Pre-certified Thread stack provides one stop shopping for smart home connectivity

The stack is architected to support a comprehensive set of microcontrollers, microprocessors, connectivity solutions and sensors that provide optimized solutions for the various types of IoT applications in the home. 

As a founding member of Thread Group, Freescale launched its Beta program in November last year and is currently working with select Beta customers to help them bring products to market quickly. General availability for Freescale’s certified Thread stack is planned for September, when the test harness is complete and the Freescale Thread stack has been fully validated.  

Thread is a networking protocol that solves the challenges associated with having a truly connected home. It allows direct connectivity from edge devices to the cloud and to each other, enabling secure, low-power connections between devices with a simple commissioning procedure. Thread has the ability to scale to hundreds of devices as a user’s network grows. Thread Group launched in October 2014 and now boasts membership of more than 160 companies. Freescale has contributed significantly to specification development, and has performed intensive stack and interoperability testing with other Thread Group-related silicon providers.

“The explosive growth in IoT, specifically to make the connected home a reality, is fueling designs with IP-based communications for device-to-device and device-to-cloud applications with airtight security and short development cycles,” said Sujata Neidig, Americas Business Development Manager for Freescale and VP of Marketing for Thread Group. “Freescale’s pre-certified Thread stack creates a one-stop-shop for developing connected products for the home that merges extreme low power, optimized ease-of-use and streamlined connectivity for a secure, reliable and robust IP network.”

Freescale also works in collaboration with MMB Networks to validate the benefits of Thread.

"MMB Networks has a long history of enabling connectivity in our customers' connected home products, and we see the benefits that Thread brings to both device vendors and consumers,” said Daniel Moneta, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development & Marketing, MMB Networks. “Leveraging Freescale’s pre-certified Thread stack and our RapidConnect IoT software layer, we built a Thread demo for a customer in a matter of days - without any changes to the customer's device."

Freescale’s broad, scalable and low power-focused microcontroller portfolio complements its wireless SoC devices, addressing multiple use cases for the smart home such as home access, climate control, energy management and lighting.

For manufacturers, Freescale provides all the necessary building blocks for Thread routers, border routers and end devices, helping customers develop complete end-to-end systems. Freescale’s world class portfolio of i.MX ARM Cortex-A based MPUs and Kinetis K/L ARM Cortex-M based MCUs in combination with 802.15.4 connectivity solutions are ideal for getting products to market quickly.

Freescale’s Thread stack synergistically combines components from the company’s broad portfolio, including the Thread Border Router (i.MX6 (Linux) ARM Cortex-A MPU + KW2x Wireless MCU, K64F ARM Cortex-M MCU + MCR20A 2.4 GHz 802.15.4 Transceiver), Thread routers and end devices (Kinetis KW2x 2.4 GHz 802.15.4 Wireless ARM Cortex-M MCU, Kinetis KL46 ARM Cortex-M MCU + MCR20A 2.4 GHz 802.15.4 Transceiver), and Kinetis SDK based sample applications for both FreeRTOS and MQX to speed product development.

Freescale’s full Thread specification compliant stack is available today via the Freescale Thread Beta programme and a certified Thread stack will be available in September 2015 when Thread Group releases its certification programme.