Supported Thread features

The OpenThread implementation of the Thread protocol supports all features defined in the Thread 1.1.1 Specification:

  • All Thread networking layers:

    • IPv6

    • 6LoWPAN

    • IEEE 802.15.4 with MAC security

    • Mesh Link Establishment

    • Mesh Routing

  • All device roles

  • Border Router support

Support for Thread 1.2 Specification

The nRF Connect SDK is gradually implementing features from the Thread 1.2 Specification.

The features introduced with the Thread 1.2 Specification are fully backward-compatible with Thread 1.1 (more specifically, the Thread 1.1.1 Specification). Thread 1.2 improves network scalability, responsiveness, density, and power consumption. For more information about this Thread version, see the official Thread 1.2 in Commercial White Paper and the Thread 1.2 Base Features document.

In nRF Connect SDK, you can choose which version of the Thread protocol to use in your application. By default, nRF Connect SDK supports Thread 1.1, but you can enable and configure Thread 1.2 by using dedicated options.

Note

All Thread 1.2 mandatory functionalities are currently implemented, execept for the full Border Router support. See Thread 1.2 Specification options for the list of 1.2 features that are currently available in nRF Connect SDK, with information about how to enable them. Currently, the Thread: CLI sample is the only sample that provides an Experimental Thread 1.2 extension.

Limitations for Thread 1.2 support

The Thread 1.2 Specification support has the following limitations:

  • The current implementation does not guarantee that all retransmitted frames will be secured when using the radio driver transmission security capabilities. For this reason, OpenThread retransmissions are disabled by default when the CONFIG_NRF_802154_ENCRYPTION Kconfig option is enabled. You can enable the retransmissions at your own risk.

  • Due to code size limitation, the combination of complete set of Thread 1.2 features with the Bluetooth LE multiprotocol support is not possible for the nRF52833 DKs.