The big challenge facing the Internet of Things (IoT) is the wide variety of devices expected to work together. One solution to this conundrum is the Matter unifying, Internet protocol (IP)-based, connectivity protocol.
Matter was developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) to make it easier for device manufacturers to build devices compatible with smart-home and voice services such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant and other applications including HVAC/building automation systems. CSA members have taken an open-source approach to developing and implementing it. By leveraging technology contributions, CSA can accelerate development of the protocol, and quickly deliver benefits to consumers, developers and manufacturers. The following table from Silicon Labs, summarizes the key features of Matter for them.
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Consumer benefits
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Simplicity
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Products are easy to purchase, set up and use
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Compatibility
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Devices from multiple brands work natively together
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Privacy
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Consumers are in control of privacy and authorization for interaction with devices
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Developer benefits
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Unifying application layer
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Simplifies development, reduces development and operational costs
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Open source
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Community collaboration improves quality, expedites development and captures broader use cases
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Proven technologies
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Faster time to market because developers can leverage existing implementations
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IP class security
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Open source and trusted cryptographic algorithms with well-protected keys.
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As its name implies, CSA is using an open-source approach to:
- Create more connections,
- Simplify development, and
- Increase compatibility, which gives end users confidence and connectivity through certified products.
Similar to industrial protocols, Matter uses the application layer of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model to host protocol details, and build on the lower layers—such as the transport and network layers—to enable reliable communication between nodes.
Like other industrial protocols that are scaled back to reduce their footprints—due to the controlled environments where they’re used—Matter does the same:
- Matter’s application layer is the highest. It’s built on the unified data model to improve interoperability, and corresponds to the high-level logic of the device;
- The data-model layer corresponds to how data and action elements support the functionality of the application, such as the definitions of the elements, namespaces for endpoints, clusters and attributes in the application; and
- Network credentials are only given to Matter devices after they’re authenticated and verified.
This combination of features enables encryption and authentication to all unicast messages, as well as providing relay protection.
As an IPv6-based protocol, Matter uses transport layer protocols, such as transmission control protocol (TCP), to facilitate network addressing, and user datagram protocol (UDP) for reliable transmission of data packets.
Though Matter can use any IPv6-bearing network, specifications solely focus on three link-layer technologies, enabling Matter to run on Wi-Fi and Thread network layers, while using Bluetooth Low Energy for commissioning. Thread is a low-power, wireless-mesh networking protocol that facilitates reliable communication between nodes. It enables extended coverage and reliable connections to improve overall performance of IoT ecosystems. Matter also supports bridging from other existing technologies, such as Zigbee, Bluetooth Mesh and Z-Wave.
The core market for Matter is smart home devices to make them secure, reliable and interoperable with other IoT devices. So, seamless and secure connectivity within an integrated IoT system is possible, regardless of the manufacturer.
To help support security, Matter use the concept of fabrics, a security domain that contains a collection of nodes. These nodes can be identified and communicate with each other within the context of that security domain.
IEC/ISO’s JTC1 SC41 subcommittee is developing many IoT standards, including reference architectures, testing, function blocks, interoperability and data formatting, with more ideas in the pipeline. One big difference between standards developing organizations, particularly ones on rapidly evolving technologies such as IoT, and consortium-based efforts is that the consortia create products. It’s the old theory versus practice problem.
