Matter Silicon Labs Lighting Example (Zephyr)

Matter Silicon Labs Lighting Example (Zephyr)#

An example showing the use of Matter on Silicon Labs SoCs running Zephyr RTOS. The same application can be built for either:

  • Wi-Fi transport on the SiWx917 Wi-Fi SoC (board siwx917_rb4338a).

  • Thread (OpenThread) transport on the EFR32MG24 SoC (board xg24_rb4187c).

Introduction#

The Silicon Labs lighting example provides a baseline demonstration of a Light control device, built using Matter on Silicon Labs SoCs running Zephyr RTOS. Depending on the selected board, it can be controlled by a Matter controller over either a Wi-Fi network (SiWx917) or a Thread network (EFR32MG24).

In both cases, the device is commissioned over Bluetooth Low Energy: the device and the Matter controller exchange security information through the Rendez-vous procedure, and the controller then provisions the operational network credentials:

  • On SiWx917 (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi SSID and passphrase are sent and the device joins the Wi-Fi network.

  • On EFR32MG24 (Thread), the Thread operational dataset is sent and the device joins the Thread network.

This example implements a software-only lighting device without GPIO control, suitable for testing Matter protocol functionality and network connectivity on the supported Silicon Labs platforms.

The lighting example is intended to serve both as a means to explore the workings of Matter as well as a template for creating real products based on Silicon Labs platforms.

Configuring the application#

You can configure various aspects of the application using Zephyr’s menuconfig system. This provides an interactive interface to modify build-time configuration options such as logging levels, networking settings, memory allocation, and Matter-specific features.

# Wi-Fi (SiWx917)
west build -b siwx917_rb4338a examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr -t menuconfig

# Thread (EFR32MG24)
west build -b xg24_rb4187c examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr -t menuconfig

This will open an interactive configuration menu where you can browse and modify settings. Changes are automatically saved to the build configuration.

Supported Hardware#

The example can be built for any of the following Silicon Labs boards:

Board

SoC

Transport

siwx917_rb4338a

SiWx917

Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz)

xg24_rb4187c

EFR32MG24

Thread (OpenThread)

The board name selected with west build -b <board> determines both the target SoC and the network transport used by Matter.

Building#

  • Install the required dependencies for Matter development:

  • Install the Silicon Labs Zephyr SDK and tools:

  • Build the example application for your target:

    cd silabs_zephyr

# Wi-Fi build (SiWx917)
west build -b siwx917_rb4338a connectedhomeip/examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr

# Thread build (EFR32MG24)
west build -b xg24_rb4187c connectedhomeip/examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr

  • To clean the build:

    west build -t clean

  • For a pristine build (removes all build artifacts):

    rm -rf build

    OR

    west build -p always -b <board> connectedhomeip/examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr

    where <board> is siwx917_rb4338a or xg24_rb4187c.

Flashing the Application#

  • Both SiWx917 and EFR32MG24 SoC devices are supported by the latest Simplicity Commander. The build produces a .hex file that can be flashed to either platform.

  • Flash using west:

    west flash

  • Or flash using Simplicity Commander:

    commander flash build/zephyr/zephyr.hex

  • Bootloader and connectivity firmware:

    • The SiWx917 boards require connectivity firmware in addition to the application image. Pre-built bootloader and connectivity firmware binaries are available in the Assets section of the Releases page on Wiseconnect.

    • The EFR32MG24 boards require a Gecko bootloader. Refer to the Silicon Labs documentation for the appropriate bootloader image for your board.

Running the Complete Example#

Commissioning over BLE#

To run the Matter application, you must first commission the device using a Matter controller over BLE. The controller will then provision the operational network credentials:

  • On SiWx917, Wi-Fi SSID and passphrase.

  • On EFR32MG24, the Thread operational dataset.

Creating the Matter Network

This procedure uses the chip-tool installed on the Matter Hub. The commissioning procedure does the following:

  • chip-tool scans BLE and locates the Silicon Labs device that uses the specified discriminator

  • Establishes operational certificates

  • Sends the operational network credentials (Wi-Fi credentials or Thread dataset, depending on the platform)

  • The Silicon Labs device joins the operational network and obtains an IPv6 (and IPv4 for Wi-Fi) address

  • It then starts providing mDNS records on the operational network

  • Future communications happen over the operational network (Wi-Fi or Thread)

Testing with chip-tool#

You can provision and control the CHIP device using the python controller, the chip-tool standalone, or the Android or iOS app.

CHIPTool

Here are examples using chip-tool:

Commission the device over BLE-Wi-Fi (SiWx917):#

./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool pairing ble-wifi ${NODE_ID} ${SSID} ${PASSWORD} 20202021 3840

Commission the device over BLE-Thread (EFR32MG24):#

./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool pairing ble-thread ${NODE_ID} hex:${THREAD_DATASET} 20202021 3840

${THREAD_DATASET} is the active Thread operational dataset in TLV hexadecimal format (for example as returned by ot-ctl dataset active -x on an OpenThread border router).

Control the device (turn on/off):#

# Turn on the light
./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool onoff on ${NODE_ID} 1

# Turn off the light
./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool onoff off ${NODE_ID} 1

# Read the on/off state
./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool onoff read on-off ${NODE_ID} 1

Level control (if supported):#

# Set brightness to 50%
./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool levelcontrol move-to-level 128 1 0 0 ${NODE_ID} 1

# Read current level
./out/linux-x64-chip-tool/chip-tool levelcontrol read current-level ${NODE_ID} 1

Where:

  • ${NODE_ID} is the node ID assigned to the device

  • 20202021 is the setup PIN code

  • 3840 is the discriminator

  • ${SSID} and ${PASSWORD} are your Wi-Fi network credentials (SiWx917)

  • ${THREAD_DATASET} is the Thread operational dataset (EFR32MG24)

Building Options#

The build options below apply to both supported boards. Replace <board> with either siwx917_rb4338a or xg24_rb4187c.

Debug build / release build#

By default, the application is built in debug mode. To build in release mode:

west build -b <board> examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr -- -DFILE_SUFFIX=release

Disabling logging#

To reduce code size and improve performance, logging can be minimized:

west build -b <board> examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr -- -DCONFIG_LOG_MODE_MINIMAL=y

KVS maximum entry count#

The Key-Value Storage (KVS) maximum entry count can be configured to optimize memory usage. The default configuration is optimized for typical Matter applications.

To modify the KVS configuration, edit the prj.conf file:

CONFIG_NVS_LOOKUP_CACHE_SIZE=1024

OTA Software Update#

The supported Silicon Labs platforms support Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates. To enable OTA:

  1. Build with OTA support:

    west build -b <board> examples/lighting-app/silabs/zephyr -- -DCONFIG_CHIP_OTA_REQUESTOR=y

  2. The device will advertise OTA capability and can receive firmware updates from a Matter OTA Provider.

  3. Refer to the Matter OTA guide for detailed instructions on setting up an OTA Provider.

Limitations#

This example has the following limitations:

  1. No GPIO Support: This implementation does not include GPIO control for physical LEDs or buttons. All lighting operations are software-only.

  2. Single Transport per Build: A given build targets a single transport. Wi-Fi is supported on the SiWx917 boards and Thread is supported on the EFR32MG24 boards; the two cannot be combined in a single image.

  3. Memory Constraints: Both SoCs have limited RAM and flash memory. Complex applications may require memory optimization.

  4. Power Management: Advanced power management features available in other Silicon Labs SDKs may not yet be exposed in this Zephyr-based example.

For production applications requiring GPIO control or features not yet available here, consider using the standard Silicon Labs lighting example on the EFR32 platform.

Additional Resources:#