Espressif's Thread Border Router solution has officially obtained the Thread Certified Component certificate issued by Thread Group , complies with the latest Thread 1.3 standard, and supports Matter application scenarios.
This article will delve into the technical details and advantages of the solution, and how it can help customers get their products to market quickly.
What is Thread Border Router
According to the definition in the Thread Border Router White Paper :
A border router is a device that helps thread mesh networks route data packets. This routing is done between the Thread network and other networks that support the IP protocol, such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and cellular networks.
Espressif Thread Border Router Framework
The solution is built by combining Espressif's Wi-Fi SoC (ESP32, ESP32-C, ESP32-S) and IEEE 802.15.4 SoC (ESP32-H2). Its SDK is based on the Espressif ESP-IDF IoT development framework and the open source OpenThread protocol stack.
Different from the Linux/Unix-based ot-br-posix solutions currently on the market, the Espressif Thread border router solution is based on ESP-IDF, an IoT development framework developed by Espressif, and integrates protocols such as Wi-Fi and 802.15.4 stack, LwIP, mDNS and other components.
In this solution, the main Wi-Fi SoC runs the Espressif Thread Border Router and OpenThread Core protocol stack, while the 802.15.4 SoC runs the OpenThread RCP. The two communicate through the Spinel protocol.
Advantages of Espressif Thread Border Router
Internet protocol functions
In a previous blog " Thread Border Router in Matter ", we introduced the role of Thread Border Router in Matter scenarios. The following are the key networking features supported by the ESP Thread Border Router SDK:
- Two-way IPv6 communication
It realizes the function of two-way IPv6 communication between Thread and non-Thread networks, and currently supports Wi-Fi and Ethernet as backbone links.
- service discovery
The function of bidirectional service discovery is realized, including Service Registration Protocol (SRP), Service Proxy (Advertising Proxy) and Discovery Proxy (Discovery Proxy). These features facilitate the discovery of services provided by Thread devices, as well as services provided by non-Thread devices, without configuration.
- multicast forwarding
Implements the Multicast Listener Discovery (MLDv2) protocol and enables seamless IPv6 multicast between Thread, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet networks.
- NAT64
Thread devices can access IPv4 Internet through ESP Thread Border Router.
Note: Although NAT64 is not a mandatory feature for Matter scenarios because Matter is a local network application, this feature enables peer-to-peer communication between Thread devices and cloud services.
Product Features
In addition to the networking functions described above, the ESP Thread Border Router SDK also supports several useful functions for productization.
- RCP auto-update
Since it is a dual SoC solution, two matching firmwares need to be downloaded to the border router device for OTA. The SDK provides a mechanism to merge the two firmwares into one binary, and with a single OTA, the main SoC will download the RCP firmware onto the 802.15.4 SoC on first boot.
- RF coexistence
Designing for coexistence is always a pain point for devices with multiple wireless interfaces. Espressif's Thread border router solution uses integrated software and hardware design, and has realized the PTA coexistence function based on the 3-wire system in the SDK, which significantly reduces the complexity of customer applications.
- Web GUI
The SDK also provides a Web GUI interface for convenient user configuration, and its REST API is compatible with the API in ot-br-posix.
Hardware reference design and software usage guide
The development board ESP Thread Border Router/Zigbee Gateway that can be used to develop Thread Border Router and Zigbee Gateway products is now officially on the shelves. Welcome to Espressif’s official Taobao store to purchase . It integrates ESP32-S3 SoC and ESP32-H2 RCP, ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 provides 4 MB Flash and 2 MB PSRAM, ESP32-H2-MINI-1 provides 2 MB Flash. The development board also supports expansion daughter boards to further extend functionality, such as Ethernet interface, human-machine interface (HMI), and voice control.
