It's been seven years since we launched Thread V1.1. Since then, we have seen significant adoption in both the smart home and smart buildings markets. And, Thread Group has grown to more than 130 members who benefit from the Thread technology in many home and building automation use cases.

The launch of Thread 1.3.0 in July of this year makes Thread Group membership and Thread certification an even more vital step toward building devices and platforms that deliver on the promise of IoT - improving the daily life for people through homes and buildings that are more functional, comfortable, safe, and efficient. It's worth reviewing what’s new in Thread 1.3.0 and why the third iteration of our wireless networking protocol is key for Matter enablement.

Overcoming Interoperability Issues

Many aspects of home or building functionality can be orchestrated through automation but achieving a seamless and autonomous environment can be challenging. Ease-of-use, interoperability, and security hurdles must be overcome to deliver this benefit.

Interoperability is an especially crucial issue for smart device manufacturers when introducing new products. Think of the early days of computing, when attaching a mouse, printer or hard drive to your computer each came with its own unique cable, plug, and port, and each requiring different software support. Adding new devices to your computer or network meant dealing with drivers or even hardware upgrades.

There have been parallels with smart home and building devices, which today use different incompatible protocols, leading to frustration and complexity for consumers, and for developers of IoT devices. That’s what the Matter smart home standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance is all about. This open-source application layer protocol enables connections between devices from different brands, simplifies development for manufacturers, and increases compatibility for consumers. In short, Matter helps ensure that devices work effectively together and that users don’t have to worry about complex setup and or be limited to a single ecosystem to control their smart devices. Major smart home platform companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung SmartThings are on board with Matter, which bodes well for widespread future device compatibility.

The Matter protocol provides the option to run over Wi-Fi, Thread, and Ethernet network layers and uses Bluetooth Low Energy for device setup. Matter is used with Thread to connect devices to each other in a mesh network providing wide range and reliability, and Matter is the universal language the devices speak to each other in. It’s important for Thread and Matter continue to evolve and improve in lockstep to enable smart home and building interoperability through the partnership already in place.

What’s New in Thread 1.3.0

Thread 1.3.0 serves as the foundation for manufacturers to be able to connect devices at home and in commercial building environments. Thread 1.3.0 brings the full functionality of Internet Protocol (IP) routing and service discovery to Thread networks, so that Matter, or other application layers, can operate seamlessly across Thread, Wi-Fi, and other IP-based networks. This benefits manufacturers by enabling them to focus on their product innovation and less on the connectivity infrastructure, ultimately resulting in less complexity and more effective experiences for end users.

As a refresher, Thread is a low-power, wireless mesh networking protocol that enables direct, end-to-end, secure, and scalable connectivity between Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobile devices, and the Internet. It is Internet Protocol (IP)-based and seamlessly integrates with multiple environments.

Building on previous iterations, Thread 1.3.0 is fully backward compatible, opening new possibilities for IoT adoption in homes and commercial buildings while maintaining usability of devices in homes and buildings today. With Thread 1.3.0, users can more easily connect, configure, and use their smart devices with other smart devices and connect to their existing IP network, including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Cellular, etc. through any certified Thread Border Router. Thread 1.3.0 enables devices to join IP-based networks with the full functionality of IP routing and service discovery. The result: users can experience a stronger, faster, and more dependable network when operating Thread-compatible products.

For example, with Thread 1.3.0’s Matter enablement, users will now experience:

• Seamless response across Matter devices: Thread 1.3.0 enables Matter devices to join users’ IP-based networks while enabling low power, long-range use cases. Matter end devices can use any certified Thread Border Router already available in many devices today and work with all smart devices, regardless of whether those smart devices are connected via Wi-Fi, Thread, or Ethernet, making it easy for them to be added to a network, and allowing them to easily be joined to existing networks.

• Seamless integration into existing network infrastructure: Thread Border Routers make it simple for Thread devices to be discovered and communicate with devices outside the Thread network. This is because any Thread device appears like any other Wi-Fi device on the network. They can be reached via IP and discover services using mDNS. Unlike Wi-Fi access points, Thread Border Routers are unique as they can be built into any always powered device from any company minimizing the need for additional dedicated hardware.S

• Simplified in-field firmware updates: Upgrading an installed device can be cumbersome; Thread 1.3.0 allows simultaneous firmware updates by leveraging existing IP-based mechanisms for robust, reliable, and scalable bulk data transfer to all your Thread devices at the same time without sacrificing network performance.

More Suited for Smart Buildings Than Ever

Thread 1.3.0 includes several enhancements that improve its overall scalability, reliability, and robustness — making it even more suitable for use in commercial building environments. Think of a high-rise office tower or convention center. With the new service discovery and IPv6 reachability features, Thread can create two-way connections locally in a building between site infrastructure such as building management systems and Thread end-devices like smart lighting, thermostats, environmental sensors, or air handlers.

Because it is IP-based, Thread is also application-layer agnostic, another factor making it well-suited for both the home and the smart building space. For example, Thread 1.3.0 can also be used with many commercial building partner ecosystems, such as KNX and DALI+.

The Road Ahead

The Thread roadmap is driven by members of Thread Group who define use cases and market requirements. We are continuously forging new application partnerships and expanding into new markets, based on what our members are driving toward within their industries. Companies that become involved as Thread Group members can contribute and vote on use cases for Thread to support over time. The roadmap work has already started for what’s to come after Thread 1.3.0, so join us and let your voice be heard.

The Thread 1.3.0 Networking Protocol spec and Certification program are now available to Thread Group members. Learn more here.