Matter, formerly Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), is a proprietary standard for

home automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It m ...

that is

royalty-free Royalty-free (RF) material subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights may be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each copy or volume sold or some time period of use or sales. Computer standard ...

, with manufacturers only incurring certification costs. Announced on 18 December 2019, Matter aims to reduce fragmentation across different vendors, and achieve interoperability among smart home devices and

Internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

(IoT) platforms from different providers. The project group was launched and introduced by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, Google,

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

and the Zigbee Alliance, now Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). Subsequent members include

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

, and

Schneider Schneider may refer to: Hospital * Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel People * Schneider (surname) Companies and organizations * G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company * Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...

. Matter-compatible software updates for many existing hubs became available in late 2022, with Matter-enabled devices and software updates Version 1.0 of the specification was published on 4 October 2022. The Matter specification is provided at no charge upon request after providing full name, company name, email address and consenting to their privacy policy, but cannot be redistributed without permission from CSA. The Matter

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open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

under the Apache License.

Background

In December 2019, Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung

SmartThings SmartThings Inc. is an American home automation company headquartered in Mountain View, California with a software development center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 2012, it focuses on the development of eponymous automation software and a ...

and the Zigbee Alliance announced the collaboration and formation of the working group of Project Connected Home over IP. The goal of the project is to simplify development for smart home products brands and manufacturers, while increasing the compatibility of the products for consumers. The standard is based on

Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP h ...

(IP) and works through one or several compatible border routers, avoiding the use of multiple proprietary hubs. Matter products run locally and do not rely on an internet connection, although the standard is designed to talk to the cloud easily. It is intended to enable cross-platform of smart home devices, mobile apps, and cloud services, and defines a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device certification. The project group is also expected to be joined by some other board member companies of Zigbee Alliance.

Versions

Updates to the standard are planned to occur every six months, although the next version is expected to be published 18 months after the first version was published and include new features, devices, device types and certification methods. * Version 1.0 of the specification was published on 4 October 2022. It introduced support for lighting products (such as mains power plugs,

electric light An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

s and switches), doorlocks,

thermostat A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. Thermostats are used in any device or system tha ...

s and

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...

controllers, blinds and shades, home security sensors (such as door, window and motion sensors), and televisions and streaming video players. * , version 2.0 of the specification

Supported devices

Devices are currently being certified. * Nanoleaf * Meross *

Philips Hue Philips Hue is a line of color-changing LED lamps and white bulbs which can be controlled wirelessly. The Philips Hue line of bulbs was the first smart bulb of its kind on the market. The lamps are currently created and manufactured by Signify ...

hub and sub-devices are available for developer testing. * Eve Home * Some device elements from Tuya have been certified. * Schneider Electric's Wiser hub is certified and sub-devices are compatible. * Aqara and two new Thread-enabled devices. * Without giving a timeframe, Wiz has announced that their existing products will receive a Matter update and that they are working on new Matter-enabled products. *

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

has launched their Assure Lock 2 line, which can become compatible with Matter through an upcoming add-on. * Without providing a timeframe, Level Lock has said it will update its locks over Thread.

References

External links

* {{Comcast Amazon (company) Apple Inc. Google Comcast Computer-related introductions in 2019 Home automation Internet of things

Background

Versions

Supported devices

See also

Further reading

References

External links