The averse reaction of lithium batteries inspired researchers to look for alternat-
ives for energy storage in electronics. Battery-free or intermittent devices intro-
duce a new paradigm with their own specific problems about power, state track-
ing, timing and communication. We implemented the battery-free paradigm in
the Thread protocol, utilizing the specific characteristics of End Devices in the
mesh network to reduce power consumption. The intermittent implementation
is fulfilled without changing the behaviour of the protocol, making the device
fully compatible without other devices being aware of the intermittent opera-
tion. During tests four implementations are tested, completely naive, semi naive
with simple power improvements, Sleepy End Device operating intermittently
and a Synchronised Sleepy End Device operating intermittently. The results of
the power measurements are used to determine the feasability of four use cases.
The intermittently operating Sleepy End Device is out performing the Naive
and Semi Naive implementation.