Introduction to Matter September 2021

© Nordic Semiconductor

Today’s host
Krzysztof Loska

Technical Product Manager

Short-range wireless
Matter
Why is it neccessary?
© Nordic Semiconductor

Smart home market – current landscape

 Smart home fragmentation
has negative consequences
 For consumers - no
interoperability between
ecosystems
 For developers and
manufacturers – costly
development
 For retail – multiple variants of
the same products
© Nordic Semiconductor

Matter - Vision
 Address key pain points for
interoperability, choice and
ease of use
 Enable easier, faster, less costly
IoT product development and
innovation
 Ease and improve the retail /
customer purchase experience
 Enable greater and more
accelerated adoption in smart
home, building and commercial
uses
Matter
Primary features
© Nordic Semiconductor

What is Matter?

 Matter (formerly Project Connected Home over IP or Project CHIP) is the foundation
for connected things
 Matter is an applications layer standard unifying the smart home industry
 Matter is a promise of reliable, secure connectivity where devices work seamlessly
together. Matter simplifies development for manufacturers and increases
compatibility for consumers
© Nordic Semiconductor

Who is behind Matter?

 This collaborative breakthrough is built on proven technologies and guided by the
Connectivity Standards Alliance (formerly Zigbee Alliance)
 Currently more than 200 companies have joined Matter Working Group in CSA
 Over 2 000 individual members participates in efforts to create Matter

Some founding partners:

© Nordic Semiconductor

Matter charter
 Define, develop, and deliver a
comprehensive application layer
and data model which enable
communication across smart home
devices and mobile apps
 Reuse contributions from market-
proven technologies from Amazon,
Apple, Google, Zigbee and others
 Open-source development approach
 Build upon Internet Protocol (IPv6)
 Focus on security (AES-128-CCM
encryption with 128-bit AES-CBC)
 Extendible to cloud
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Role of Bluetooth Low Energy

 Bluetooth LE is used to commission a
new device into the network using a
Matter controller e.g. a mobile device or
a home hub (smart speaker, smart
display etc.)
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Role of Bluetooth Low Energy

 Bluetooth LE is NOT used for a device
to device communication, or a device to
controller communication after
commissioning is finalized
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Matter topology
 Matter version 1.0 targets Wi-Fi and Thread as
main wireless connectivity protocols
 Thread and Wi-Fi are complementary
connectivity technologies for smart home
 Thread is usually used for battery-operated
devices requiring the highest energy efficiency
like sensors, door locks etc. or simple mains-
powered actuators like smart plugs or light
bulbs
 Wi-Fi is used for devices having a larger
energy budget or requiring higher bandwidth
like home appliances, security cameras or
video doorbells
Thread networking protocol
Introduction
© Nordic Semiconductor

Thread – What it delivers

 Thread is secure wireless mesh network for connected
product in homes and commercial buildings
 Build on proven, widely available and supported
technologies
 Uses IPv6 (6LoWPAN)
 Runs on existing 802.15.4 silicon

 Legacy-free design with updated architecture

 Designed with a new security architecture to make it simple
and secure to add and remove products
 Supports hundreds of products per network
 Designed for very low power operation
© Nordic Semiconductor

Thread devices types

Full Thread Device (FTD) Minimal Thread Device (MTD)

 most versatile in the roles  may perform certain roles
 autonomous role  affiliate - forwards all messages to its
 requires more HW resources e.g. Parent
memory size  has the lowest requirements for HW
 always has its radio on, so it is usually resources
a mains-powered device  may sleep to preserve energy, so it is
often a battery-powered device
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End Device

Thread Router

Thread leader

Border Router
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Thread-based solutions
 Thread protocol is application
layer agnostic and does not
define application layer itself
 To create a full-featured
product, a designer usually puts
an IP-enabled application layer
on top of a Thread stack
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OpenThread project and Nordic involvement

 OpenThread released by Google is an open-source implementation of Thread
networking protocol and other necessary components
 Nordic joined OpenThread project from the beginning of its public existence in 2016
 Nordic provides full support for its devices within OpenThread and actively
participates in the development of OpenThread by co-authoring some core modules
 Licensed under 3-clause BSD license
 Open-source, community-based project hosted on GitHub:
https://github.com/openthread/
© Nordic Semiconductor

Nordic Tech Webinars about Thread

 Webinar «Introduction to Thread networking protocol»
https://webinars.nordicsemi.com/introduction-to-thread-networking-4
 Webinar «Developing Thread products with nRF Connect SDK»
https://webinars.nordicsemi.com/developing-thread-products-with-nrf-1
Matter
Details
© Nordic Semiconductor

Target device types

Lighting, Blinds/Shades HVAC TVs

Electrical Controls

Access Control Safety & Security Access Points, Bridges Matter controllers can
be implemented in a
variety of devices and
interfaces
Scoping exercises for additional device types and use cases underway and continual.
© Nordic Semiconductor

Support across & with multiple ecosystems

 Multi-admin is a foundational feature
in Matter
 With multi-admin user can connect
Matter devices to multiple apps and
ecosystems locally, securely and even
simultaneously
 Users can control which devices they
share with which systems on individual
level, and can easily add multiple
devices to a new ecosystem to try out
new experiences
© Nordic Semiconductor

Bridging non-Matter IoT devices

 A bridge serves to allow the use of non-
Matter IoT devices (e.g. devices on a
Zigbee network) to communicate and
interact with Matter devices
 This enables the consumer to keep
using existing non-Matter devices
together with their Matter devices
 © Nordic Semiconductor

What will Matter deliver?

Specification Implementation Certification program
 Public specification  Open source available on  Test specification
GitHub  Certification framework
 Platform independent  Certification program
implementation availabe via certification
 Porting for POSIX platform labs
(Linux)
 Porting for embedded
platforms (IC vendors)
 Reference example
applications e.g. a door lock
app, a light bulb app
https://github.com/project-chip/connectedhomeip
 Mobile app reference
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Schedule

1H 2H 1H
2021 2021 2022

Initial technical specifications Pre-balloting technical specifications SDK Released

available to Members available to Members 1st Products Certified
Initial SDK and Test Event Efforts Ongoing SDK & Cert Program Dev Certification Program Released
Test Events Continue Members action GTM plans

Note: Timeline, subject to change

© Nordic Semiconductor

Nordic roles in Matter

 Nordic Semiconductor takes active role in Connectivity Standards Alliance and in
Matter development:
 Participates in all sub-working groups (technical, marketing and certification) and in some
subcommittees within them
 Integrates Matter with Nordic’s SW platform (nRF Connect SDK)
 Cooperates with other companies to develop Matter implementation and example applications
 Actively participates in test events organized by Matter’s Certification Working Sub-group
 Collaborates with major providers of ecosystems based on Matter
Matter
Commited ecosystems
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Google commitment to Matter

 During Google IO 2021
conference Google officially
committed to support Matter in
their ecosystem
 Currently access to beta
firmware enabling Matter
support in Google’s home hubs
is limited to selected partners

Source: Google IO 2021 conference, Smart Home keynote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWMDkIziINQ&t=722s
© Nordic Semiconductor

Apple commitment to Matter

 During WWDC 2021
conference Apple officially
committed to support Matter
in their ecosystem
 During the same conference
Apple released a Developer
Preview of Matter in iPhone
and iPad (iOS/iPadOS 15.0
beta), and Apple TV (tvOS
15.0 beta) available to
anyone with an Apple
Developer account

Source: WWDC 2021 conference, Apple Keynote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TD96VTf0Xs&t=4704s
© Nordic Semiconductor

Amazon commitment to Matter

 During Alexa Live 2021
Keynote Amazon officially
committed to support Matter
in their ecosystem

Source: Alexa Live 2021 Keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgeiwl1XHeQ&t=3311s

Matter device
Nordic’s HW and SW
© Nordic Semiconductor

nRF Connect SDK

 All in one place
 One code base and toolchain for
nRF91, nRF53 and nRF52 Series
 Includes Bluetooth Low Energy,
Bluetooth mesh,
Thread/HomeKit/Matter, Zigbee
and LTE-M/NB-IoT/GPS
 Based on Zephyr RTOS which is
governed by Linux Fundation
© Nordic Semiconductor
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Same SW for all ICs & Product Configurations

West Toolchain Kconfig Device Tree
Multi-repository manager Source module / feature Target Board / Device description
management tool configuration for compile
Verified toolchain
management

Clone / update Configure features Configure target

nRF Connect
SDK *Kconfig *.dts

nrf Toolchain
Application 1
nrfxlib
Code
MCUboot Application 2
Base
Zephyr
Application …

Your Code
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Architecture - Single-chip, multiprotocol

 Single-chip solution supporting
simultaneous 802.15.4 and Bluetooth LE
operations Zephyr integration

 An application, Thread and Bluetooth LE Bluetooth LE stack (Zephyr Host) Thread stack (OpenThread)

GATT GAP MeshCoP MLE

stacks run on the same processor
UDP
ATT SMP
 Low-cost and low-power consumption 6LoWPAN / IPv6

L2CAP IEEE 802.15.4 MAC

HCI over RAM Zephyr integration

SoftDevice Multiprotocol Service Layer nRF IEEE 802.15.4

Controller (MPSL) Radio Driver

nRF52840 or nRF5340
© Nordic Semiconductor

nRF Connect SDK - Matter

 Nordic’s default SW platform for Matter (Project CHIP) and External project repositories

Apple’s HomeKit ADK 5.x Contribute Synchronize

 OpenThread stack integration Samples and Demos

Applications

DFU

 Support for pre-compiled libraries for Thread Certification by Secure Partition Manager
Thread
integration
Zigbee

inheritance west.yml COAP MQTT

Crypto APIs TLS/DTLS

 Certified Bluetooth LE protocol stack

MCU Bootloader UDP TCP

Driver APIs IPv4 IPv6

File systems Bluetooth mesh

 Support for multiprotocol operation of Thread and Bluetooth Power Management Bluetooth LE host

802.15.4 Bluetooth LE LL
Zephyr RTOS kernel

 Support for commissioning with NFC tag Multiprotocol / coex

nRFx
LTE Lx
Crypto APIs Drivers

 Advanced build system Board & Device configuration

PHY interfaces

 Security components, bootloader, OTA DFU

 Drivers and generic libraries
© Nordic Semiconductor

Samples and applications

 nRF Connect SDK provides a complete
support for developing a Matter device
 A comprehensive user guide about configuring
Matter development environment
 Matter template
 Matter door lock sample
 Matter light switch sample
 Matter light bulb sample
 Matter weather station application

 An official technical support for Matter is

available through Nordic’s DevZone
© Nordic Semiconductor

Nordic HW suitable for building Matter device

 A Matter over Thread device must support both Thread and Bluetooth LE
 Bluetooth LE is used for device onboarding (commissioning)

 Memory footprint of the solution (Thread protocol stack + Bluetooth LE protocol

stack + the application layer) imposes SoCs with Flash greater than 512 KB + an
external Flash memory for OTA DFU
nRF5340 nRF52840

Flash: 1 MB+256 KB Flash: 1 MB

RAM: 512 KB+64 KB RAM: 256 KB
Temp: -40 to 105 ºC Temp: -40 to 85 ºC
© Nordic Semiconductor

Upcoming webinar about Matter

 Webinar “Developing Matter products using nRF Connect SDK” - October 2021
Thread Border router
Architecture considerations
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Wi-Fi access point

© Nordic Semiconductor

Home hub
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Matter device
Thread Border router
Nordic’s HW and SW
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Network Co-Processor (NCP) architecture

 Used mostly for Border routers and gateways
Application
 Thread stack runs on the Nordic device
Third-party IPv6 stack
 An application runs on a host processor
UART / USB / SPI
Spinel Application Spinel Daemon
 NCP controllers: wpantund, pyspinel
Host Processor
 Clear logical separation – enables host to sleep Zephyr integration

Thread stack (OpenThread)

 Requires more expertise from a designer - a
reference app for the host side does not exist MeshCoP MLE

 Recommended nRF devices: UDP

6LoWPAN / IPv6

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC

nRF52840 nRF52833

Zephyr integration

Multiprotocol
nRF IEEE 802.15.4
Service Layer
Radio Driver
Flash: 1 MB Flash: 512 KB
(MPSL) nRF52 Series device
RAM: 256 KB RAM: 128 KB
Temp: -40 to 85 ºC Temp: -40 to 105 ºC
© Nordic Semiconductor

Radio Co-Processor (RCP) architecture

 Used mostly for Border routers and gateways or devices that have Application

other processing demands like IP cameras

Third-party IPv6 stack

 Thread stack and application layer run on a host processor Thread stack (OpenThread)

 Minimal controller runs on the Nordic device – host cannot sleep MeshCoP MLE

 A reference app for the host exists: UDP

https://github.com/openthread/ot-br-posix 6LoWPAN / IPv6

IEEE 802.15.4 MAC

UART / USB / SPI

 Recommended nRF devices: Spinel Application Spinel Radio

Host processor
nRF52811 nRF52820 Zephyr integration

OpenThread Controller

Zephyr integration
Flash: 192 KB Flash: 256 KB
RAM: 24 KB RAM: 32 KB Multiprotocol
nRF IEEE 802.15.4
Temp: -40 to 85 ºC Temp: -40 to 105 ºC Service Layer
Radio Driver
(MPSL)

nRF52 Series device

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