Why it MATTERs (see what i did there)

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They're trying to get it right the first time - good for them. The next time I update devices, I want cross-vendor issues, security, interoperability, management, etc. to be hammered out so it isn't a kludge of an add-on (Z-wave's S2 security and Supervision - I'm looking at you!)

At least we have Z-Wave Long Range in the meantime. I hear that a device actually passed certification, so there's that.

And that Z-Wave 700 series announced in December 2019 - any day now, we might have some decent controller firmware (seriously, massive improvements in the firmware under testing now - but it took Silicon Labs over 3 years from device announcement to fix some significant issues there which has held back that product).

Its pretty obvious that virtually every one of the home control technologies is always released far off their schedules. Matter, being incredibly ambitious, will get there. One interesting thing about Matter is their open source "implementation first" approach - i.e., they aren't just in a silo writing specs. and then releasing that to the market for implementation, the whole industry is collaborating on a common "real" software implementation and making it public so that the bugs are worked across many vendors while the specs are finalized. It seems a very promising approach and I have high hopes this may actually give something that works well early on.

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Then there is the 800 series z-wave chip

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HE C8 with 800 series chip / ZB 3.0 and with external antennae :heart_eyes:

(also cause I love pain and suffering apparently)

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I'm pretty heavily invested in Z-wave, but the 800 series is a sign that Silicon Labs doesn't see much of a future for Z-Wave. 3 years after the 700 series, and the best they can do is to offer a minor bump in speed, memory, and transceiver sensitivity. All good things, but not a big deal.

On the other hand, if you look at their Zigbee line - they are developing combination Zigbee / Openthread / Bluetooth chips and are heavily investing there. It seems clear where they see the future and its not z-wave. I think many people here have reported / experience that Zigbee gives more reliable network connections than z-wave, add onto the reliable Zigbee physical layer the improved network features of openThread and a common and well defined command application layer of Matter, and the ability to expand out the network using multiple Boarder Routers, and this has the potential to be a real winner for both homes and commercial space. Despite my heavy investment in z-wave, I'm all for letting zwave technology die out ala X10 if OpenThread / Matter really delivers on its promise.

Its also interesting to note that many "Eve" products are already using OpenThread but still with HomeKit as the application layer (they are supposed to switch that out to Matter in the future), and from what I've read, it is a huge improvement over the older HomeKit method of wifi / bluetooth networking, so at least there's a small "real world" implementation out there to prove the base network openthread technology.

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Here is some current information on Matter. I for one, would gladly ditch Z-Wave.

[https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products-thread-wifi-explainer]

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So I think there is a lot of confusion around what's coming, and I've been trying to clear things up in my own mind about what the new standard will actually mean to how the smart home works. So here is the summary I've got in my head, correct me if I'm wrong as there are plenty of more knowledgeable folks out there.

Matter
Is an application layer, that sits on top of an IP network. It's a standard that sets out authentication, security, and command standards for device communication. It requires a device to act as a Matter Controller (hubs if you will), which could be a smart screen or speaker or traditional controllers like HE / Smartthings / HomeAssistant etc. Apart from any prohibitive costs involved, there shouldn't be anything stopping smart platforms from getting certified to market themselves as able to communicate using the Matter standard. I'm just not sure if a certified controller HAS to have Thread capabilities or not, but looking at the certified devices list it appears not.

ZigBee Alliance to CSA

ZigBee Alliance has led the change by using their Zigbee Cluster Library (ZCL) as a starting point for the application layer. Similarly to how (at least if companies actually follow the standard) most ZigBee devices can easily talk with controllers from other companies, the Matter application standard should allow for Matter compliant devices to be controlled by any Matter Controller. This will make compliant WiFi devices very easy to control locally, plus will make it easy to communicate with Thread and IP over Bluetooth devices.

Thread
Although thread is similar to Zigbee, in that it uses the same wireless (802.15.4) standard, it doesn't actually specify the application layer unlike what ZigBee already does. Thread uses IPV6 addresses to address devices over the mesh (unlike the 16-bit ones for Zigbee), and requires a controller to act as a Thread Border Router to translate the devices over regular IP-based ethernet networks. I'm assuming it's a NAT (Network Address Translation) type situation occurring here.

Zigbee
So what about ZigBee? In theory ZigBee meshes can still interact with Matter as long as whatever device that is acting as the coordinator is Matter compliant and able to translate the Matter application commands into ZigBee ZCL equivalents. I'm guessing this is what we will see from companies like Philips Hue. The Bridge will be updated to support Matter, but the devices themselves won't be. The Bridge may communicate over the IP Network using the Matter standard, but translate communication for the ZigBee devices similarly to how the Thread Border Router translates at the network layer.

Existing ZigBee platforms, think Hue, IKEA, Tuya, etc may just update their hub/controller to be complaint and continue to sell ZigBee devices for their systems (especially if Matter device compliance costs more) for some time. Eventually though, more and more devices will shift to Thread/Wifi, but I don't think ZigBee will be dead overnight though.

What about HE?
Obviously the team will evaluate their plans going forward, and I'm not sure if there are any catches to certification (apart from cost), but there wouldn't be anything from what I can see that prevents the HE platform from supporting Matter over IP with current hardware. Future hardware could of course add a Thread capable radio to support newer devices once they become readily available, but I don't think there really needs to be a rush.

Matter could make it easier to communicate with other ZigBee gateways, say the IKEA Tradfri, for devices that maybe don't play nice currently. The best result though, would be a plethora of Wifi devices that are updated to play nice with Matter. This would make it MUCH easier to officially support devices like say TP-Link Kasa if the application standard was consistent.

Anyway, that's the summary in my head at the moment. Can anyone see where I'm way off or have missed a crucial part of the puzzle?

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FYI - it is already possible for a single radio to support both zigbee and thread simultaneously. As you may be aware, Nabu Casa has crowdfunded new hardware that runs Home Assistant, called Home Assistant Yellow. In their most recent update on this project, they indicate the SiLabs RF module used in their hardware simultaneously supports zigbee and Thread. Here's a screenshot of the relevant portion ...

Screen Shot 2022-04-09 at 9.17.52 PM
Screen Shot 2022-04-09 at 9.17.52 PM1544×274 31.1 KB

I would guess that when/if Matter becomes a real thing, a future Hubitat hub could be designed to use a similar bifunctional module.

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Yep, I saw the talk of a combined one. I should edit to just say a thread capable radio, as it probably won't need to be separate. Still... I'm pretty sure our current HE's can't support Thread with the current radios, so that would be a hardware revision at some point. I just don't think there needs to be a rush for that though.

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I think you're correct on both points. Heck - there still isn't an agreed upon Matter spec!

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Lol yep, they're talking about releasing 0.9 spec now, because they still haven't finished the 1.0 spec. I'm curious what role certification will play with controller devices. Will a WIFI Matter Bulb refuse to talk to say an uncertified DIY setup? or if the standard is open enough that anyone can configure a controller then it will be easy for various platforms to add support. I just hope the certification stuff is more a marketing tool than a restrictive source of control.

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Interesting update on Matter today from Samsung

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well it's not really simultaneous, the application controlling the module time-slices between the two protocols. In my mind this could cause some lost frames in busy networks and wouldn't be my go to solution for reliable networks.
They can run concurrently if using the same channel with reduced bandwidth, also not conducive to large network deployments...

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What about just using multiple radios so that it handles larger networks more efficiently?

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that would work, but the price of a hub would go up when most users aren't going to be running both protocols, might be better to have a configuration setting to select which one you want...

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I mean radios can't be that much (I'm sure you know better than I do) after certs and what not... I'm sure you guys are keeping things on your radar should stuff progress on that front. That said, I'm putting matter on the shelf with my Duke Nukem Forever...

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For anyone who wants to start learning at a bit more technical level:

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That would be a good solution. I currently run 2 C7's with the Primary running Z-wave & Zigbee and the secondary C7 has the radios turned off and runs my cloud integrations (shared using Hub mesh).

It's be great If I could enable my second C7 to be a Thread/Matter Hub instead of Zigbee (I currently have an Apple HomePod Mini already and Hubitat-HomeKit Integration.

It'd be amazing if we could ditch HomeBridge and integrate Hubitat with HomeKit directly via Matter/Thread.

I was very very sceptical of Matter, however it's looking more and more likely to be a good step forward for the Home Automation industry (although I still prefer z-wave).

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So Wemo released a thread enabled switch that only works with Apple Thread Border Router devices and not others. So much for device compatibility.. to be fair other border router support is/may be coming in an update or some such but interestingly the point remains - you can still have your walled garden with thread apparently. Matter support will be offered on a different model.

:grimacing:

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Pretty sure that's just brain dead marketing (and another reason to stay away from Wemo). The whole point of Matter for device makers is to reduce SKUs. Apple itself is planning a transition to Matter, not sure about the future of future legacy HomeKit over Thread. Eve is one of the major makers of HomeKit over Thread devices and they're certainly planning to transition because it opens up new markets for their devices.

One of the nice things about a Thread network is that it is not locked into any one "language". HomeKit over Thread, Matter, maybe Lutron Clear Connect X in the future (unlikely)

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The thing about thread is that it's open source and free. There is no licensing fees for it. So if lets say Hubitat made a thread compatible hub, then that would connect to the WEMO.