What’s the matter with matter?

In today’s world, where technology plays a central role in our daily lives, the idea of a connected home - a Smart Home - has gained significance. Smart Home devices, or IoT devices, allow us to control and automate lighting, heating, security systems, and much more over the internet. These are far from being just small quality of life changes - like starting the washing machine via smartphone - the Smart Home can do much more. For instance, it helps save energy by automatically lowering the blinds when a certain outside temperature is reached or regulates the heating more precisely than we could. Every time you hit the highway on your way to vacation, the same questions arise: Did we lock the front door? Is the small bathroom window still open? Do I need to ask the neighbor to check? Such questions can become a thing of the past thanks to smart door locks or window sensors.

https://pixabay.com/de/photos/smart-home-haus-technik-multimedia-3920905/

The Status Quo

Anyone dealing with the topic of Smart Homes faces the agony of choice. The market is flooded with countless providers and products, most with their own wireless standard, but all with their own app. And that’s where the problems begin. To avoid installing 34 different apps and bridges, you try to find a manufacturer that makes both the smart door lock and the IP-66 certified LED floodlights for the garden, and ideally also has window sensors on offer. All preferably hosted in a European cloud, with sufficient security and at a good price, as the competition from the Far East at least impresses with very good prices.

For the home admin, however, there are solutions to this problem. For example, ioBroker or the open-source OS home-assistant, which offer the integration of various Smart Home devices and protocols into a central platform and can then be expanded with functions like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

https://demo.home-assistant.io/#/lovelace/0

In any case, hardware is required, even if a single-board computer would suffice, it must be configured, updated, and integrated. However, those who do not want the administrative effort usually look for the provider or a wireless protocol where the overlap between their own preferences and the offer is best and reluctantly stick to it.

Matter

At this point, Matter comes into play. Matter is the answer from many major manufacturers to the sprawling variety of providers and protocols. It is a communication standard that establishes a common language and protocol, enabling interoperability between different manufacturers. Communication is IP-based, with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) intended for initial installation, and in terms of security, Matter relies on a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) for authentication and encryption. Additionally, Matter is open-source, although providers must pay for certification. From a technical perspective, the wheel hasn’t been reinvented here - just standardized so that it now fits various vehicles.

Thread

However, Thread might be new to some. Thread is an IP-based wireless connectivity standard supported by Matter, specifically developed for Smart Home devices. During its development, special attention was paid to energy efficiency: While WiFi is considered very energy-hungry and particularly limits the runtime of small battery-powered devices like the aforementioned window contacts, energy consumption has been significantly optimized with Thread. It also offers high reliability as it supports mesh networks, ensuring high range and redundancy.

Conclusion

In summary, the manufacturers’ effort to settle on a standard brings significant advantages for both the manufacturer and the user. The manufacturer saves development costs and opens their products to a broader market, while the user can access a wider range of products and potentially benefit from lower prices due to reduced development costs. Particularly noteworthy is the support for Thread, a standard that significantly expands the possibilities of Matter. Matter is a relatively young standard, but given its supporters, it already offers a considerable number of compatible devices and is definitely worth a closer look for anyone currently planning a Smart Home.