How to setup openthread border router with multiple instances to handle different networks

[Rutvik2598]

I am new to OpenThread and learning about it. I have set up a Raspberry Pi 3 as a border router and am using an nRF52840 USB dongle as a radio to communicate with thread-end devices. I am using ESP32s as the end devices.

Currently, the end devices are on the same network, they have the same PAN IDs. What I am trying to achieve is to setup multiple instances, where my end devices will have different PAN IDs and the border router can access those different PAN IDs.

In the Openthread config, there is OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MULTIPAN_RCP_ENABLE present, I am guessing using this we can achieve the multipan structure. But I am not quite sure how to achieve this on my setup.

I couldn't find any guide on how to setup this up, any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[abtink]

Currently, the end devices are on the same network; they have the same PAN IDs. What I am trying to achieve is to set up multiple instances, where my end devices will have different PAN IDs and the border router can access those different PAN IDs.

My advice for this is to use multiple BR devices, each running its own Thread PAN. This would be a much simpler and easier setup.

In the OpenThread config, there is OPENTHREAD_CONFIG_MULTIPAN_RCP_ENABLE present. I am guessing using this we can achieve the multipan structure. But I am not quite sure how to achieve this on my setup.

MULTI_PAN is not really a feature of the OT stack but rather a feature of the "RCP" and its spinel interface (which is the interface the host uses to communicate with and control an RCP radio chip). It allows a single RCP to be controlled by multiple host entities. It is primarily intended for very specific use cases (e.g., where a device is running Thread along with another 15.4 radio protocol and wants to share the same RCP radio).