Over the past few years, there have been many attempts to create a working standard to connect home devices to enable the smart-home concept.
Without an industry standard and collaboration, the devices sold for connected homes and offices work together only if they come from the same manufacturer or agree with one of the service providers or internet companies.
For example, a smart speaker might work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Still, it needs to enable the software and security for each platform. Google’s Nest cameras can’t use the same platform as Amazon’s Blink, and conversely, a device that takes advantage of Apple Home can’t communicate with devices outside of Apple’s “walled garden.”
This is astonishingly frustrating for consumers, as they need to choose between providers and limit their selection to those supported by the same platform.
That’s why the big three internet companies and Samsung decided in December 2019 to form a working group to take down the barriers between their silos and agree to a common protocol to connect, secure, and manage home-connected devices and appliances.
Under the auspices of the Zigbee Alliance, now the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the “Connected Home over IP” (Project CHIP) working group was born. Later, in 2020, the project was renamed “Matter.”
Matter is built around a shared belief that smart-home devices should be secure, reliable, and seamless to use. Members of the Alliance have taken an open-source approach to developing and implementing this new, unified connectivity protocol. The idea is to be able to secure devices across platforms, eliminating the “walled gardens” for consumer devices.
To accomplish that, Matter proposes transparent communication with all existing home assistants and platforms, including Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit by Siri, SmartThings, and others. Additionally, it works over different communication standards, including Ethernet (802.3), Wi-Fi (802.11), Thread (802.15.4), and Bluetooth Low Energy. Other low-power wide-area networks such as LoRaWAN, Zigfox, and cellular IoT standards CAT-M and NB-IoT are being considered.
In addition to the original founders, members of the Alliance now include household names such as Ikea, Comcast, Huawei, Texas Instruments, Resideo, Somfy, and others.
The project aims to make it easier for developers to build a compatible device with other smart-home services. Therefore, a GitHub repository exists with documents and source code that people can use, regardless of whether they’re formal members of the organization.
Security by design
From the beginning, security was one of the foundations of Matter. Creating an open platform through which many device manufacturers can connect doesn’t make sense without solid authentication, onboarding, and security.
Comparable to the TPM standard, which raised the bar for PC security, the Matter standard aims to help smart-home device manufacturers significantly increase their products’ level of security while keeping costs controlled and avoiding needless complexity with easy-to-use hardware-based security.
That’s why companies such as NXP Semiconductors and Infineon Technologies, leading experts on hardware and software security, were among the initial partners and members of the original Project CHIP.
According to Infineon, “With CHIP, consumers will experience a new degree of professionalism when adding a new device into their home networks. From design to end of life, a device’s identity can now be stored and updated in hardware-based security. Hardware-based security can eliminate the use of insecure passwords, maintain device integrity through protected firmware updates, and protect private data through state-of-the-art data encryption.”
Every certified device comes from its manufacturer with a unique identity and hardware security built in. Adding that device to the smart home is really simple. The consumer doesn’t need to handle and update complex passwords for all of their devices.
“Project CHIP identifies security as a ‘fundamental design tenet,’ which means the working group will continually examine ways to improve security,” said NXP. “The goal is to make the smart home more resilient and reduce the number of attack points in connected devices. Security is one of the reasons why IP is the foundation for Project CHIP, since IP includes market-proven algorithms and infrastructure that implement routing, switching, and firewalling in robust and resilient ways. Also, IP works with transport protocols like TCP and UDP, thereby creating opportunities to deliver end-to-end security and privacy when devices communicate with other devices, apps, or services.”
For consumers, interoperability and certification will make it easier to select, install, and enjoy smart-home products. The initial installation will be quick and hassle-free, and adding new components to the setup will be similarly easy. There won’t be any more need to download and install different software components for each use case. There is no need for additional devices, such as dedicated hubs, gateways, translators, and proxies, to connect devices.
Source: Infineon Technologies
Steve Hanna, senior principal at Infineon, gives an example: “Say you buy a new coffeemaker. It’s [Matter]-certified. You bring it home, and you just can’t wait to have that espresso that you’ve been dreaming of all day. Well, don’t worry. First, you use your smartphone to scan a QR, which is the coffeemaker’s unique identity. So now your phone knows exactly what device you’re trying to connect to. Then you press a button on the coffeemaker, and an automated onboarding process is triggered. Your phone and the coffeemaker connect wirelessly. They perform a series of authentication, attestation, and configuration steps. In the end, your coffeemaker has been fully verified by the phone and provisioned with all the information it needs to connect to your home network and to work seamlessly there. [Matter] is not taking any shortcuts here. We’re using top-notch security. But because of the design, the usability is top-notch also.”
Furthermore, Matter ensures that the product purchased is the real thing, coming from the original manufacturer, not a copycat that can damage your home and compromise your network security. And that also works for refills, such as printer cartridges and spare parts.
The first Matter-certified home devices are expected to arrive in the market in the fourth quarter of this year, in time for the holiday season.
