matter News - Page 2 of 14 - CNX Software

November 6, 2025 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 7 Comments

Review of SONOFF’s latest Matter Smart Switches – Basic Gen5 and Tx Gen2

Today, we’re about to review not one, but two new Matter devices: the SONOFF Basic Gen5 Smart Switch and the SONOFF Tx Gen2 Smart Wall Switch. Both are upgraded versions of their previous models, now adding support for the Matter protocol (over Wi-Fi). The Basic Gen5 is the fifth generation of the popular Basic series, known for being affordable and widely used in the market. It’s a Wi-Fi smart switch that can control all kinds of devices, such as lights or small electrical devices. Basically, anything within its 10A limit. What’s new compared to the previous BasicR4 is the addition of Matter and near-field control via Bluetooth. As for the Tx Gen2 (T6), it’s an upgraded version of the older T2/T3 lineup. Besides adding Matter, it also brings a few new features, like adjustable backlight brightness and the Detach Relay mode. Both models support voice control via Apple Siri, Google […]

October 28, 2025October 27, 2025 by Debashis Das - 3 Comments

Microchip PIC32-BZ6 BLE 6.0, Thread, and Matter wireless MCU integrates touch and motor control

Microchip IC32 BZ6 single chip wireless MCU

Microchip has recently introduced the PIC32-BZ6 family of single-chip, multiprotocol wireless MCUs, also available as RF-certified modules, and designed for smart home, industrial automation, and automotive applications. The module supports Bluetooth LE 6.0, IEEE 802.15.4-based Thread and Matter, and proprietary mesh protocols. For wired connectivity, there are two CAN-FD ports, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC, and a USB 2.0 full-speed transceiver. Other features include CVD-based touch sensing and motor control interfaces for interactive and real-time applications. As a secure MCU, the PIC32-BZ6 integrates a hardware-based security engine, a secure boot ROM, and encryption accelerators, along with OTA update capability for long-term device management. The microcontroller offers up to 54 GPIO pins, multiple pin and package options (up to 132-pin VQFN), and automotive-grade variants rated for -40°C to +125°C operation. Microchip PIC32-BZ6 specifications: MCU Core – 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M4F with FPU and DSP extensions Memory 512 KB multi-port SRAM (with […]

October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - No Comments

Weffort Outdoor Smart Shade Review with Home Assistant over Matter/Thread

We’re going to do a quick review of smart outdoor motorised shades from Weffort — another brand that makes smart shades compatible with popular Smart Home platforms, including Home Assistant, SmartThings, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Amazon Alexa. The cool thing about Weffort’s shades is that everything’s fully customisable and made-to-order — from the fabric and motors to casing styles, size, and the Smart Home platform you want to use with. With various options, it might sound complicated at first (usually people just let a pro handle it), but it’s actually way easier than you think. Plus, the shades are lightweight, so you can totally install them by yourself. Custom-made shades Before we got the test unit from Weffort, they let us locate a good spot for installation and testing so that we could take measurements following the guide on their website, which also has tips on choosing materials, installation, measurements, […]

September 26, 2025September 26, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nordic nRF54LM20A Cortex-M33 wireless MCU doubles the SRAM to 512 KB, increases flash capacity

Nordic Semiconductor nRF54LM20A Low Power Matter Bluetooth MCU

Nordic Semi’s nRF54LM20A is a new Cortex-M33-based high-memory wireless MCU part of the nRF54L Series with double the SRAM and higher flash capacity compared ot the nRF54L15. It targets consumer, industrial, healthcare, and smart home applications, and is especially suitable for HID peripherals and gaming devices. The SoC integrates a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with a RISC-V coprocessor, 2 MB NVM, and 512 KB RAM, alongside up to 66 GPIOs, high-speed USB, and Nordic’s fourth-generation ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth LE, Thread, Zigbee, Channel Sounding, and Matter. It offers twice the processing power, three times the efficiency, and up to 50% lower power consumption than the nRF52 Series. nRF54LM20A key specifications and comparison with other nRF54 Series SoCs: The nRF54LM20A comes in two packages: a CSP98 (3.9 x 3.7 mm) package for compact designs with 66 GPIOs, and a QFN52 (6 x 6 mm) package with 35 GPIO […]

September 19, 2025September 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Olimex ESP32-C5-EVB – A dual-band WiFi 6 IoT board with relays, opto-isolated inputs, LiPo battery support

Olimex ESP32-C5-EVB is an evaluation board built around Espressif’s ESP32-C5-WROOM-N8R4 module with dual-band (2.4/5.0GHz) WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread/Matter) wireless connectivity, 8MB flash, and 4MB PSRAM. The board integrates two relays rated 250V/10A, two opto-isolated inputs, and a LiPo UPS charger and step-up converter. Other features include USB-C ports, a UEXT connector for expansion, and two buttons. It’s one of the first ESP32-C5 boards we’ve seen, after Espressif’s own ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 development kit, and Wireless Tag’s WT99P4C5-S1 board using the ESP32-C5 as a wireless co-processor to the ESP32-P4 MCU. Olimex ESP32-C5-EVB specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-N8R4 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip, support for external PSRAM Storage – 320 KB ROM, support for external flash Connectivity Dual-band 802.11ax WiFi 6 […]

September 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

ESP32-H2-Zero mini Zigbee, Thread, and BLE USB-C board is based on ESP32-H2 RISC-V SoC

Waveshare ESP32-H2-Zero is a tiny USB-C development board based on Espressif Systems’ ESP32-H2 RISC-V SoC with Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth LE (BLE) connectivity. It’s specifically based on the ESP32-H2FH4S chip with 4MB Flash memory, and features two 9-pin headers and castellated for I/Os, plus four additional pads. It also features a ceramic antenna instead of an external antenna, as well as BOOT and Reset buttons. ESP32-H2 Mini specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-H2FH4S CPU – 32-bit RISC-V SoC clocked at up to 96 MHz Memory – 320 KB SRAM, 4 KB LP memory Storage – 128 KB ROM, 4MB flash Wireless 802.15.4 radio with Zigbee 3.0, Thread 1.3, and Matter support Bluetooth 5.2 LE/Mesh USB – USB Type-C port for power, programming, and debugging Expansion 2x 9-pin header and castellated holes with up to 15x GPIO, 5x ADC, UART, Fast SPI, JTAG, and power signals (5V, 3.3V, GND) 4x pads […]

September 2, 2025September 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 – A Zigbee/Thread USB Dongle based on SiLabs EFR32MG24 SoC

SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 laptop Raspberry Pi SBC

SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24, also called Dongle-PMG24, is a Zigbee/Thread USB dongle based on Silicon Labs’ EFR32MG24 wireless SoC, which offers the same features as the SONOFF ZBDongle-E with an EFR32MG21 SoC, but with “better performance”. SONOFF says the Dongle Plus MG24 comes with 300% more RAM (256KB) and 100% more flash (1536KB) than the ZBDongle-E/Dongle Plus E (I wish the company would just stop giving two names for each of its products…), offers a range of up to 200 meters with the provided 3dBi antenna. SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 specifications: Wireless SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ 78 MHz Memory – 256 KB RAM (300% more RAM than ZBDongle-E) Storage – 1536 KB flash (twice the flash of ZBDongle-E) Radios/Protocols – 802.15.4, Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee 3.0, BLE, Bluetooth Mesh, Proprietary 2.4 GHz, Multiprotocol (for the SoC, but only Zigbee is used here) Connectivity […]

August 18, 2025August 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Matter 1.4.2 adds support for WiFi only provisioning for cheaper devices, improves security, and more

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) released the Matter 1.4 specification in fall 2024, and we skipped Matter 1.4.1 here, but decided to cover the Matter 1.4.2 release, which enables WiFi only provisioning, removing the need for a Bluetooth LE radio often only used for onboarding Smart Home devices. This will enable device makers to reduce costs and hardware complexity by removing the Bluetooth LE radio and the associated software stack in designs where a BLE radio is only used solely for commissioning. While Matter 1.4.2 is a minor dot release, it includes many other changes we’ll cover below. Matter 1.4.2 highlights: Wi-Fi Only Commissioning – Relies on Wi-Fi Unsynchronized Service Discovery (USD), and removes the need for Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) radios to onboard devices to the Matter ecosystems. Security Enhancements Vendor ID (VID) Verification – Matter Controllers can now cryptographically verify that the Admins installed on a device are […]