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Connecting Thing Plus Matter to Google Nest Hub

2023-08-08 | By SparkFun Electronics

License: See Original Project Wireless

Courtesy of SparkFun

Guide by MARIAH

Introduction

Hey y’all! We’re chomping at the bit to share some Matter projects with you, so our amazing ‎engineer Dryw has created a demo for y’all to follow along with! In this example, he is helping us ‎get our Thing Plus Matter board connected to a Google Nest Hub, as well as the Google Home app, ‎and set up as a light device. This tutorial is available in both video and written format, so pick your ‎favorite and let’s dive in!‎

Note: If this is your first time working with the Thing Plus Matter, be sure to check out the hookup ‎guide and walkthrough video to get started with Simplicity Studio, as you will need all of that up and ‎running before following along here.‎

 

Required Materials

Here are all of the parts you’ll need to follow along with this tutorial; this project is super self-‎contained, so hooking it up is as simple as plugging in your board! The smart hub used in this demo ‎is the Google Nest Hub (Gen 2), which you can find here; because we are taking advantage of a ‎Google product, you will also need access to an Android device to get connected.‎‎

‎Matter & Google Hub SparkFun Wish List

Thing Plus Matter Setup and Programming

Alrighty! So, first things first, we’re gonna hop over to Simplicity Studio with our board connected ‎and install an SDK for Matter integration. To get to that, click on the ‘Install’ button on the top left of ‎the studio; this will open up the installation manager, and from there we’ll select ‘Manage Installed ‎Packages’. With that opened up, make your way to the ‘SDK’ tab and install the latest ‘Silicon Labs ‎Matter’ package.‎

setup_1

setup_2

Now that that’s done, close out of the installation manager and navigate to the ‘Example Projects & ‎Demos’ tab: here we’ll select the ‘Matter’ filter on the left and hit ‘Create’ on the ‘Matter - SoC Light ‎over Thread’ resource.

setup_3

This will prompt a window where you can customize the project and name it to your liking; for today, ‎we’re gonna stick with the default settings and hit ‘Finish’ to build out the project. Next, we’ll go up ‎to the top left and right click on the ‘MatterLightOverThread’ dropdown, hover over ‘Run As,’ and ‎select ‘1 Silicon Labs ARM Program’. This will compile the project and automatically flash your board!‎

setup_4

With that done, we’ll head up to the top right of the studio and select ‘Launcher.’ Once there, scroll ‎down within the filters options and select ‘Bootloader’ – we’re looking for the 512kB device option, ‎which is down at the bottom of the available options. When you’ve found it, go ahead, and hit create ‎and step through the same ‘Run As’ process as before.

setup_5

Google Nest Hub Matter Device Setup

And that’s it for the Thing Plus Matter side of things, so let’s talk about getting your Google Nest ‎Hub set up! You’ll want to go to your Google Home Console and sign in with the same account that ‎your hub is connected to. Once you’re logged in, go ahead, and create a project. This will pull up a ‎page to either add this project to an existing one or create a new one; we’re going to create a new ‎one and name it something fun, like ‘Matter Test.’ With our project created, we’re going to select ‎‎‘Add Matter Integration’ inside the Developer Console.

test_6

From there, we’ll need to enter some device information to the setup page. First, a fancy name for ‎it and the type of device we’re creating, which in this case is a light.‎

setup_7

We also need to include a Test Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID) for our device. To locate ‎these, open up your preferred serial terminal (for this demo, we used PuTTY) with your board ‎connected via USB. Select the COM port for your board, set the baud rate to 115200 and the ‎connection type as Serial, then open up the terminal.‎

config_8

Once inside, type in ‘help’ and hit enter. This will produce a list of commands available to you, of ‎which we will be using ‘config,’ so go ahead and type that in next.‎

help_9

This will output our VID and PID, which you can now input into the device setup page on the ‎Google Home Developer Console (we’ll be using the hexadecimal values). With that done, we can ‎hit ‘Continue’ and move on! There will be a page brought up where you can customize the images ‎for your device, but we’re just going to leave it as is for now.‎

Since we’ve got it open, we’ll go ahead and input ‘onboardingcodes ble’ into our serial terminal. This ‎will output a link to a QR code for the test certificate to our board. Copy that link and throw it into a ‎web browser; we’ll need it later. If, for some reason, you are unable to acquire the link via serial ‎terminal, it is available here!‎

copy_10

Woohoo! Almost there! Next, we need to commission our Thing Plus Matter to the Google Nest ‎Hub; to do this, go ahead and get your Android device paired with the hub. Once that’s done, open ‎up the Google Home app and click the ‘+’ in the top left corner, then select ‘Setup a Device’. Create ‎a new device and select which home your Google Nest Hub is connected to; this will prompt a ‎Bluetooth scan to start running. This scan can be a bit finicky sometimes, so if for some reason it ‎does not detect your device, you will be prompted to select a device type: select ‘Matter Enabled ‎Device’ and scan the QR code we pulled up earlier. The commissioning process will automatically ‎begin at this point and takes about a minute or so to wrap up. Once connected, select a room, and ‎set a name for the device; this should complete the setup process and the device should appear as ‎a light both in your Google Home app and on the Nest Hub, and you will be able to control the ‎onboard LED from either of those devices!‎

Resources

thing_11

SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P Hookup Guide

Get started with the SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P with this Hookup Guide.

This guide ‎covers the hardware on this development board along with a quick intro to using the board with ‎Silicon Labs' Simplicity Studio IDE.‎

 

A video walkthrough of how to get up and running with Thing Plus Matter and Simplicity Studio

Helpful Links

制造商零件编号 CAB-15425
CBL USB2.0 A PLUG TO C PLG 2.62'
SparkFun Electronics
制造商零件编号 DEV-20270
THING PLUS MATTER MGM240P
SparkFun Electronics
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