As an IoT developer, you understand the appeal of connected homes and buildings. You also know how successful your products could be if they connected to and interacted with the other devices in existing networks.
Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Most IoT ecosystems are closed systems, making it nearly impossible to connect outside products. Device interoperability is one of your biggest challenges in creating robust automation solutions.
What if a single technology could unify your different products and ecosystems? Imagine if you could easily create new smart home and building products that plug into existing setups, ensuring your success. Matter technology promises to do that—it is a new application standard that runs on top of existing wireless protocols and allows products from different ecosystems to talk with each other.
The Matter standard’s simplicity and interoperability make it a good choice for smart home and building applications.
Access Control
- Smart locks
- Shutters and blinds
Lighting and Power
- Light bulbs and switches
- Power outlets and plugs
Climate Control
- Thermostats and HVAC controls
- Air purifiers or fans
In our IoT Made Easy: Matter Over Wi-Fi demo, we walk you through building an application that controls a LED light via a smart phone. The demo also covers setting up:
- Voice control using Google Assistant
- A cloud connection via the Google Home app
- Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) for commissioning
- Introduction
- Benefits
- With Other Technologies
What Is Matter?
Matter is an open-source connectivity standard that aims to increase compatibility among smart home products. It is intended to improve the reliability, security, and most importantly, seamless interconnection of Internet of Things (IoT) devices regardless of brand or ecosystem.
It is developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly known as the Zigbee Alliance, which includes major industry players like Apple®, Google®, Amazon® and others. Because it is supported by these significant players, Matter has the potential to unite the fractured IoT market.
Unlike other wireless technologies, Matter cannot stand on its own. Matter runs on top of other wireless protocols like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread. Because it sits on top of these protocols, Matter has the potential to unite different devices and networks, regardless of the underlying protocol or ecosystem.
Matter Benefits
Key benefits and implications of Matter for product design include:
Interoperability: Matter ensures that devices from different manufacturers can work together seamlessly. This reduces the complexity of designing products that need to be compatible with multiple ecosystems, such as Apple HomeKit®, Amazon Alexa® and Google Home™.
Security: Matter places a strong emphasis on security with features like secure boot, attestation and encrypted communication. This allows designers to build products that meet high security standards without having to become security experts themselves.
Reliability: The standard aims to improve the reliability of smart home devices, which is crucial for user adoption and satisfaction. Product designers can leverage Matter's robustness to enhance the performance and consistency of their devices.
In summary, Matter is set to become a cornerstone of smart buildings, providing a common framework for product development. Its benefits lie in simplifying the design process, enhancing device performance and opening products to a wider market by removing the barriers between ecosystems.
Unify Products Across Different Technologies
Matter is a unifying application-layer protocol designed to enable secure, reliable interoperability between devices. It is agnostic to the underlying wireless technologies, meaning it can work with various connectivity standards including Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Thread.
By bridging these diverse technologies under one standard, Matter ensures that users can seamlessly control their devices regardless of underlying wireless protocol all while maintaining robust security and a user-friendly experience.
Matter Over Wi-Fi
Running Matter over Wi-Fi is a good choice for high-bandwidth applications, especially if they connect to the cloud. A Matter device can connect directly to a Wi-Fi access point extending the range network without sacrificing performance.
Matter Over Thread
Thread provides a low-power, mesh networking capability that is well suited to extending coverage throughout the home or building. When combined with Matter, Thread creates a secure network that devices can use for direct, peer-to-peer communication.
Matter Plus Zigbee®
Though Matter and Zigbee are not natively interoperable, they can be integrated into the same network via a bridge device. This allows the many Zigbee devices that may already be in place to enjoy seamless connectivity with newer devices and ecosystems.