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This paper analyzes Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, and Amazon Alexa platforms, focusing on their integration with the Matter protocol. Matter is a connectivity standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) for the smart-home industry. By examining key features and qualitative metrics, this study aims to provide valuable insights for consumers and industry professionals in making informed decisions about smart-home devices. We conducted (from May to August 2024) a comparative analysis to explore how Google Home Nest, Apple HomePod Mini, Samsung SmartThings station, and Amazon Echo Dot platforms leverage the power of Matter to provide seamless and integrated smart-home experiences. 

With the availability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices offering varied services, smart home environments have seen widespread adoption in the last two decades. Protecting privacy in these environments becomes an important problem because IoT devices may collect information about the home’s occupants without their knowledge or consent. Furthermore, a large number of devices in the home, each collecting small amounts of data, may, in aggregate, reveal non-obvious attributes about the home occupants. A first step towards addressing privacy is discovering what devices are present in the home. In this paper, we formally define device discovery in smart homes and identify the features that constitute discovery in that environment. Then, we propose an evaluative rubric that rates smart home technology initiatives on their device discovery capabilities and use it to evaluate four commonly deployed technologies. We find none cover all device discovery aspects. We conclude by proposing a combined technology solution that provides comprehensive device discovery tailored to smart homes. 

Roughly 6 million homes are sold each year in the United States alone.1 Before a home is sold, a building inspector often examines the integrity of the building and renders an opinion on its soundness— examining things like structural integrity, electrical safety, mold and mildew, and radon or other toxins. These inspectors have specialized tools, knowledge, and experience to make a more informed judgment than nonprofessionals are capable of making. 

Internet of Things (IoT) devices left behind when a home is sold create security and privacy concerns for both prior and new residents. We envision a specialized “building inspector for IoT” to help securely facilitate transfer of the home. 

As the integration of smart devices into our daily environment accelerates, the vision of a fully integrated smart home is becoming more achievable through standards such as the Matter protocol. In response, this research paper explores the use of Matter in addressing the heterogeneity and interoperability problems of smart homes. We built a testbed and introduce a network utility device, designed to sniff network traffic and provide a wireless access point within IoT networks. This paper also presents the experience of students using the testbed in an academic scenario. 

Project Connected Home over IP, known as Matter, a unifying standard for the smart home, will begin formal device certification in late 2022. The standard will prioritize connectivity using short-range wireless communication protocols such as Wi-Fi, Thread, and Ethernet. The standard will also include emerging technologies such as Blockchain for device certification and security. In this paper, we rely on the Matter protocol to solve the long-standing heterogeneity problem in smart homes. This work presents a hardware Testbed built using development kits, as there is currently very few devices supporting Matter protocol. In addition, it presents a network architecture that automates smart homes to cloud services. The work is a simple and cheap way of developing a Testbed for automating smart homes that uses Matter protocol. The architecture lays the foundation for exploring security and privacy issues, data collection analysis, and data provenance in a smart home ecosystem built on Matter protocol.