New Matter 1.2 spec and supported device types

Matter 1.2 update

SpartanShield ADMP can be easily integrated with Matter. It’s an application layer protocol for Smart Home that sits on top of a physical layer protocol IEEE 802.15.4, namely on one of its implementation, Thread, Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The ecosystem is growing rapidly with a bunch of vendors presenting there Matter certified devices.

Recently updated specification brought some new device types:

1. Refrigerators – Beyond basic temperature control and monitoring, this device type is also applicable to other related devices like deep freezers and even wine and kimchi fridges.
2. Room Air Conditioners – While HVAC and thermostats were already part of Matter 1.0, standalone Room Air Conditioners with temperature and fan mode control are now supported.
3. Dishwashers – Basic functionality is included, like remote start and progress notifications. Dishwasher alarms are also supported, covering operational errors such as water supply and drain, temperature, and door lock errors.
4. Laundry Washers – Progress notifications, such as cycle completion, can be sent via Matter. Dryers will be supported in a future Matter release.
5. Robotic Vacuums – Beyond the basic features like remote start and progress notifications, there is support for key features like cleaning modes (dry vacuum vs wet mopping) and additional status details (brush status, error reporting, charging status).
6. Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarms – These alarms will support notifications and audio and visual alarm signaling. Additionally, there is support for alerts about battery status and end-of-life notifications. These alarms also support self-testing. Carbon monoxide alarms support concentration sensing, as an additional data point.
7. Air Quality Sensors – Supported sensors can capture and report on: PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, CO₂, NO₂, VOC, CO, Ozone, Radon, and Formaldehyde. Furthermore, the addition of the Air Quality Cluster enables Matter devices to provide AQI information based on the device’s location.
8. Air Purifiers – Purifiers utilize the Air Quality Sensor device type to provide sensing information and also include functionality from other device types like Fans (required) and Thermostats (optional). Air purifiers also include consumable resource monitoring, enabling notifications on filter status (both HEPA and activated carbon filters are supported in 1.2).
9. Fans – Matter 1.2 includes support for fans as a separate, certifiable device type. Fans now support movements like rock/oscillation and new modes like natural wind and sleep wind. Additional enhancements include the ability to change the airflow direction (forward and reverse) and step commands to change the speed of airflow. 

The funny part is that highly unticipated Camera device type is omitted from the 1.2 update. Also, not much vendors are willing to add support for those new devices anytime soon.

Why Camera is a stranger to Matter

Camera devices are always playing a pivotal role in any Smart Home system. It has always been a pain for any Smart Home vendor to bring a whole set of supported sensor types including Camera because it was treated as a separate participant of the ecosystem. Partily, due to the lack of integration efforts required to bring Camera to a platform. Also, due to fact that Camera streaming requires a separate handling and extra orchestration efforts.

Hence, CSA decided to pay attention to bringing more device types to the ecosystem instead of focusing on the completeness of core Smart Home use cases. The completeness means the more data types are supported by Smart Home – non-visual and visual – the more mature is the platform.

Smart Home and device AIonization

SpartanShield is a strong believer that Camera devices are a first-class citizen for any Smart Home platform. Not only because it gives ears and eyes to your Smart Home platform. Mainly due to SpartanShield ADMP is being developed with a vision of AIΩnization for any type of devices under its management. Device AIonization means adding AI/ML capabilities to any device type. Vision data and Camera itself are core component of AI/ML execution environments shifted from the Cloud to the Edge.

How to bring Camera back to the stack

In order to make Camera an organic part of Smart Home Platform, we use SpartanShield Video Platform that serves as a unification, orchestration and device management tool for integrating such device type. In addition, the following components should be deployed to the Camera device itself:

• USP Agent for managing Camera firmware updates( optional )
• MQTT Agent for Camera orchestration and lifecycle management

Camera platform integration looks as on the diagram below.

Matter integration

Camera is not a part of the Matter specification yet. In the meantime, we can exploit a hybrid unification of such devices among all supported Matter sensors/devices. The same use cases are supported for Camera commissioning/decommissioning:

• QR code on the Camera is scanned by a Smart Home mobile application and the devices added to the platform.
• In order to remove the device from the Smart Home fabrique, the Camera is deleted from the management repository.

Conclusion

Eventhough Matter latest spec omitted the Camera devices, they can be easily integrated to the Matter fabrique and Smart Home Platform via the hybrid approach described above.

Also, it’s time to think about how exactly your Smart Home and IOT devices are applicable for executing AI/ML computations locally as well as be an integral part of your Device Fleet AIΩnization.