1. Introduction to Matter
1.1. Introduction
Matter is a recent technology for smart homes that enables various devices to collaborate seamlessly, without being restricted by their brand or manufacturer. It is designed to simplify the smart home experience while maintaining security and privacy. One of the benefits of Matter is that it is an open standard, which means that any device manufacturer can use it. Matter is an initiative of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). It is developed through a collaboration among all the leaders of the IoT industry.
Matter is an application protocol running on top of several transport layers such as Wi-Fi®, Ethernet, and Thread®. Matter relies on IPv6.
The Matter software is provided as open source by CSA and is available under GitHub.
1.2. Device roles in Matter network
Smart homes utilize Wi-Fi or Thread technologies to operate connected devices. Each device has a distinct role within the Matter network.
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- End devices are connected objects serving a final application like thermostats, light bulbs, door locks, and other smart home devices that can be controlled through a smart home platform.
- Bridges are devices that enable communication between devices using different communication protocols. For example, a bridge can enable a device that uses Wi-Fi to communicate with a device that uses Zigbee®.
- Controllers refer to devices like smartphones or tablets that are used to connect an end device to a Matter network via Bluetooth® Low Energy. Controllers are devices that serve as the central hub for the smart home network.
- Thread Border router is a device that acts as a gateway between a Thread network and other IP-based networks, such as the internet or other local networks. The border router plays a crucial role in a Matter ecosystem.
1.3. Matter stack overview
The Matter protocol is designed to be compatible with existing IP-based networks, making it easier for manufacturers to adopt and integrate into their products.
The Matter stack is composed of the following layers:
- Application layer: This layer includes the application-specific functionality and user interfaces that are built on top of the Matter protocol. It includes the presentation and the session layers.
- Transport layer: This layer includes the transport protocols used to transmit data over the network, such as TCP and UDP. BTP is provided as a transport protocol for commissioning. TCP and UDP are provided as transport protocols for operational messaging.
- Network layer: This layer includes the IPv6 network layer, which provides end-to-end connectivity for devices and services on the network.
- Link layer: This layer includes the data link layer, which provides the transmission of data frames over the physical layer.
The link and physical layers can vary depending on the type of network being used, such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Thread.
Bluetooth® Low Energy is used for device commissioning.
| Matter stack overview |
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1.4. STM32WB Matter
The STM32WB series of microcontrollers is ideal for Matter networks. This is because it has devices that can run Thread and Bluetooth® Low energy concurrently, which are used for device commissioning. This section presents the STM32WB55RG microcontroller and STM32WB5MMG module. They both have 1 Mbyte of flash memory and 256 Kbytes of RAM to support application layer and connectivity stacks. Additionally, they have QUADSPI peripherals to extend the memory size externally. These features allow over-the-air firmware updates, regardless of the application and the connectivity stack.
The STM32WB55RG microcontroller equips the NUCLEO-WB55RG[1] Nucleo-64 board. The STM32WB5MMG microcontroller equips the STM32WB5MM-DK[2] Discovery kit with sensors, external flash memory, a screen, and touch sensors.
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We propose several samples demonstrating the usage of Matter:
- Matter gateway STM32MP1 border router [3]:
The OpenThread border router (OTBR) is composed of a NUCLEO-WB55RG radio coprocessor (RCP) and an STM32MP135F-DK Discovery kit, which are connected through a serial connection using an FTDI cable.
- Matter end device [4]:
This package contains several sample applications of Matter end devices. These examples are based on Matter and behave as Matter accessories communicating over an 802.15.4 Thread network.
- Matter bridge [5]:
The Matter bridge sample provides an example of a Matter bridge with the NUCLEO-H753ZI-Q board with Ethernet connectivity. Basically, It adds the non-Matter device as endpoints on a bridge acting as a Matter device.
2. Getting started with Matter
Demonstrate ED with delivered binaries: This is the fastest way as there is no need to compile the project.
Follow the following steps:
Step 1: Select the transport technology (Thread, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi)
Step 2: Select an ED platform supporting the chosen transport technology
Step 3: Get the X-CUBE-MATTER
Step 4: Get binaries corresponding to the chosen platform and application device type. For binary location, refer to the projects folder within Folder structure: for example, for lighting-app on STM32WB5MM-DK, the binary for M4 core is stored in the binaries folder under X-CUBE-MATTER\Projects\STM32WB5MM-DK\Applications\Matter\Lighting-App\Binaries, and the binary for M0 core can be found in X-CUBE-MATTER\Projects\STM32WB_Copro_Wireless_Binaries\STM32WB5x.
Step 5: Program firmware to the end devices as indicated in End devices How To
Step 6: From now, the device can be commissioned in the chosen Matter Fabric ecosystem presented in Test and demonstrate.
3. Acronyms and definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| BTP | Bluetooth transport protocol |
| ED | End device |
| TCP | Transmission control protocol |
| UDP | User datagram protocol |
4. References