Recently, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) officially released theMatter 1.0 standardand announced that the certification program is now open. This means that smart home brand manufacturers can conduct Matter-related testing and certification for their products. Once certified, companies can start selling devices bearing the Matter logo.
What is Matter?
What is the Matter protocol?
The concept of Matter was first proposed inDecember 2019as CHIP (Connected Home Over IP). Later, inMay 2021, it was officially proposed as a new connectivity standard. CHIP is an organization jointly established by AWS, Google, Apple, IKEA, and other international giants. Its core goal is to develop and establish a set of smart home connectivity standards based on IP protocols through cooperation among these giants, in order tosimplifythe transmission process between smart home devices,Strengthen the protection of user privacy and security. In layman's terms, with Matter, smart home products from different brands can interconnect and communicate with each other.Protection of user privacy and security. In layman's terms, with Matter, it is possible to enable interconnection and interoperability between smart home products of different brands.
What problems can Matter solve?
The significance of Matter lies in its ability to solve the complex fragmentation issues between different communication protocols, break down the barriers of interaction between multiple ecosystems, and enable smoother communication and collaboration between smart devices.
For consumers
, they can control all Matter-enabled devices with just one app, greatlyenhancing the convenience of operationand increasing consumer acceptance. At the same time, users have a wider range of product choices, no longer limited to specific device manufacturers due to protocol restrictions, and can select their preferred products from a wider range of brand manufacturers.
For hardware manufacturers
, they no longer need to reinvent the wheel, nor do they need to maintain multiple ecosystems or obtain multiple certifications simultaneously. One set of Matter standards can meet users' needs for connectivity and intelligent control. Brand manufacturers can allocate more resources to polishing their products and providing users with better-experience products. Smart products from small and medium-sized device manufacturers also have the opportunity to interconnect and communicate with brand manufacturers' devices.
For service providers
, they are no longer limited to specific manufacturers and can choose products from a wider range of manufacturers. Matter simplifies supply chain management, communication, and operational costs, allowing service providers to focus more on enhancing their service capabilities and creating greater value for customers.
What are the core advantages of Matter?
1. Simplicity, ease of purchase, and ease of use
For consumers, when purchasing smart home products, in order to ensure the actual user experience in the future,consumers may only consider choosing smart products from the same brand, which can reduce the need to purchase multiple hubs, speakers, or other control centers, and also reduce the need to download multiple apps.
The birth of Matter is to solve this problem.
Currently, companies such as AWS, Apple, and Google have announced their support for Matter, which means that the common smart device control terminals in our daily lives (such as smartphones, voice assistants, smart speakers, etc.) will all support the Matter protocol.
Nowadays, it is easy for users to build a Matter-based smart home ecosystem and purchase related devices. They only need to purchase devices with the Matter logo to easily join the network. Users can also purchase smart products that better suit their personal preferences and needs based on their aesthetic preferences.
2. Reliable, secure, and responsive local connectivity
The Matter protocol is jointly initiated, developed, and verified by several industry-leading companies. With the release of Matter 1.0, the eight authorized testing laboratories can also conduct product certification, which means that devices certified by Matter will have excellent security performance. In addition, the Matter ecosystem allows local devices to communicate directly, and data no longer needs to be exchanged through cloud-to-cloud docking.
3. Compatibility and interoperability, allowing devices from multiple brands to work together locallyMatter is an open specification, and alliance members develop and implement this new unified connectivity protocol in an open source manner. The Matter products purchased and used by users are subject to unified technical certification, so they also have good compatibility and device interoperability.
03 How can brand manufacturers integrate with Matter?
As the first product of Anxin Technology to embody the concept of "Great Connectivity", the Ai-WB2 series module will support the Matter protocol.
The Ai-WB2 series module will support Google Matter.The main chip of the Ai-WB2 series module is BL602, and the chip manufacturer has established an EAP (Early Access Program) partnership with Google. Our company will participate in the development of Matter-related unique experiences and will gain access to the Google SDK and Matter development tools, which are jointly supported by the original chip manufacturer and Google.
The Ai-WB2 series module will support Apple Matter.The Ai-WB2 series module already supports pairing and control using Apple devices. According to the latest official release notes from Apple, iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, HomePod software 16.1, and other versions also support the new smart home connectivity standard Matter, allowing a wide range of smart home accessories to work across different ecosystems.
Matter repository address:
https://github.com/Ai-Thinker-Open/connectedhomeip-1
Brand manufacturers and solution providers can choose the Anxin Ai-WB2 series module for product development and design, with compatible hardware packaging, helping enterprises quickly iterate on new Matter products.
What will be the future development of Matter?
The Matter protocol standard may trigger a new round of reshuffling in the global smart home market.
In the past, the development of smart homes has gone through various release standards, and manufacturers have tried their best to make their products support more standards. Nowadays, the emergence of the open-source Matter protocol provides manufacturers with the opportunity to participate in standard setting and reduces the research and development costs for products supporting multiple protocols and corresponding apps. Manufacturers can also reduce the research and development of multiple communication technologies and choose a development path more suitable for their own products. It is worth noting that opinions vary on whether Matter will replace other platforms. In fact, Matter provides a new universal language for ecosystem platforms and device manufacturers, facilitating data exchange between devices in local networks.
In the future, devices supporting Matter will coexist with non-Matter devices through bridged gateways, and non-Matter devices can also support Matter through OTA upgrades.
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