Making it Matter outdoors: StruXure launches connected pergola range

If you’ve ever fancied a motorized pergola for your back garden, a StruXure system might have already been on your list. But its new StruXure+ range has an added smart home dimension, integrating Matter over Thread technology.

This could be the smart home upgrade your outdoor living area has been waiting for.

StruXure and Nordic Semiconductor

A pergola that can react to weather, time of day, and presence relies on the latest smart home integrated technology. Nordic Semiconductor's nRF5340 SoC (System on Chip), adds integrated control of pergola features like lighting, the louvers, and even interior climate control. This is made possible thanks to an integrated Thread Border Router, courtesy of Dornerworks

“The primary driving factor for using the nRF5340 SoC was its maturity in the Thread and Matter ecosystems, while the nRF Connect SDK’s integration with Zephyr was also a contributing factor,” says Michael Cotter, Director of Engineering, DornerWorks. “DornerWorks developed all of the application code using the nRF Connect SDK’s Matter framework, while the SDK was also used for device drivers and peripheral management.

The nRF5340 SoC features dual Arm Cortex-M33 processors. One has 1 MB Flash and 512 KB RAM, capable of capable of DSP and Floating Point (FP). The other (a programmable ultra-low power network processor) has 256 KB Flash and 64 KB RAM.

Taking the smart home outdoors

A smart pergola is quite different to a Matter-connected wall outlet, fan control, or robot cleaner. But we’ve previously looked at various external smart home kit with Matter integration, such as outdoor lighting systems and weather-resistant outdoor smart plugs.

Matter over Thread adds interoperability between smart home devices between different manufacturers (Matter), which communicate efficiently across a mesh network (Thread). Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi are also supported by the SoC, as is cellular IoT.

"The outdoor pergola promises a user the ability to control the entire pergola experience from the palm of their hand," says Nate Bowen, Technical Product Manager, StruXure. "StruXure wants to be able to continue to evolve the connected experience over time with new device types that can enhance the end user's experience. From lights, louvers, heaters, and fans, Matter provides a common framework for communicating with and updating devices, and will speed up the process of adding new device types in the future."

At the time of writing it isn’t clear whether StruXure is introducing new models, but we suspect it is upgrading its PergolaX and CabanaX units. So, if you’re a smart home enthusiast looking for a seamless experience in your outdoor space, StruXure’s new products might be worth considering. They promise the ability to control shade and temperature from a smartphone app, and of course Matter adds a layer of smart home future proofing to any new product.

Where can you get a Matter-enabled StruXure pergola?

Despite being announced a few days ago, firm details about ordering this garden enclosure, and which Matter version is supported, have not been forthcoming.

Similarly, pricing is not publicly available. We recommend keeping an eye on the StruXure website and finding a local dealer in the US or Canada.