RoadTest: Seeking a Developer to Evaluate the Arduino Nano Matter
Author: meera_hussien
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: This product is similar other Arduino products, except that that it has onboard Matter. This product is comparable with SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE Dev Kit
What were the biggest problems encountered?: Setting up a Matter network from scratch can be challenging. Instead, it is much easier to use a device such as the Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen), which can easily connect to the Arduino Nano Matter.
Detailed Review:
Arduino Matter is designed to simplify IoT development. With the Nano Matter board, you can build smart devices that work seamlessly with platforms like Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. First Let's look at "Matter". Why Matter?
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) aims to ensure that smart home devices are secure, reliable, and interoperable across the Internet of Things (IoT), regardless of manufacturer. One of the major challenges in the smart home ecosystem has been the fragmentation caused by different application-layer implementations, which often restrict device compatibility. To address this, the Matter standard was introduced, enabling devices that support Matter to operate under a unified protocol. This provides a more consistent and seamless experience for both manufacturers and end users.
Although Matter is designed to make IoT interactions effortless for consumers, the underlying technology is far from simple. It incorporates a range of tools and mechanisms to achieve secure, seamless connectivity within IoT systems. Gaining an understanding of these tools is essential for developing a comprehensive grasp of how Matter works and why it is transformative.
Matter implements the Application Layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. It builds on the lower layers, such as the transport and network layers, to enable reliable communication between nodes.
Matter may sit on top of two prominent connectivity technologies: Thread and Wi-Fi. Thread is a low-power wireless mesh networking protocol that facilitates reliable communication between nodes. It enables extended coverage and reliable connections to improve the overall performance of IoT ecosystems.
Matter is an IPv6-based protocol that utilizes transport layer protocols like TCP/UDP to facilitate network addressing and reliable transmission of data packets, respectively. Due to this, Matter is compatible with multiple connectivity options (such as Thread and Wi-Fi). This flexibility allows Matter-enabled devices to communicate over various network protocols, ensuring broad compatibility and integration with different networking technologies.
The true power of Matter lies in its commitment to interoperability. Industry leaders such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Samsung Smart Things have implemented Matter in their IoT devices, fostering wider adoption from other manufacturers. Matter also supports bridging from other existing technologies, such as Zigbee, Bluetooth® Mesh, and Z-Wave. This allows already existing IoT technology to be integrated into an interoperable environment. The compatibility and seamless integration across brands create a unified ecosystem where your smart devices work harmoniously.
In theory, Matter can operate over any IPv6-capable network. In practice, however, the current Matter specifications are designed around three key link-layer technologies: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Thread (IEEE 802.15.4). This ensures reliable implementation while maintaining broad compatibility with existing infrastructure.
One of the most important strengths of Matter is its networking flexibility. The protocol does not require a globally routable IPv6 infrastructure to function. Instead, Matter allows multiple independent networks to run over the same underlying set of IP networks. This flexibility makes it well-suited for both small-scale and large-scale IoT deployments.
Matter deployments typically follow one of two common topologies:
Single Network Topology
In this setup, the Matter network runs exclusively over a one network. For example, all devices may communicate over a Thread 802.15.4 mesh, or entirely through a Wi-Fi network. Here, every device is part of the same logical network, simplifying communication and management.
The Star Network Topology is a more common approach where multiple peripheral networks are connected through a central hub network. Each peripheral network must join the hub via one or more border routers (also called edge routers).
Border Router Role: A border router provides routing services between two IP subnets, effectively acting as a bridge. This allows devices in different networks (e.g., Thread and Wi-Fi) to communicate seamlessly.
Flexibility: Because the hub interconnects multiple peripheral networks, different home or industrial networks can coexist and interoperate within the same Matter ecosystem.
Interoperability: The star design enables robust communication across diverse devices and network types while centralizing management through the hub.
This architecture is especially well-suited for smart homes and campuses, where multiple local networks (sensors on Thread, cameras on Wi-Fi, appliances on Ethernet) need to communicate reliably while still being managed through a unified hub.
Matter Layered ArchitectureMatter is organized into a layered architecture that separates different responsibilities and encapsulates the components of the protocol stack. The diagram below illustrates how the various layers within the Matter application stack interact, as defined in the Matter specification. In practice, the last four layers are grouped together and managed as the Messaging Layer and the Transport Layer.
The Application Layer of the Matter stack is the highest layer, and corresponds to the high-level logic of the device. The user application is built on the unified data model, which helps improve interoperability.
The Data Model layer corresponds to how the data and action elements support the functionality of the application, such as the defines of the elements, namespaces for endpoints, clusters, and attributes in the application.
The Interaction Model handles, as the name suggests, the interactions between the nodes and is responsible for how data is transferred between nodes. Both the Data Model and Interaction Model are inherited from the well-known dotdot standard used by Zigbee.
The Action Framing layer is where the interactions are transformed into a message payload.
The Security Layer takes the payload and encrypts and appends the packet with a MAC (Message authentication code).
From the security layer, the packet transfers down to the Transport layer to what the Connectivity Standards Alliance refers to as the Message Framing and Routing layer. This updates the payload with the necessary routing information such as fabric and Node ID.
Finally the packet is sent to the Transport and IP Framing layer, from which the payload is sent through the IP network either through TCP (which is not yet currently supported) or Matter's Message Reliability Protocol, a software layer on top of UDP, for IP management of the data. Note that the IP Framing in Matter is handled by the Networking Protocol stack to handle this.
Once the data is received on a peer device, it travels up the Matter Protocol stack in reverse and delivers the message to the Application layer.
The above details are sourced from Silicon Labs | Developer Documentation
The Arduino Nano Matter combines the Arduino's user friendly approach with the powerful MGM240S technology from Silicon Labs. It enables 802.15.4 (Thread®) and Bluetooth® Low Energy connectivity, to interact with Matter-compatible devices with a user-friendly software layer ready for quick prototyping. The overview of the board's main components, as shown in the image below:
The pinout for the Arduino Nano Matter is as shown below
Image below shows the overview of the high-level architecture of the Nano Matter.
And the figure below shows the power options available on the Nano Matter and the main system power architecture.
For setting up the Arduino Nano Matter, we will be using the Arduino IDE. Follow the steps below to set up the Arduino Nano Matter in Arduino IDE. First connect the Arduino Nano Matter to the computer. You will notice that the onboard RGB led starts to lights up as shown in the figure below.
Next open the Arduino IDE and follow the steps below.
You will be prompted to install the board. Click yes.
Once we have set up the Arduino Nano matter. we can now try to test run the classic blink code to ensure that it is working fine. Once successfully uploaded the code. The red led should blink as shown in the image below.
With this we are now ready to move on with the example projects and to test the MATTER application.
For the project, my plan is to control the led/relay using MATTER. For this i found that i would need a Matter Controller and since i dont have one i decided to build one. Based on my search i found that it is possible to build one using Raspberry PI + nRF52840. For this i have refer to the tutorial here for setting up the dongle.
When i first flash the dongle. It was successful and when i try to reflash the dongle i start get the following error.
And after i try to write the firmware, this is the error that i am getting
I tried to resolve this, but looks like it requires more time to solve. Will keep updated once i manage to resolve this or find other way to get this working.
