We are still in the early days for smart home devices. While products like the Nest thermostat have attracted some consumer interest, the concept still hasn't broken into the mainstream. To help this process along, Google-owned Nest, Samsung, and others are creating a new wireless IP protocol called "Thread" to help connect various smart devices together. Other Thread backers include Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Freescale Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans, and ARM.
Current smart home devices use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other standards to communicate with other devices, but the Thread Group believes these standards are insufficient. Bluetooth in particular is called out for its current "inability to carry IPv6 communications" (though Bluetooth 4.1 lays the groundwork to support IPv6), and the group criticizes both standards for their high power consumption and their "hub-and-spoke" models in which multiple devices rely on one centralized device to communicate with one another.
By contrast, Thread is designed to be a "mesh" network that doesn't rely on a single router, and its power consumption is apparently low enough that devices can last "for years using even a single AA battery." The group claims that up to 250 devices can be connected together in a single Thread network. Products that use other 802.15.4-based protocols like ZigBee or MiWi can apparently be upgraded to support Thread via a software update.
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
