Document:
SHARKY - User’s Guide
2020/07/20
This concept is used as an inspiration for the implementation in the standard. A node in a
Bluetooth Mesh network can subscribe to one or more addresses (stored in the
subscriber
list
) and publish to one specific address (stored in the
publish address
).
To be able to connect these different publishers and subscribers, a mesh topology is
created. The standard uses BLE advertising and scanning as an underlying technology to
implement communication. To communicate in a Bluetooth Mesh network, a flooding
mechanism is used. By default, a flooding mechanism ensures that each node in the
network repeats incoming messages, so that they are relayed further, until the destination
node is reached.
The standard uses a new type of BLE advertisement packet to communicate in a mesh
network, which is only supported by devices that support both BLE and Bluetooth Mesh.
Fortunately, the standard also defines a backwards compatibility feature to ensure that BLE
devices which do not support Bluetooth Mesh can also be part of a Bluetooth Mesh network.
3.3.
Thread Technology overview
Thread is a secure, wireless mesh networking protocol. The Thread stack is an open
standard that is built upon a collection of existing Institute for Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards.
The Thread stack supports IPv6 addresses and provides low-cost bridging to other IP
networks and is optimized for low-power/battery-backed operation, and wireless
device-to-device communication. The Thread stack is designed specifically for
Connected Home applications where IP-based networking is desired and a variety of
application layers can be used on the stack.
Figure 4. Thread Network Architecture
Doc: UG_MDX-STWBx, Rev 1.6
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