Getting your IoT Devices to Mesh with Thread

Building for the Internet of Things is no longer about getting a single connected device online over a local Wi-Fi or even cellular connection. Increasingly, real IoT projects—be they for the smart home, smart factory, or shop floor—utilize a swarm of devices to interact with sensors, report status, and manage actuators. In these cases, the challenge isn’t just getting your devices online, but getting them to work together.

Thankfully, Thread and Particle Mesh makes dealing with swarms of devices straight forward—with cutting-edge open hardware and standards, developer-friendly APIs for managing devices, and a Device Cloud that serves as your all-powerful hive-mind.

In this session, we’ll explore how mesh networking through Thread solves some of the hardest problems in the IoT space today, as well as how Particle Mesh leverages Thread to power its newest generation of connected devices.

Transcript

1. GETTING YOUR IOT DEVICES TO MESH WITH THREAD Brandon Satrom | @BrandonSatrom | brandon@particle.io
2. “ ” - Nikola Tesla THE IOT, CIRCA 1926 When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole… and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.
3. 34 BILLION Devices online by 2020 Spent on the IoT (2016-2021) $6 TRILLION
4. PROMISE VS. THE MESSY REALITY
5. PROMISE VS. THE MESSY REALITY
6. PROMISE VS. THE MESSY REALITY
7. PROMISE VS. THE MESSY REALITY
8. TODAY, “SMART” MEANS GIVING BIG CO DATA TO OUTSMART US ALL…
9. THE EVER-PRESENT GARTNER HYPE CYCLE PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY VISIBILITY TIME
10. THE EVER-PRESENT GARTNER HYPE CYCLE PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY VISIBILITY TIME IOT TODAY
11. “ ” - An Anonymous Friend The phrase “IoT” has lost all meaning for me…
12. HOW DID WE GET HERE? 1 2 3 CONNECTIVITY FOR THE SAKE OF CONNECTIVITY POOR, BROKEN OR NON-EXISTENT SECURITY LIMITED CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS Do we need to connect everything to the internet? Holes abound in hardware, firmware and software Wi-Fi is brittle Cellular is expensive Bluetooth is limited
13. TO SUCCEED, THE IOT NEEDS A LITTLE LESS INTERNET
14. WHY MESH NETWORKING? HOW OPENTHREAD ENABLES MESH HOW PARTICLE MAKES MESH EASY
15. WHO AM I? BRANDON SATROM PARTICLE I BUILD COOL STUFF. SO YOU CAN BUILD EVEN COOLER STUFF. AND HELP IMPROVE OUR PRODUCTS SO WE CAN ALL BUILD THE COOLEST STUFF.
16. WHO AM I? BRANDON SATROM PARTICLE I BUILD COOL STUFF. SO YOU CAN BUILD EVEN COOLER STUFF. AND HELP IMPROVE OUR PRODUCTS SO WE CAN ALL BUILD THE COOLEST STUFF.
17. WHY MESH NETWORKING? HOW OPENTHREAD ENABLES MESH HOW PARTICLE MAKES MESH EASY
18. TRADITIONAL IOT: HUB AND SPOKE Wi-Fi Router
19. TRADITIONAL IOT: HUB AND SPOKE Wi-Fi Router
20. TRADITIONAL IOT: HUB AND SPOKE Wi-Fi Router
21. TRADITIONAL IOT: HUB AND SPOKE
22. ENTER MESH NETWORKING Gateway
23. ENTER MESH NETWORKING Gateway
24. ENTER MESH NETWORKING Gateway
25. ENTER MESH NETWORKING Gateway
26. ENTER MESH NETWORKING Gateway
27. ENTER MESH NETWORKING
28. IMPLEMENTING MESH YOURSELF IS HARD Gateway
29. IMPLEMENTING MESH YOURSELF IS HARD Gateway ✴Security and Encryption ✴Local routing ✴Local communication (UDP, TCP, etc.) ✴Radio support (BLE, Wi-Fi, etc.) ✴Failover, route redundancy ✴Network addressing ✴Network roles and responsibilities
30. WHY MESH NETWORKING? HOW OPENTHREAD ENABLES MESH HOW PARTICLE MAKES MESH EASY
31. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
32. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
33. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
34. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
35. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
36. NEST: FROM THERMOSTATS TO SMOKE DETECTORS
37. THE THREAD GROUP & CONTRIBUTING OPENTHREAD
38. WHAT IS THREAD? ✴IPv6-based mesh ✴Wireless Personal Area Network ✴No single point of failure ✴Tailored to IoT Scenarios ✴Can be used in concert with Wi-Fi, Cellular and Bluetooth is a low-power networking protocol
39. OPENTHREAD ADOPTION AMONG HARDWARE VENDORS ARM bed OS (NXP FRDM-K64F + Atmel ATZB-RF-233) D-Link Ltd - DSH-G300-TBR Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 (OpenThread) NXP Kinetis Thread Stack (KW2xD) Silicon Labs Mighty Gecko Module MGM12P
40. OPENTHREAD ADOPTION AMONG HARDWARE VENDORS ARM bed OS (NXP FRDM-K64F + Atmel ATZB-RF-233) D-Link Ltd - DSH-G300-TBR Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 (OpenThread) NXP Kinetis Thread Stack (KW2xD) Silicon Labs Mighty Gecko Module MGM12P
41. MESH VS. WI-FI AND CELLULAR MESH NETWORKS ARE SCALABLE AND RELIABLE LOW COST LOW POWER HIGHLY RELIABLE $5 to $10 per module $10 to $20 per module $3 to $5 per module 150-300mA 200-2000mA 50mA Single point of failure Managed infrastructure Self-healing network WI-FI CELLULAR MESH NEW PROTOCOL
42. OPENTHREAD VS. ZIGBEE, ZWAVE AND LORA Operating range 100 ft 35 ft Max # of devices 232 65,000 Data rate 9.6-100 kbps 40-250 kbps Cost $ $$ IP-Based Networking No No Open Standard? No Yes 1-4 mi 100 ft N/A 300 27 kbps 250 kbps $$$ $ Yes Yes No Yes
43. OPENTHREAD: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
44. OPENTHREAD: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART ✴Buy a dev kit and a dongle ✴Install the OpenThread software stack ✴Manually set-up and configure a gateway device (Border Router) ✴Manually set-up and configure one or more routers ✴Manually set-up and configure one or more end devices ✴Implement UDP-based messaging between devices
45. WHY MESH NETWORKING? HOW OPENTHREAD ENABLES MESH HOW PARTICLE MAKES MESH EASY
46. WHY PARTICLE MESH? Everything you need to know to implement OpenThread
47. WHY PARTICLE MESH?
48. WHY PARTICLE MESH?
49. WHY PARTICLE MESH? void pong(const char *event, const char *data) { Serial.println("You got a message!"); } void setup() { Mesh.on(); Mesh.connect(); } void loop() { Mesh.publish(“hello - world”, “I’m meshing !”); Mesh.subscribe("ping", pong); }
50. HOW PARTICLE MAKES MESH EASY 1 2 3 THREAD-ENABLED HARDWARE CLEAR DEVICE ROLES SIMPLE APIS FOR COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT Affordable options for prototyping and production Simple, often automatic assignment based on device type and location Secure, local communication without configuration Mesh.publish(“hello - world”, “I’m meshing !”); Mesh.subscribe("ping", pong);
51. PARTICLE MESH DEVICES Nordic nRF52840 SoC ✴ ARM Cortex-M4F 32-bit ✴ 1MB flash, 256KB RAM ✴ IEEE 802.15.4-2006 ✴ Bluetooth 5: 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps, 500 Kbps, 125 Kbps ✴ ARM TrustZone Cryptographic security module ✴ NFC-A tag Argon » Wi-Fi + BLE +Mesh » Wi-Fi endpoint or mesh gateway Xenon » BLE + Mesh » Mesh endpoint Boron » LTE-M1 + BLE + Mesh » Cellular endpoint or mesh gateway
52. PARTICLE MESH NETWORK ROLES Gateway
53. PARTICLE MESH NETWORK ROLES Gateway Repeater Repeater
54. PARTICLE MESH NETWORK ROLES Gateway Repeater Repeater Endpoint Endpoint
55. PARTICLE MESH NETWORK ROLES Gateway Repeater Repeater Repeater & Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint
56. A COMBINATION OF HARDWARE, FIRMWARE AND SOFTWARE
57. A COMBINATION OF HARDWARE, FIRMWARE AND SOFTWARE
58. A COMBINATION OF HARDWARE, FIRMWARE AND SOFTWARE
59. A COMBINATION OF HARDWARE, FIRMWARE AND SOFTWARE void pong(const char *event, const char *data) { Serial.println("You got a message!"); } void setup() { Mesh.on(); Mesh.connect(); } void loop() { Mesh.publish(“hello - world”, “I’m meshing !”); Mesh.subscribe("ping", pong); }
60. A COMBINATION OF HARDWARE, FIRMWARE AND SOFTWARE void pong(const char *event, const char *data) { Serial.println("You got a message!"); } void setup() { Mesh.on(); Mesh.connect(); } void loop() { Mesh.publish(“hello - world”, “I’m meshing !”); Mesh.subscribe("ping", pong); }
61. DEMO SETTING UP MESH DEVICES
62. MESH NETWORKS IN ACTION
63. MESH MAKES EXISTING IOT SOLUTIONS SMARTER SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR PUMP CONTROLLER
64. MESH MAKES EXISTING IOT SOLUTIONS SMARTER SMART WATER METER Ethernet + CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD
65. MESH DEVICES CAN PUBLISH DATA LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD Ethernet
66. MESH DEVICES CAN PUBLISH DATA LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD Ethernet Particle.publish()
67. MESH DEVICES CAN PUBLISH DATA LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD Ethernet Particle.publish()
68. MESH DEVICES CAN PUBLISH DATA LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD Ethernet Particle.publish()
69. MESH DEVICES CAN PUBLISH DATA LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD Ethernet Particle.publish()
70. MESH DEVICES CAN BE REMOTELY CONTROLLED LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Ethernet Mesh
71. MESH DEVICES CAN BE REMOTELY CONTROLLED LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Ethernet Mesh Particle.function()
72. MESH DEVICES CAN BE REMOTELY CONTROLLED LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Ethernet Mesh Particle.function()
73. MESH DEVICES CAN BE REMOTELY CONTROLLED LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Ethernet Mesh Particle.function()
74. MESH DEVICES CAN BE REMOTELY CONTROLLED LIKE ANY PARTICLE DEVICE SMART WATER METER + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Ethernet Mesh Particle.function()
75. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh
76. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh
77. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh Mesh.publish()
78. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh Mesh.publish()
79. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh Mesh.publish()
80. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh Mesh.publish() Mesh.subscribe()
81. MESH DEVICES CAN COMMUNICATE WITHOUT AN INTERNET CONNECTION + FLOOD DETECTOR Mesh CONSOLE DEVICE CLOUD PUMP CONTROLLER Mesh Mesh.publish() Mesh.subscribe()
82. MESH PUBLISH AND SUBSCRIBE FOR LOCAL MESSAGING Mesh.publish(“hello-world”, “I’m meshing!”); void hello(const char *event, const char *data) { Serial.println(“Device two got it!"); } void setup() { Mesh.subscribe(“hello-world”, hello); } void hello(const char *event, const char *data) { Serial.println(“Device one got it!"); } void setup() { Mesh.subscribe(“hello-world”, hello); }
83. MESH NETWORK TYPES
84. MESH USE CASES: SINGLE GATEWAY, MULTIPLE ENDPOINTS Gateway
85. MESH USE CASES: SINGLE GATEWAY, MULTIPLE REPEATERS & ENDPOINTS
86. MESH USE CASES: DUAL GATEWAYS, MULTIPLE LOCAL DEVICES
87. THE ALL THINGS OPEN MESH NETWORK
88. PARTICLE MESH: EXAMPLE INSTALLATION
89. PARTICLE MESH: HALLOWEEN EDITION
90. PARTICLE MESH: HALLOWEEN EDITION
91. DEMO FEATURES Devices ✴ 1 Gateway Device (Argon) ✴ 4 Endpoint/Repeater Nodes ✴ 1 Adafruit Crickit-powered Rover ✴ 1 Adafruit HalloWing ✴ 1 Neopixel Strip ✴ 1 Standard Servo Demos ✴ Control devices through cloud ✴ Communicate between Mesh and non- Mesh devices ✴ Send Mesh events without an internet connection
92. DEMO FEATURES Devices ✴ 1 Gateway Device (Argon) ✴ 4 Endpoint/Repeater Nodes ✴ 1 Adafruit Crickit-powered Rover ✴ 1 Adafruit HalloWing ✴ 1 Neopixel Strip ✴ 1 Standard Servo Demos ✴ Control devices through cloud ✴ Communicate between Mesh and non- Mesh devices ✴ Send Mesh events without an internet connection
93. DEMO PARTICLE MESH IN ACTION
94. THE EVER-PRESENT GARTNER HYPE CYCLE PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY VISIBILITY TIME
95. THE EVER-PRESENT GARTNER HYPE CYCLE PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY VISIBILITY TIME IOT TODAY
96. THE EVER-PRESENT GARTNER HYPE CYCLE PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY VISIBILITY TIME IOT TODAY IOT TOMORROW!
97. THANKS! @BRANDONSATROM BRANDON@PARTICLE.IO