Check out more of our CES 2023 coverage. This video is also part of the TechXchange: Why Matter Matters.
Matter is an overarching Internet of Things protocol designed to link diverse IoT protocols like Thread, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi from the Connectivity Standards Alliance. It does so through gateways that speak Matter and one or more of the other protocols.
NXP is one of many companies supporting Matter. Sujata Neidig, Marketing Director with NXP Semiconductors, showed me how the company connected many of its Matter-compatible devices together (see video above).
This includes the IW612 Tri-Radio transceiver (see figure). The chip combines Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 support in a single package. It's the type of device that would be in border routers that link the different networks together.
The IW612 handles dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) as well as Bluetooth LE 5.2 and 802.15.4-based protocols. Bluetooth Profiles such as hands-free (HFP), advanced audio distribution profile (A2DP) for audio streaming, and dual wideband speech (WBS) are just a few that are supported. The Bluetooth Low Energy support manages the 2-Mb/s high-speed data rate and BLE Audio uses isochronous channels for an improved audio experience.
NXP's Larry Olivas talks about the IW612 in the following video: