NordicPico

MAKE IT MATTER

THE STORY

The road to Matter is hard.

I am following Matter long time before name Matter came up. Since early times back in 2019 when Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung and the Zigbee Alliance announced the project Connected Home over IP(Project CHIP)

As a consumer I knew that something nice will come up.

So I was following closely all the announcements without really going into technical details. The technology was in baby stage.

In 2021 CHIP became Matter. That was good news. Something is moving

I didn't really make a lot. Commercial products running Matter until last year (2023) was close to zero. At that time I was using HA- Home Assistant. When Add-on Matter server 0.1.0 popped up my reaction was to installed it immediate. But that was all. I did nothing but keep updating the HA Matter Server (Current server version: 4.10.2 ) and waiting for Matter products to appear or something to motivate us into Matter.

Think HA + Matter Server as a Matter Controller. The Matter Controller will come to you later but you can do a lot more with HA.

Then in 2023 I saw the “MAKE IT MATTER” contest. That was triggered me to start thinking seriously to invest some time building into Matter and test it into our Home Assistant installation.

In October 2023 the IOT connectivity standard announced Matter version 1.2, adding support for nine new types of connected devices. Robot vacuums, refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers are coming to Matter, as are smoke and CO alarms, air quality sensors, air purifiers, room air conditioners, and fans. Sure we will see more in the future.

That is more good news. Looks that I am on the right track.

I am investing in Nordic’s chips nRF52840, nRF5340, nRF7002, nPM1300, nRF91 Series, nRF54 Series, nRF connect SDK and all necessary tools to develop our projects for some time now.

This gave me the extra push needed to participate into the contest and make things move faster.

Winning of course is nice but I figured that following the “MAKE IT MATTER” journey will put me in a position to develop Matter devices and apply them in Home and Building Automation

So I did. My proposal called NordicPico based on Raspberry Pico footprint using Matter chips (nRF52840, nRF5340, nRF7002).

Why Raspberry Pico footprint?

Because Pico is a very popular form factor and others are making nice hardware on this footprint. Even linux modules found in the marked based on that.

Most important we have boards to accommodate Pico with many industrial I/O functions based on our award winning WIZcube platform:

https://wizcube.eu

https://gitlab.com/m10cube/m10

https://wizcube.eu/nordicpico(coming soon)

https://wizcube.eu/nordiccube(coming soon)

Every I/O board is a controller too.

That was derived from our M10CUBE community project (OSHW) https://gitlab.com/m10cube/m10

I am also preparing new versions of the I/O modules with enhancements and new functions.

What it means is that our NordicPico module will be a drop in replacement for Raspberry Pico module into our WIZcube ecosystem and make it Matter applications enabled.

Our I/O modules being Matter enabled will be able to connect and deploy into Home Assistant Matter Controller(or any other commercial Matter Controller like Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung Smart Things ). Commissioning can be done via Bluetooth or NFC

Everything will be Open Source and anybody can start building it now.

First NordicPico incarnation will use UBLOX NORA-N100 module (nRF5340) with external antenna connector. On the same footprint NORA-N120 can be used as well. This module has increased range using amplifier.

I have to say that the information on line is huge, scattered in many places and advising different ways to get the job done. I found it difficult to understand what road to follow but as days going by, reading again and again the examples and documentation, I got on the right track.

Writing the"ROAD MAP TO MATTER" manual I went through installation procedures many times.

When necessary links provided to show where this information was found. I advise to go there and see the source for a more detailed reading

I will keep improving and correcting it even after the "MAKE IT MATTER" contest has gone

I also decided to use Nordic’s new documentation concept.

I don’t know in what stage our proposition will be on the day of submission, but a lot of useful knowledge was accumulated for our Matter applications.

This documentation will be a valuable guide for us. I also hope it will be valuable for others in the community, when developing Matter applications using Nordicsemi products

Some series of events delayed us considerably and I did not finished our project the way I promised in the first place:

1 - I applied and got the nRF7002 DK at 19/010/2023. I have been late asking for the DK

Matter and Threat are very complicated and very new topics. I found out that the road is going to be difficult but very interesting.

All the educational material used can be found in the appendix

I consider education is the most essential step. That is why is STEP 0 for me. Nothing can be achieved without this step.

You can choose any type of education on that Matter but here is what I did. Better ways of course exists to kick-start. But is is up to you to choose one that fits you most.

I decided before getting further on Matter to take nRF Connect SDK Fundamentals course. It took me more time that expected to get the certificate but I have no regrets. If you want to make your own Matter hardware it is a must.

As first paragraph states nRF Connect SDK Fundamentals is a self-paced hands-on online course focusing on learning the essentials of firmware development using the highly extensible and feature-rich nRF Connect SDK.

I finished the nRF Connect SDK Fundamentals course and got the certificate. It took me me valuable time but I have no regrets. Without it nothing could have been done.

The certificate is optional of course but I thing it is a must if you want to program with nRF Connect SDK.

Of course if you already are familiar with the SDK you can omit this.

Next I watched the very important webinar “Developing Matter 1.0 products with nRF Connect SDK (11/2022)”

https://webinars.nordicsemi.com/developing-matter-10-products-with-5

I went through it many times during project development. I was able to find answers and correct things. It will be the reference webinar to deliver our project.

2– During experiments as project proceeds I broke the USB connector on the nRF 7002-DK and I was unable to program it. That was bad news.

Fortunately I already downloaded the Light Bulb firmware on nRF 7002-DK and tested it before the USB was broken. I have now a working Light Bulb module but no apparent way to reprogram it.

Looking for alternatives, a solution could be connecting the DK via JTAG connector + flat cable + JTAG programmer. Reading Nordic's documentation I discovered that another DK can be used as a JTAG programmer. An nRF9160-DK was sitting on a drawer and decided to try it.

I needed a flat cable with 2X5 pins IDE 1, 27 pitch connector. Not available at the moment but I ordered one. Not really able to receive it before the contest’s dead line but I am trying to source it from local market or to make one from what can be found in the drawer.

I also discover that the only way to detect a Thingy:53 (or any Thingy DK) inside VS code is by connecting it with a JTAG programmer.

That means using nRF9160-DK as JTAG programmer can program the Thingy:53 within VS code.

That is good news. It worked well and I wrote down my experience for others to follow that procedure.

The code is under development due to many problems arisen and not be able to finish on time.

Developing Matter for custom software is a difficult task and requires a lot of SDK knowledge and bug free sample codes.

Since non of the above are available at this moment code production for NordicPico will continue to develop after the submission.

I am working heavily with others to present the first firmware running on NordicPico

As a Greek poet wrote “What matters is the journey and not the destination”That is why I am starting a collection of notes reflecting my journey to “Make it Matter”. You can hardly call it a manual but let us say so for the sake of convenience. “THE ROAD TO MAKE IT MATER” manual is created.