A smart home can contain device from many different brand. Each of these brands may use a different communication protocol for their device to communicate with each other. For instance, the lights from one brand of smart lights may work with one smartphone application, but those same lights wont respond to another application.
If the hub for the smart home fail, various sensor may stop working. The Thread protocol allows many brand of smart devices to work together in a mesh network. Thread device will work with various ecosystem.
How Thread Makes Smart Home Devices Work Together
Thread uses Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to communicate with each other. Since Thread use IPv6, it does not require clunky gateways to communicate. Every device that is plugged into a Thread network act as a router for the network.
These routers help to even out the data that is being communicated between devices so that no device is overwhelmed with the communication from other device on the network. If one of the router connected to a Thread network stop working, the network will self-heal to accommodate for the failed router. Since the Thread network can self-heal and reroute the data from devices to other router in the network, the Thread protocol have no single point of failure.
Even if there is a flicker in the power to a device or if someone is replacing one of the router, the Thread network will continue to function. Thread use the 2.4 GHz frequency band to communicate with each other. Bluetooth device and Zigbee device use this same frequency band.
Thread is optimized for small data packet but not for large data stream like video content. Thread has a longer range then Bluetooth but may not have as long a range as Z-Wave device because Z-Wave use sub-GHz waves for communication. Thread uses very little power to communicate.
This makes it possible for sensor to use a single coin cell battery for many year before needing to be replaced. To connect a Thread network to a Wi-Fi network, you must purchase a border router. This border router will allow the Thread network to connect to the Wi-Fi network.
A border router might already be in your smart home as a smart speaker or smart streaming box. These device can act as a border router for your Thread network. Mesh Wi-Fi networks with a built-in border router can also extend the range of your Thread network.
Using multiple border router will increase the redundancy of the Thread network. Increased redundancy create a more reliable network. Any border router you purchase should of be connected to a power source and positioned in the center of your smart home network for best result.
Matter is a protocol that work on top of Thread. Matter work as a universal translator for smart home device. Matter allow devices from company like Apple, Google, and Amazon to work together.
In addition, Matter allow you to control a single device using many different application. You can add Matter device to your network by simply scanning a QR code. There is no need for proprietary bridge to connect to Matter device.
Battery-powered device will automatically sleep to save power, but device that are permanently plugged into power will always be awake and form the backbone of your Thread network. Thread use a distributed mesh network topology, which is entirely different from the traditional star network topology. In a star network topology, every device must connect to the central hub.
In contrast, in a Thread mesh network, the device connect to one another. Should the central hub fail or lose power, all device will also lose their connection to the network. However, a Thread mesh network will automatically reroute the data between the device in the network.
Place your corded device in the most strategic position in your home, and make sure your battery-powered device are within range of one of the network router. Setting up a Thread network involve following a few specific step. First, purchase a border router.
Next, update the firmware on all of your device. Firmware update will ensure that your device function correctly. After that, scan all of your device into your network.
Following that, check your mesh ID. Then, position all of your device for high density within your network. Finally, test all of the device to ensure that you can control them through a few different application.
Thread network have a few specific strength and weakness. One of the great strength of Thread is that it use less power than other smart home technology. Thread also has a better range for mesh network than Bluetooth technology.
However, Thread has a high weakness in that it does not have the same high throughput as Wi-Fi. The signal for Thread device can also be vulnerable to interference from the 2.4 GHz band used by Wi-Fi technology. If you have a very large home, you may have to use multiple border router for Thread to properly connect all of your device throughout your home.
Overall, if you use Thread, your device from different brand will work together to do the work you program them to do, regardless of the brand for that product.