Nordic, Infineon add Matter 1.0 support to chips

Business news | October 5, 2022

By Nick Flaherty

Europe’s leading chip designers are adding support for the new Matter 1.0 standard for smart home and the Internet of Things.

Nordic Semiconductor has launched a unified software development kit brings support for all features of 1.0 version of Matter over Thread associated with the standard’s formal adoption

Infineon Technologies has also joined CSA and more than 280 companies to pioneer the Matter standard. The combination of its PSoC 6x ULP MCU and AIROC CYW43xx Bluetooth/Wi-Fi SoCs supports reliable, low power implementation of Matter over Wi-Fi edge devices.

Market research firm ABI Research predicts over 1.5 billion Matter certified devices will ship annually by 2030, as well as a vast range of consumer robotics, smart appliances, and other emerging smart home devices.

As part of the Matter 1.0 release, authorized test labs are open for product certification, the test harnesses and tools are available, and the open-source reference design software development kit (SDK) is complete. Companies with devices already deployed and with plans to update their products to support Matter can now do so, once their products are certified.

Infineon also has a Matter-compatible OPTIGA security chips and software that can be integrated into embedded systems to protect the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of information and devices. These use the ModusToolBox development platform to shorten IoT developers’ time-to-market.

Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK 2.1.0 supports for all the features in the 1.0 version of Matter over Thread following the Connectivity Standard Alliance adopting the specification for smart home device interoperability.

nRF Connect SDK is Nordic’s scalable and unified development tool for building products based on the company’s nRF52 and nRF53 Series Systems-on-Chip (SoCs), the nRF91 Series System-in-Package (SiP) plus the just-announced nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 Companion IC. nRF Connect SDK 2.1.0 includes full Matter over Thread and adds experimental support for Matter over Wi-Fi for the nRF5340 SoC in combination with the nRF7002 Companion IC.

The incorporation of Matter over Thread comes after Nordic was the first company to earn a Thread 1.3 certification badge for the nRF Connect SDK earlier this year. Thread 1.3 is a prerequisite for Matter over Thread and the certification can easily be inherited by the company’s customers for their own products.

“Nordic has played a major role in the Matter initiative since the very beginning, so we are pleased to introduce the nRF Connect SDK with full Matter over Thread support,” says Krzysztof Loska, a Technical Product Manager with Nordic. “This support is ready for Matter 1.0 adoption and allows developers to get started immediately on Matter over Thread development using Nordic’s nRF52840 and nRF5340 SoCs.”

Recent examples of products using nRF52840 and nRF5340 SoCs, and Nordic using its Thingy:53 prototyping platform to run the Matter Weather Station application, successfully completed the Alliance’s Matter Test Events and Matter Specification Validation Events (SVEs). This success proves the Nordic products’ maturity and full compliance with the Matter 1.0 specification.

“Our homes are the centre of our daily activities, from work to leisure,” said Thomas Rosteck, Division President Connected Secure Systems at Infineon. “We believe that having one standard solves the fragmentation of the smart home market, which will be the key in opening doors to drive better connectivity, digitalization and decarbonization in this market. The Matter initiative and Infineon’s integrated Matter solutions will allow consumers to customize, connect and control their smart home experience in a simple and secure way, while optimizing energy usage in the most effective manner.”

“What started as a mission to unravel the complexities of connectivity has resulted in Matter, a single, global IP-based protocol that will fundamentally change the IoT,” said Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance.

“This release is the first step on a journey our community and the industry are taking to make the IoT more simple, secure, and valuable no matter who you are or where you live. With global support from companies large and small, today’s Matter 1.0 release is more than a milestone for our organization and our members; it is a celebration of what is possible,” he said.

Over 280 member companies in the Alliance include Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, Samsung SmartThings, and Signify.

Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK; www.infineon.com/connectedhome