What’s New with Matter v1.3?
June 10, 2024
I last reported specifically on Matter about a year and a half ago. Back then, the first Matter devices were showing up. Matter certification labs were up and running, the SDK complete, and companies were starting to manufacture, upgrade, and get the official Matter stamp of approval for their devices. It’s been a bit of a slow roll though despite the fact that Matter was designed to make smart home devices simpler — giving your door lock and light bulb a way to talk directly to each other, either over WiFi or a newer protocol called Thread. Matter should make the smart home faster and more responsive. It should also enable an easier setup process, with compatible devices automatically showing up on your smartphone to allow you to connect them.
Matter is making this possible through its open source IP-based protocol, created to be a unifying standard that will help people create a reliable and secure ecosystem in their smart home. It is also designed to help smart home device manufacturers by allowing them to build products based on a single protocol instead of products for each smart home ecosystem including Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and others.
Since my last report there have been some significant upgrades to Matter. The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has announced the release of version 1.3 of the Matter protocol specification. According to the CSA, this new release adds support for:
Energy Management
To help users understand and manage their energy use, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint, Matter 1.3 introduces new energy reporting capabilities. This enables any device type to include the ability to report actual and estimated measurements, including instantaneous power, voltage, current, and others, in real-time, as well as its energy consumption or generation over time.
Electric Vehicle Charging
Matter 1.3’s energy features also enable new energy-centric devices, the first of which is Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE). This enables EV charging equipment manufacturers to present a consumer-friendly way to control how and when they charge their vehicles. It features the ability to manually start or stop charging, adjust the charging rate, or specify how many miles of range to be added by a set departure time, leaving the charging station to automatically optimize the charging to happen at the cheapest and lowest carbon times.
Water Management
Support for leak and freeze detectors, rain sensors, and controllable water valves provide homeowners with enhanced monitoring, management, and protection over water in and around their homes.
Support for New Device Types
Matter 1.3 added support for Microwave Ovens, Ovens, Cooktops, Vent Hoods and Laundry Dryers
Enhanced Support for Media Players and TVs
Finally, version 1.3 also added support for media player and TV scenes where commands for multiple devices can be triggered by a single command, and command batching where multiple commands can be combined into a single message.
Another interesting aspect of the implementation of Matter by various smart home device manufacturers is that some are building support for the Matter protocol directly into their products. Meanwhile, other device manufacturers are adding a Matter bridge product to their lineups that bridges between the Matter protocol and the company’s existing API to communicate with their products.
At first glance, it looked as though Matter bridges were a way for a company to quickly add Matter support to their existing products — and over time, the bridge would go away as Matter support was added to individual products. But this may not be the case.
It turns out that the process of adding Matter protocol support to an existing product, including going through the certification process, can be quite expensive for a device manufacturer. For companies that innovate and add new features to a product on an ongoing basis, the certification process needs to be repeated with each product update, which adds to the expense.
In addition, the Matter protocol, in its current form, tends to dumb down a product because unique features that a company may have implemented to differentiate their products from competitors may not be supported in the protocol.
A Matter bridge solves these issues. A Matter bridge only has to be certified once, even if the company’s other products that work through the bridge go through numerous updates. This can reduce the expense of implementing Matter. Also, a company can offer unique and innovative features that are only available through a product’s existing API even though only basic control features are available through the Matter bridge. This allows a company to continue to offer unique features that differentiate their products from competitors. So, don’t be surprised by companies offering Matter bridges instead of building Matter protocol support directly into their products.
Regardless, the Matter protocol continues to advance. Version 1.3 includes a number of new features including energy management and support for new devices. How device manufacturer’s implement the protocol is also evolving. Matter bridges are becoming an important tool for manufacturers to implement the protocol in a cost-effective way.
Let Debbie and I know what you think in the comments, DMs and emails as we really enjoy hearing from you. Thanks again to all those following Debbie and I through our home building journey. It’s great to hear your success stories and suggestions as we move through the process. And if you like the content I’m posting each week, don’t forget to ‘Like’ and ‘Follow.’
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