By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Imagine connecting thousands of Matter IoT devices to a single AP or even extending coverage to hundreds of meters or more from a single hub or mesh. This is now possible after Morse Micro became the first Matter-certified Wi-Fi HaLow vendor last month. The company says the certification is a critical step towards realising the vision of ‘IoT 2.0 outside the home’ which needs plenty of data connectivity to feed AI at the Edge.
The Matter standard for IoT was launched in late 2022 and since then more than 1300 devices have been certified by the Connectivity Standards Alliance – many (and probably most) run on a combination of BLE and Wi-Fi for connectivity. But not until last week has the Matter ecosystem been blessed with the option of introducing long-range and high device capacity Wi-Fi HaLow technology. The first Wi-Fi HaLow device – the MM6108-EKH05–Light by Morse Micro – was certified last month.
While Wi-Fi HaLow is not formally part of the Matter standard, the MM6108 platform has been certified as a Matter-certified reference design (product), which means developers can now experiment and create Matter-compatible client devices or APs taking advantage of Wi-Fi HaLow’s impressive range and excellent connectivity data rates. This is all part of realising the promise of IoT 2.0 under the umbrella of the recent and highly promising Matter standard, Morse Micro says.
“The next generation of IoT – commonly known as IoT 2.0 – is about intelligence and scale, and that’s exactly what Wi-Fi HaLow will enable, together with much wider coverage than Wi-Fi has ever delivered before. With the capacity to connect thousands of clients per AP, Wi-Fi HaLow is boosting Matter into the stratosphere in terms of scale. Add to this that HaLow connectivity rates will deliver plenty of data to feed AI at the edge,” says Andy McFarlane, VP Marketing at Morse Micro.
Morse Micro says the Matter certification ‘opens all doors’ to the already huge Matter ecosystem featuring tech giants such as Apple, Google, SmartThings (Samsung), Amazon, and even cableco Comcast. Wi-Fi HaLow’s sub-gigahertz operating frequency and the continued surge in the number of connected devices per household are both important drivers that could see Wi-Fi HaLow play an important role within the Matter ecosystem, Andy McFarlane says.
“Wi-Fi HaLow should be considered as just another kind of Wi-Fi, simply enabling plug and play IP connectivity and giving all of the security and interoperability benefits that Wi-Fi is well known for. But in addition to covering long distances, it’s sub-gigahertz frequencies are better able to penetrate not blocked by walls and doors, which is a huge advantage when it comes to covering the entire home and surrounds, including things like outdoor security cameras, wireless doorbells, gate actuators, and much more. And we know that the number of connected devices per household continues to grow with Japan’s NTT Docomo reporting some 50 devices or more per home.” he says.
And with Wi-Fi HaLow range comparable to that of proprietary technology LoRaWAN, Morse Micro says it believes Wi-Fi HaLow is the better choice when it comes to implementing future AI-capable IoT devices. “For AI at the Edge, connectivity speed at a distance will be important, and we have that covered with Wi-Fi HaLow,” Andy McFarlane says.
In a recent demonstration Morse Micro showed that Wi-Fi HaLow can deliver 2 Mbps at a distance of a whopping 16 kilometres (line of sight). “But for smart home solutions where Matter is so powerful, Morse Micro are confident of up to 20 Mbps across 99% of home property lot sizes. That’s a whole new kind of Wi-Fi from what we’re used to,” he says.
/Claus.
