Speaker: Greg FykeDirector of IoT Wireless Products, Silicon LabsGreg joined Silicon Labs in 2003 and has served in multiple marketing and business development roles with the company, including mesh networking solutions, sub-GHz RF, long-term strategy and corporate M&A. Prior to Silicon Labs, he held marketing roles for networking products at PMC-Sierra. Mr. Fyke holds a bachelors of applied science in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo.

The Internet of Things (IoT) Local and Remote Access Location Awareness Personalization Device Interoperability Simple Unified Control

The Challenge of IoT

Home Control Hub

Health & Fitness

Lighting

Security

Internet

Home Appliances

Safety

P

Comfort Wi-Fi Access

Point

HVAC

160 m 0.250 Mbps Low 200+ Automation+Control

Different Networks for Different NeedsRange

*Bandwidth Power Use CaseScale*

35 m 54~150 Mbps High 32 Data, Audio, Video

100 m 1~3 Mbps Medium 7 Audio, Serial IO

35 m 1 Mbps Low 20 Personal Devices

* Indoor range and practical network size limit

Proprietary

Varies 0.001~1 Mbps Low Varies Legacy, App SpecificP

Standardization of the IoT

802.15.4 802.11 Bluetooth

IPv6

Application Protocol A Application Protocol N

Application X Application Y Application Z • Consumer Interaction Point

• App Protocols between Devices

• Transport Layer for IoT

Network ConvergenceDevices Services

Translation

Gateway

Proprietary

IP

IPOther

ProprietaryPCB Version C

SoCVendor C

DriversVendor C

Challenge of Building Wireless Devices

PCB Version A

SoCVendor A

DriversVendor A

PCB Version B

SoCVendor B

DriversVendor B

Benefits of Multi-mode Wireless Simplified device configuration and commissioning

Commissioning of devices using Bluetooth Smart

Device-to-device communication across multiple networks Single node can participate in mixed wireless networks in the home

Single device and common PCB design Use ideal protocol for specific need: power, range, latency, data rate Common PCB design and simplified supply chain

Multi-mode Wireless ConfigurationsStatic Configurations PHY MAC NWK APPFixed multi-protocol Static: Single image

Dual-band, single-network Dual Static Shared

Switched multi-protocol Static: Switched via Bootload Shared

Dynamic Configurations PHY MAC NWK APPDynamic multi-networks (one protocol) Static Dynamic Shared

Dynamic multi-protocol (single band) Dynamic Shared

Dynamic multi-protocol (dual band) Dynamic Shared

Concurrent multi-protocol Static Dynamic Shared

Fixed Multi-Protocol

SoC capable of supporting more than one protocol Stack is loaded into device, only one at a time Can use a common PCB to support multiple wireless standards Example: Single key-fob design for BLE or proprietary access control

2.4 GHzSoC

BLE App

BLE NWK

BLE MAC

BLE PHY

ORProprietary

Pro NWK

Pro MAC

Pro PHY

Pro App

OR

Dual-band, Single Network

Concurrent reception of 2.4G and SubG using two radios Radios support low-level MAC capabilities such as LBT, ACK One network – both bands share a common PAN ID Example: UK Communications Hub

Application

Network

Sub-G MAC

Sub-G PHY 2.4G PHY

2.4G MAC

Sub-G

2.4G

Sub-GHzTCXR

2.4 GHzSoC

Switched Multi-Protocol

Device starts up in Bluetooth mode Commissioning performed using a mobile phone or tablet

Shared memory used to store commissioning information Network, security, application configuration

Application bootloads ZigBee, restarts and attaches to ZigBee network

2.4 GHzSoC

BLE App

BLE NWK

BLE MAC

BLE PHY

ZigBee NWK

ZigBee MAC

ZigBee PHY

Shared ZB App

OR

Dynamic Configurations: Key Concepts

Multi-network node can participate in one “always-on” network Coordinator, router or (non-sleepy) end device

Node time-slices between networks Node spends majority of time on Always-On(AO) network Switches to End-Device(ED) if network polls or sends data to ED

Multi-networkNode

Node 1 Node 2ED AOAO ED

Network A Network B

Dynamic Configurations: Key Concepts Network Context

Application needs to maintain multiple network contexts Message response must be mapped to appropriate network

Network-Specific Tokens Network identification (PAN ID and extended PAN ID) Network management info (active channels, manager node ID, update ID) Node information (node ID, type, power, channel, parent information) Security information (network keys, sequence numbers, frame counters)

Dynamic Multi-networks

Networks use different security settings but share common EUI64 Per network filtering of PAN ID and source addresses

Application should minimize time on sleepy network Absence from always-on network degrades throughput

Example: ZigBee Home Automation (HA) and Smart Energy (SE)

2.4 GHzSoC

Application

Network A

2.4G MAC

2.4G PHY

Network BHA

SE

Multi-Networking Performance Data

Event Avg. TimeNWK Switch 420 µs

POLL + DATA 2.3 ms

POLL + DATA 8.0 ms

PARENT + DATA 8.8 ms

PARENT + DATA 14.5 ms

Dynamic Multi-protocol: Single-band

Primary network is using “always-on” protocol (i.e. Thread) Switch to secondary network to send BLE beacon and return

Beaconing enables advertising / location awareness Mobile UI changes based on user proximity

Application could enable longer switch to BLE to perform other actions

2.4 GHzSoC

Application

BLE NWK

BLE MAC

BLE PHY

Thread NWK

Thread MAC

Thread PHY

Dynamic Multi-protocol: Dual-band

Single wireless SoC with dual-band support but common modem Can operate as “always-on” on one of the networks

Must time-slice operation between the two networks Networks have unique PAN ID and security configuration

Enables simplified bridging between networks

2.4 GHzSoC

Application

Prop NWK

Prop MAC

Sub-G PHY

ZigBee NWK

ZigBee MAC

2.4G PHY

Prop Sub-G

2.4G

Concurrent Multi-protocol

Special case where underlying PHY is common Thread and ZigBee are both based on 802.15.4

Must share same RF channel but use independent PAN IDs MAC differences requires networks to send and listen to 2 different beacons

Cost-effective way to support mixed-networks Trade-off is reduced through-put and scalability

2.4 GHzSoC

Application

Thread NWK

Thread MAC

ZigBee NWK

802.15.4 PHY

ZigBee MAC

Proprietary

PCB Version A

SoCVendor A

DriversVendor A

PCB Version B

SoCVendor B

DriversVendor B

PCB Version C

SoCVendor C

DriversVendor C

Challenge of Building Wireless Devices

Simplifying the IoT

Simplified Configuration

Common PCB

Multi-modeSoC

CommonDrivers

P

Single DesignDevice-to-device communication across

networks

Network A Network B

AO ED

Thank-youGreg Fyke, Director of IoT Wireless Products

Silicon Labs