Matter
OPEN PROTOCOLS MATTER
Google and Amazon might be behind the latest IoT protocol, but Tam Hanna is just the guy to bring it to the masses, with a little help from Arduino…
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What is Thread? This is the protocol behind Matter for an overview of the ecosystem see https://bit.ly/ LXF321Matter Thread. It also provides additional context about the Zigbee protocol,
While smart-home projects initially fell under the domain of a wide variety of proprietary protocols, standardisation pressure has led to the emergence of a few dominant interfaces.
The combination of the logical Matter protocol and its accompanying Thread transport layer recently became available in the form of the affordably priced Arduino Nano Matter Community Preview.
Makers and home tinkerers can create Matter/Thread-based smart-home peripherals without having to perform cost-intensive PCB design using a microcontroller or wireless module provided by one of the established vendors in the Thread/Matter space. The much-liked Arduino IDE and its hardware abstraction layer, commonly known as Arduino Core, have established themselves in the IoT space. The availability of the Matter library enables developers to integrate their Arduino-derived knowledge with a Thread-based network interface.
As is the case for most complex communication protocols, much of the effort lies in the initial ‘bring-up’ of the system. This article will use an Arduino Nano Matter Community Preview PCB (for details see https://labs.arduino.cc/en/labs/nano-matter) and an Amazon Alexa to create a Matter/Thread-based system in the Alexa ecosystem. The steps can also be applied to other vendors’ IoT ecosystems with minimal modifications. Be aware due to the advanced nature of this subject, we’re presuming prior knowledge of using the Ardunio ecosystem and tools.
Thread bare essentials
Even though Thread uses IPv6 for node addressing, the underlying wireless system is not entirely communal with Wi-Fi. Due to that, a Thread border router device is required to act as a bridge in a fashion similar to the one shown (above).