【Matter】Can nRF52832 support the matter protocol?

[xiaolongba]

Hello Nordic experts,

Recently, I found that the Matter SDK has been released. based on the matter layers, as below:

I have the following questions as follows:

1. Can BLE-only devices communicate with other matter devices? because based on the matter protocol layers above, IPV6 for BLE is also supported.
2. If Item1 is yes, nRF52840 can implement it via 6lowpan? can I consider IPV6 for BLE as the same as 6lowpan?
3. If Item1 is yes, can the current matter SDK support the IPV6 for BLE feature?
4. If not, when the matter SDK will support this feature? any limitations for it?

[LeonWu]

Well, BLE is not supporting IPv6 as of now, the chart you show is just a willingness of Matter supporting all the general protocol. For now, Matter v1.0 only has support to Matter over Thread and Matter over Wi-Fi, we have published the NCS v2.1 recently, which introduce our support on Matter over Thread on nRF52840 and nRF5340: https://www.nordicsemi.com//News/2022/10/Nordic%20Semiconductor%20introduces%20full%20feature%20support%20for%20Matter%201%200%20in%20nRF%20Connect%20SDK?utm_campaign=1806%20News%20releases&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=228335781&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9KK9sYOCTkWpojpQXR_EqsSsUbw9r4I1l_b6UBqpDHCzqGzY_I9arKTIwsjyp2neAeYrBrpNtO9rwulbJ8oekvAAU05A&utm_content=228335781&utm_source=hs_email

For the question in topic, now, we don't have plan to have 832 supporting Matter.

Thanks!

Leon Wu

Regional Sales Manager

[xiaolongba]

Hello Leon,

Many thanks for your prompt replies.

LeonWu said:

BLE is not supporting IPv6 as of now,

but I found that Nordic can support IPv6 over BLE already, as below:

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/struct_sdk/struct/sdk_iot_latest.html

so can you help me double confirm?

so, as you said above, IPV6 over BLE feature is the limitation for the current Matter v1.0. in my understanding, it should be out of Matter spec as Matter protocol is IP related only and don't concern about the generic protocol. the reason why Matter over Thread or Matter over WiFi as they are all supporting the IP protocol in nature.

can you help me double check again?

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

xiaolongba said:

but I found that Nordic can support IPv6 over BLE already, as below:

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/struct_sdk/struct/sdk_iot_latest.html

The nRF IoT SDK is deprecated and should not be used. Also, if you want to develop Matter applications it cannot be used. The nRF Connect SDK is our only SDK which supports Matter.

xiaolongba said:

so, as you said above, IPV6 over BLE feature is the limitation for the current Matter v1.0. in my understanding, it should be out of Matter spec as Matter protocol is IP related only and don't concern about the generic protocol. the reason why Matter over Thread or Matter over WiFi as they are all supporting the IP protocol in nature.

can you help me double check again?

In Nordic's Matter applications, Bluetooth LE is only used for commissioning. Google's Developer Center has a primer which illustrates and describes the layers of a Matter product.

This illustration is from that primer.

If you have any more questions about the roadmap and planned features of Matter, Leon can be contacted via email.

If you do not have is email address, send me a private message, and I will provide it to you.

Kind Regards,
Maria

[xiaolongba]

 Maria Gilje 

Hello Maria,

Many thanks for your detailed replies. I can understand that Matter v1.0 can only support the commissioning feature at this moment, as the primer mentioned, as below:

"Matter also supports bridging of other Smart Home technologies such as Zigbee, Bluetooth Mesh and Z-Wave. This means that devices based on these protocols may be operated as if they were Matter devices through a Bridge, which is a member device of both a Matter network and the other, bridged, IoT technologies."

in my understanding, nRF52832 can also communicate with other matter devices via a bridge, so the current nRF Connect SDK is possible to implement it? At least, Nordic has such one similar demo. right?

As I am a BLE player, I don't want to spend much time on Thread, my purpose is to connect to the Matter network via a bridge with BLE devices, is it possible to implement it via the current nRF connect SDK.

if it is possible, Can I save the Matter certification fee if using BLE-only devices because the bridge has been authorized? If not, any solutions can let the BLE-only devices connect to the Matter network without the Matter certification fee as 2.5K dollars for each type of device is too expensive.

My email as below:

[email protected]

thanks in advance.

[LeonWu]

Hi Helon,

I send out an Email to follow up this question with you.

Thanks!

Leon Wu