Matter & Thread: the place we’re at

Loads is occurring in Dwelling Assistant round Matter and Thread. It may be exhausting to maintain observe of all of it, so we needed to take a second to jot down an replace on the present state, and what we’re planning subsequent.

Abstract:

• Matter works, together with Thread units by way of Thread border routers from Apple and Google.
• The Thread border router in Dwelling Assistant is operational however not built-in till the subsequent launch, Dwelling Assistant 2023.3.
• We’ve expanded the documentation for Matter and Thread to cowl most requested questions and embody movies on how you can add Matter units to Dwelling Assistant.
• Customers utilizing a Dwelling Assistant Yellow hub can allow an experimental Thread border router.
• Customers on different techniques can get a Thread Border Router utilizing a Dwelling Assistant SkyConnect.
• Asserting SL Web Tools. It permits customers to make use of their browser to replace Zigbee/Thread sticks primarily based on SiLabs chips, just like the Dwelling Assistant SkyConnect.
• We’re open sourcing our automated build scripts to create reproducible firmware builds for Zigbee/Thread sticks primarily based on SiLabs chips.

Matter

Matter is a new smart home standard which works locally. Its first release was at the end of last year, and is in the process of being adopted throughout the industry. We’ve been working hard on making it work with Home Assistant.

Together with this blog post, we’ve released a big update to our Matter documentation. We have added instructions with accompanying videos on how to pair Matter devices with Home Assistant and how to share Matter devices from Apple Home/Google Home to Home Assistant.

Thread is a low-power mesh networking standard which allows users to connect their devices within a home network. It uses the same RF technology as Zigbee but provides IP connectivity similar to Wi-Fi. Matter supports Thread as a connectivity option for low-power and battery-operated devices.

We’ve created a mockup of this panel that you can try out here.

Screenshot of the mockup for the Thread panel. Open mockup

{Hardware} to make use of Thread & Matter

Each Matter and Thread are applied sciences which might be getting into mainstream markets. There are lots of shifting components in each applied sciences. We’ve been relying closely on the work achieved by Google, Apple, and different members of the CSA to make these applied sciences accessible to Dwelling Assistant customers (thanks!).

Google and Apple up to date their merchandise to help Matter and Thread. Nonetheless, it is necessary that we are able to function independently. Dwelling Assistant Yellow and Dwelling Assistant SkyConnect embody radio chips which might be able to operating Zigbee and Thread on the similar time. We’re engaged on making this multiprotocol help out there to all Dwelling Assistant customers.

Home Assistant Yellow

Home Assistant Yellow is our take on a perfect home automation hub. It’s powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4), which you can upgrade if you want more memory. And if you run out of storage, it has space to plug in a hard drive. And it’s open hardware.

For radio connectivity, it features a module by Silicon Labs, which is about up out of the field, to supply Zigbee. With the newest Dwelling Assistant 2023.2 launch, it’s attainable to show your Dwelling Assistant Yellow right into a Thread border router. This may be achieved by enabling our experimental multiprotocol help in Settings -> Hardware and by clicking Configure.

At present, it isn’t attainable to disable multiprotocol help as soon as enabled. We might be providing a solution to disable multiprotocol help quickly, permitting customers to rollback in the event that they run into points.

The Dwelling Assistant Yellow was initially crowd funded in October 2021. We’ve been busy with manufacturing and final month have fulfilled all unique backers and many of the pre-orders.

That’s why immediately, we’re completely satisfied to announce that RaspberryPi.dk might be our first distributor, outdoors of Crowd Provide, to begin promoting the Dwelling Assistant Yellow. They’ve already been produced and are presently on a ship on their solution to them. All variants might be pre-ordered on their website.

Extra distributors will observe as quickly because the chip scarcity permits!

Dwelling Assistant SkyConnect

Dwelling Assistant is about selection. You’re not restricted to operating it on official {hardware}, you possibly can convey your personal. In truth, Raspberry Pi units are by far the most well-liked platform to run Dwelling Assistant on, however there’s a catch: they lack any sensible dwelling radio connectivity.

We created the Home Assistant SkyConnect to provide the missing smart home connectivity. It contains a chip from the same family as the Home Assistant Yellow. It is set out of the box to provide Zigbee. With the latest Home Assistant 2023.2 and when using Home Assistant OS, it is possible to turn your Home Assistant SkyConnect into a Thread border router. This can be done by enabling our experimental multiprotocol support in Settings -> Hardware and by clicking Configure.

Dwelling Assistant SkyConnect was launched on the finish of 2022 by way of our distributor community (hit “purchase” on our web site). Many distributors bought out instantly however most must be receiving new inventory quickly.

Along with immediately’s weblog put up, we’ve pushed a giant replace to the SkyConnect documentation website, together with tutorials on how you can migrate from a distinct Zigbee stick.

SiLabs multi-flasher & SL Web Tools

As part of this effort, two years ago, we built ESP Web Tools. It revolutionized the DIY firmware world by allowing any ESP32/ESP8266 project to offer an easy web installer on their homepage, allowing users to get started directly from their browser. It has been adopted by all the great projects, including Tasmota, WLED, and ESPresense. Ever because the introduction of ESP Net Instruments, we’ve got needed to develop this to extra units.

Right this moment we’re asserting SL Web Tools. It permits customers to handle the firmware on Zigbee/Thread sticks utilizing SiLabs chips instantly from their browser, no terminals or compilation crucial. This enables any creator to supply simple firmware updates to their customers and make experimental updates out there to check bug fixes shortly.

To see it in motion, SL Net Instruments has been added to the Home Assistant SkyConnect documentation.

SL Net Instruments is powered by our new open supply Python package deal silabs-universal-flasher. We run this within the browser utilizing Pyodide.

Building firmware for Silicon Labs chips

Find the repository on GitHub.