CSA takes steps to explore Matter and long-range wireless capability

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the organization behind the Matter standard, formed a new team named the “Matter Long Range Tiger Team” on Wednesday. The team aims to gather requirements from alliance members for long-range capabilities.

Initial attempt

This initiative marks an internal effort to explore Matter’s potential for long-range wireless applications, which could significantly benefit consumers. In the future, Matter devices may be able to communicate with each other across greater distances, similar to Z-Wave.

This move follows a recent article published by The Verge, which suggested that the Z-Wave Alliance has embraced open source and Matter for its continued viability.

According to multiple sources, including notable Matter leaker @CyberModStudio, the new team will research and collect needs for long-range wireless capbilities from Matter device manufacturers. As Matter is based on IP, there could be variations of standards like Z-Wave and LoRa, or those based on cellular networks to extend the basic power of Matter.

Why it matters?

These potential advancements would benefit users in numerous ways. Matter devices could be installed in larger homes and extended to gardens or even wooded areas. Additionally, due to their physical properties, these protocols would likely utilize lower frequency bands, avoiding interference from the congested 2.4GHz band used by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, and Zigbee. This band is also sometimes used by proprietary protocols in 2.4G receiver dongles for PC accessories.

Such capabilities could also extend Matter’s applications to industrial settings like farms.

However, challenges remain. Unlike the 2.4GHz band, there are fewer globally available radio resources for unlicensed use at lower frequencies. Consequently, developing universal Matter devices operating on these frequencies could be difficult due to varying regulations across different regions. For example, Z-Wave uses different frequencies in different regions, and Tapo’s private Sub-GHz devices are exclusive to select markets.

Nevertheless, it is a positive step to see the CSA exploring the fundamental capabilities of Matter. As of the time of writing, the alliance has not yet responded to Matter Alpha’s inquiry on this matter.

Learn more about Matter and Z-Wave.