this uses ZigBee hardware, is it likely to be something supported by Almond+? Given the backers this seems like it could turn out to be a big thing.
http://gigaom.com/2014/07/15/nest-and-samsung-launch-thread-a-wireless-mesh-standard-for-the-smart-home/
http://www.threadgroup.org/
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Looks interesting, especially since it is a protocol on top of another and would not need any additional hardware.
So in theory Almond+ could use this, it is also licensed under RAND-RF so should be at no cost for Securifi to join in on this.
However there is very little information so far, and it is yet another standard, and with both Apple and Google getting into the game, I suppose Google might go for this concidering Nest is part in it. Well we will see. Depending on the complexity it might even be possible for one of the more skilled developers to use the SDK to use it.
This in combination with openHAB could make for a powerful platform.
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As more recent announcements often base on 6lowpan, is the 802.15.4 HW in the Almond+ capable of running this stack? It would make it a perfect base to tinker with new tech. It already runs Linux which has the SW stack so this could just work.
Cheers,
Andres
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Technically yes, but it seems like Silicon Labs which is our chipset provider is going after Thread instead - http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1204.0.html
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Thread uses 6lowpan from what I can see.
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yeah, Thread would be perfect, it uses 6lowpan as a base protocol. What chipset do you use? EM351?
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EM357, although the SoC isn't really being utilized as we have a much more powerful processor at our disposal ;D
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Hello all,
Just to submit this to anyone who might be interested. Looks like they are going to be updating the Zigbee spec to include an IPv6 stack. This will have implications to any of us in the home automation community. It should drastically improve and change the way everything is going to be done, if it works as described.
Almond+ ought to be well positioned for this, as it has both WiFi and Zigbee radios, and the device is at it's core a router meant to handle IP networks.
http://threadgroup.org/2014_07_Press_Release.aspx
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Not quite, Thread is more like another 802.15.4 standard that builds on ZigBee rather than being an "upgrade" as you put it.
As pointed out above, our ZigBee chipset partner is part of the thread consortium, so let's see how this plays out...
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http://community.silabs.com/t5/Silicon-Labs-Knowledge-Base/BTLE-IPv6-and-6LoWPAN-for-IoT-connectivity/ta-p/121214
this seems to imply that they will want to sell new silicon for working 6lowpan stacks...
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http://linuxgizmos.com/new-wireless-mesh-standard-hatches-from-googles-nest/
:)
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Some discussion on this here:
http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1204.0.html
http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1207.0.html
(Hopefully it doesn't pan out as per cputoasters post on that second topic!)
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Thread might be a ZigBee and Z-wave killer, if they are open standard, solve the problems that ZigBee has and are compatible with existing WiFi technology:
http://linuxgizmos.com/new-wireless-mesh-standard-hatches-from-googles-nest/
Further more it's backed by heavy weight industry giants.
What's your take on that at Securifi?
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They are aware:
http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1204.0.html
http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1207.0.html
http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1324.0.html
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Honestly, from what we've heard so far, it doesn't sound as great as the marketing. It lacks a device type layer at the moment which makes it look like another take on ZigBee.
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Oh, I didn't see those posts.
But I guess that Almond+ could support it, if it became popular.
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I merged all of of the Thread threads...