Matter with Silicon Labs MG24
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With the recent introduction of Silicon Labs into the Arduino world with the release of the Silicon Labs core for Arduino, two very interesting boards bring Matter to everyone.
Two boards are based on the MG24: the Arduino Nano Matter and the Seeed Xiao MG24. |
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Hardware
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Both boards rely on the EFR32MG24 from Silicon Labs with an external SMAD21 for SWD debugging. If Arduino mentions SWD debugging, Seeed is mum about that feature. The Seeed board includes an external SPI Flash of 4MB, with dedicated pins. A more expensive variant of the Xiao MG24 includes an analog microphone and a 3-axis low-power accelerometer and gyroscope LSM6DS3TR-C.
The major difference is the number of exposed GPIOs: Arduino lists 21 while the compact Xiao only 10. The extra 8 pads cannot be used directly. Both boards feature castellated pins, so they can be soldered as a sub-system right on the final product. Otherwise, each form-factor connects to an ecosystem of extension boards, either Arduino Nano or Seeed Xiao. |
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Software
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The Silicon Labs core for Arduino supports both boards, with the same examples for Matter. Although at release 2.2.0, the implementation is very stable and all the Matter examples work. They include weather station, relay, RGB LED, switch, and many more.
Arduino has a long experience in user-friendly documentation, with an excellent user manual and detailed tutorials. The Matter section discusses Google Home, Apple Home, Amazon Alexa and Home Assistant as well. The Getting Started with Nano Matter Display introduces the e-paper screen of the Pervasive Displays E-Paper Development Kit for Matter. All the examples worked on the first try. Seeed offers a wiki with multiple pages, Getting started with the Seeed Studio Xiao MG24 and Matter examples as well. However, some of the recommended examples didn't work as expected and needed some investigation. For example, the IMU sensor is connected to the second I²C bus while the recommended library used the first I²C bus (ticket 21). The commissioning process had a success rate of 67% with the Arduino Nano Matter against 50% for the Xiao MG24 with the same border router. However, both antennas seem to have the same size. |
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Conclusion
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Although both the Arduino Nano Matter and the Seeed Xiao MG24 share the same Silicon Labs EFR32MG24, they differ on the form-factor and the extension boards they connect to.
Arduino documentation is more detailed and more user-friendly; all the examples work as expected. Seeed Studio still requires the end-user to put in some extra effort to get it to work. Although the prices of the Xiao MG24 (USD8 and USD11 with the sensors) are more competitive, the Arduino Nano Matter (USD20) seems to be a safer bet thanks to its documentation. |
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Links
Posted: 28 January 2025
