May 10, 2024
News
The Matter 1.3 Specification was published this week, and according to the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the new spec enables energy reporting for Matter devices, new entertainment features, support for water management devices, electric vehicle chargers, and new major appliances.
Version 1.3 of Matter and its SDK has been eagerly awaited by device makers and platforms. They will now be able to integrate Matter into this new suite of products. The latest release is still focused on Smart Home operation and efficiency, with added devices intended for kitchens and laundry rooms, to enhance entertainment and on-screen interactions, and energy and water management support.
Power and Water
The water and energy management device types that have been added are likely to be the most impactful to homeowners’ budgets. Matter 1.3 introduces energy reporting capabilities designed to help users understand and manage energy use so they can save money and reduce their carbon footprint. These new tools can enable any device type to report actual and estimated measurements including instantaneous power, voltage, current, and others, in real-time and energy consumption or generation over time, the Alliance said.
For EV charging in the home, Matter now enables energy-centric devices, the first of which are reportedly Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) that will give consumers control over how and when they charge their electric vehicles. Users can manually start or stop charging, adjust the charging rate or specify how many miles of range to be added by a set departure time, an automated application that lets the charging station optimize charging to happen at the cheapest and lowest carbon times.
In the water department, the new spec now supports leak and freeze detectors, rain sensors, and controllable water valves.
With Matter 1.3 also adds support for more home appliances, including microwave and standard ovens, cooktops and ranges, vent hoods, and the addition of laundry dryers to washers, which were added in Matter 1.2.
Home Entertainment and Media
The new specification now offers improvements to TV functionality, including push messages and dialog support for new ambient experiences, casting initialization enhancements, expanded interactivity options for TV apps, text and track support, and improved search functionality, according to the release. They have reportedly also enhanced interaction with other Matter devices, allowing them to send notifications to TVs or other devices with screens.
New Features & Improvements
The latest update to Matter is also loaded with features and core improvements designed to improve end user experience across many Matter devices.
These include:
- Scenes that enable users to create a desired state for devices, rooms, or their whole home with a single command to control several devices. The devices are also able to store what scenes they are a part of, reducing the number of individual commands needed to execute a scene transition, and improving responsiveness.
- Command Batching allows users to trigger multiple actions on multiple devices with a single message to minimize the delay between executions of those commands.
- Improved Network Commissioning offers reporting about which Wi-Fi bands a device supports, which makes error reporting more accurate, and on Thread devices, it includes attributes to communicate the devices’ Thread version and supported features.
- Timestamps of events can be synchronized across devices, even if an individual device doesn’t support time synchronization.
- Extended beaconing period to give more time for users to commission devices for the first time.
- Several clusters have undergone revisions, including Basic Information, Channel, Door Lock, General Diagnostics, Media Playback, Network Commissioning, Power Source, and Thermostat clusters.
- Automatic SDK XML cluster description is a new tooling that eases alignment between the Matter Specification and SDK functions and makes it easier to develop new standardized clusters. It’s also designed to promote interoperability because the tooling can be used to eliminate inconsistencies between the technical spec and the Matter SDK.
For more details and tech specs on Matter 1.3, visit:
Matter 1.3 specification and test plan
Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with two decades of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers, he would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars. In previous lives, he’s been a short order cook, telemarketer, medical supply technician, mover of the bodies at a funeral home, pirate, poet, partial alliterist, parent, partner and pretender to various thrones. Most of his exploits are either exaggerated or blatantly false.
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Wanda Parisien is a computing expert who navigates the vast landscape of hardware and software. With a focus on computer technology, software development, and industry trends, Wanda delivers informative content, tutorials, and analyses to keep readers updated on the latest in the world of computing.
