Greg Fyke, Director of IoT Wireless Products, spoke at ARM TechCon about the benefits and challenges of multi-mode wireless, as well as the types of configurations. Learn more about Silicon Labs products: http://bit.ly/1QKDOF4

2. Speaker: Greg Fyke
Director of IoT Wireless Products, Silicon Labs
Greg 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.

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

4. The Challenge of IoT
Home Control Hub
Health &
Fitness
Lighting
Securit
y
Internet
Home
Appliances
Safety
P
Comfor
t
Wi-Fi Access Point
HVAC

5. 160 m 0.250 Mbps Low 200+ Automation+Control
Different Networks for Different Needs
Range* 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

6. 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

7. Network Convergence
Devices Services
Translation
Gateway
Proprietary
IP
IPOther

8. Proprietary
PCB Version C
SoC
Vendor C
Drivers
Vendor C
Challenge of Building Wireless Devices
PCB Version A
SoC
Vendor A
Drivers
Vendor A
PCB Version B
SoC
Vendor B
Drivers
Vendor B

9. 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

10. Multi-mode Wireless Configurations
Static Configurations PHY MAC NWK APP
Fixed 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 APP
Dynamic 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

11. 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 GHz
SoC
BLE App
BLE NWK
BLE MAC
BLE PHY
OR
Proprietary
Pro NWK
Pro MAC
Pro PHY
Pro App
OR

12. 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-GHz
TCXR
2.4 GHz
SoC

13. 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 GHz
SoC
BLE App
BLE NWK
BLE MAC
BLE PHY
ZigBee NWK
ZigBee MAC
ZigBee PHY
Shared ZB App
OR

14. 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-network
Node
Node 1 Node 2
ED AOAO ED
Network A Network B

15. 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)

16. 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 GHz
SoC
Application
Network A
2.4G MAC
2.4G PHY
Network B
HA
SE

17. Multi-Networking Performance Data
Event Avg. Time
NWK Switch 420 µs
POLL + DATA 2.3 ms
POLL + DATA 8.0 ms
PARENT + DATA 8.8 ms
PARENT + DATA 14.5 ms

18. 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 GHz
SoC
Application
BLE NWK
BLE MAC
BLE PHY
Thread NWK
Thread MAC
Thread PHY

19. 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 GHz
SoC
Application
Prop NWK
Prop MAC
Sub-G PHY
ZigBee NWK
ZigBee MAC
2.4G PHY
Prop Sub-G
2.4G

20. 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 GHz
SoC
Application
Thread NWK
Thread MAC
ZigBee NWK
802.15.4 PHY
ZigBee MAC

21. Proprietary
PCB Version A
SoC
Vendor A
Drivers
Vendor A
PCB Version B
SoC
Vendor B
Drivers
Vendor B
PCB Version C
SoC
Vendor C
Drivers
Vendor C
Challenge of Building Wireless Devices

22. Simplifying the IoT
Simplified Configuration
Common PCB
Multi-mode
SoC
Common
Drivers
P
Single Design
Device-to-device communication across networks
Network A Network B
AO ED

23. Thank-you
Greg Fyke, Director of IoT Wireless Products
Silicon Labs