Communication protocols and protocol stacks like peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), compute express link (CXL), Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 818 (ARINC 818), Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) standard 204/B/C/D (JESD204B/C/D), Fibre Channel and so on, are formal descriptions of digital message formats and rules. They are separate from the physical transport layer, although some protocols […]
How can you minimize BERs?
Bit error ratios (BERs, sometimes called bit error rates) measure the ratio of incorrectly received bits in a data stream to the total number of bits in the stream. BERs are an unfortunate fact of life for digital and communication system designers and can be minimized and controlled, but not eliminated. BERs are related to […]
How can TinyML support sustainability on the edge?
Sustainability can be in the eye of the beholder. That’s certainly true for the question of how can TinyML (tiny machine learning) support sustainability on the edge? From a societal perspective, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) believes that TinyML can help to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From an engineering […]
When to use standalone or MCU-hosted Matter platforms
The choice is driven by several factors, including the communications protocol or protocols being used and the device type and location within the local Matter ecosystem. Solution size requirements, powering expectations, and bandwidth needs are some deciding factors when choosing between various Matter platforms. If a MCU platform is used, there’s the added choice between […]
How does Matter support multiple fabrics?
In this context, a “fabric” is a group of networked devices that share the same security domain enabling secure communications within the fabric. Devices in each fabric share the same top-level certificate authority (CA), a Root of Trust determined by the CA, and have a unique (usually 64-bit) identifier called the Fabric ID. To add […]
What’s a distributed compliance ledger and how is one integrated into Matter?
A distributed ledger is a type of database that’s shared, copied, and synchronized within a decentralized network. The general principal is similar to the blockchain technology used by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The distributed compliance ledger (DCL) developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), developers of Matter, is a type of distributed ledger used during the […]
What can designers make with Matter?
Matter enables designers to develop smart home accessories that work across all major wireless platforms. Mesh functions are possible because Matter operates as an application layer on top of technologies like Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread. Matter aims to simplify the setup and use of compatible smart home devices and bring some level of interoperability […]
What are the constituents of Matter?
Not elementary particles. The Matter being discussed here is an interoperable application layer software suite for wireless IoT devices. The constituents of that Matter include a modular software stack plus bridges, controllers, border routers, security including authentication, and cloud connectivity. Matter uses Thread, Wi-Fi, Ethernet transport, and Bluetooth LE for commissioning. Matter was initially called […]
How does Matter work as middleware for IoT devices?
Matter has been called an interoperable application layer solution, and the same source, the Connectivity Standards Alliance that oversees the development of Matter, refers to it as a protocol. This FAQ explores the definitions of communications interfaces and protocols. Compares those definitions with Matter and presents the possibility that Matter is not a protocol but […]
How many internal memories does an MCU have?
The number of internal memories in an MCU depends on how the memory is categorized. At the highest level, there are two; random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). But, if the interest is in memory performance, there are different types of RAM and ROM. And these different types of memory can be employed […]
