The QPG7015M Gateway Development Kit provides software engineers, RF designers and product managers with all the tools required to evaluate QPG7015M performance and differentiators, and to develop novel IoT Gateway Applications
What benefits can I expect from the Qorvo QPG7015M Development Kit (DK)?
- Out-of-the box, the QPG7015M DK concurrently acts as a Zigbee coordinator, Matter hub and Bluetooth® LE central/peripheral. Using Qorvo's unique ConcurrentConnect™ technology [https://www.qorvo.com/design-hub/videos/qorvo-makes-iot-easy-with-concurrentconnect-technology], all these protocols are served simultaneously, without dropping communications even in challenging use cases that require Bluetooth scanning combined with a Zigbee/Matter coordinator or router.
- Its antenna diversity software and hardware functionality increases interference robustness in the presence of other 2.4 GHz radios.
- Multi-channel technology enables you to run up to three IEEE 802.15.4 stacks on three different channels without any user impact on reliability and latency; for instance, by combining a Thread Border Router for Matter on one channel and a Zigbee coordinator role on another channel.
- Radio Performance tooling enables you to verify and test the QPG7015M RF performance.
- The QPG7015M DK includes reference designs for turnkey IoT product solutions, enabling you to verify and optimize your application requirements and achieve a quicker time-to-market.
- It provides a powerful, Linux-based development environment typical of smart home gateways.
- It is interoperable with IoT products from major smart home ecosystems: IKEA Home Smart, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Amazon Alexa, etc.
- It provides a certified solution for Bluetooth LE 5.2, Zigbee R22 and Thread 1.3.
- A Wi-Fi/IoT coexistence tooling enables simple configuration and verification of the 3-wire coexistence protocol between the different radios.
- It supports over-the-air firmware updates, including an OTA server for Zigbee devices.
- You get a development kit dedicated to gateways vs. end nodes, giving you immediate access to only the relevant software, hardware and documentation for a gateway use case.
What does the QPG7015M DK contain?
- It contains Bluetooth LE, Zigbee and Thread communication stacks, combined with turnkey reference applications showing typical use cases:
- A Zigbee coordinator, including connectivity with a smartphone application to get status from and control the Zigbee devices in your smart home network
- Thread, based on OpenThread open-source software as a starting point for custom Thread-based applications
- Matter-over-Thread, including a reference border router implementation
- Bluetooth LE application, supporting central and peripheral use cases
- The QPG7015M DK includes documentation on how to use the applications included and how to port the software from the Raspberry Pi-based reference platform to your custom platform.
- Evaluation tools to verify the RF performance of the QPG7015M are included.
- There is software API documentation for the communication stacks to integrate QPG7015M into your IoT gateway
- The QPG7015M DK includes a Raspberry Pi 4 and QPG7015M plug-on radio board. The Raspberry Pi hosts the user application and communication stacks; the QPG7015M radio board enables you to verify both SPI and USB as interface to the QPG7015M.
- The radio board also provides access to the Wi-Fi/IoT coexistence interface through a pin header.
Are there specific tools to support coexistence between Wi-Fi and IoT?
Tooling to configure the Wi-Fi/IoT coexistence interface is included. To offer customers a quick start, Qorvo has defined a recommended configuration, benchmarked in real-life use cases, against several Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers (Broadcom, Qualcomm, Marvell). Qorvo's benchmarking includes coexistence configurations that use real life use cases, like those found in today's Wi-Fi access points.
What hardware is included in the QPG7015M DK?
- Qorvo's QPG7015M transceiver, featuring ConcurrentConnect™ technology
- Raspberry Pi host platform using Linux OS and running QPG7015M applications
- 2.4 GHz PCB antennas supporting Antenna Diversity with u.FL connectors
- Users connect the development kit to their LAN using the ethernet connector on the development board and access the applications and tools over SSH Linux terminal for easy remote access and development.
A kit combining the QPG7015M DK with a QPG6105 Matter end node is available as well. This combination gives users a quick-start option for evaluating Matter as it includes both the Matter Hub as well as the Matter device functionality in a single kit.
What standards and use cases are supported in the QPG7015M DK?
- Zigbee R22, coordinator support
- Bluetooth Low Energy v5.2; Central and Peripheral roles are also supported
- A certified Thread v1.3 Thread stack compatible with Full Thread Devices and Minimal Thread Devices
- Matter (Thread Border Router functionality for a Matter hub)
- Communication stacks are certified so that you are assured of a mature, interoperable DK that enables you to market certified products
- Thread, Matter and Bluetooth LE are available in source code, for easier integration
How does the QPG7015M DK support Zigbee R22?
- A reference application providing a command-line interface to access the Zigbee Network functionalities (adding/removing devices, accessing the network device inventory, sending and receiving data from the devices in the network) is available.
- The reference application can be extended to add custom functionality using the C++ API of the Zigbee stack.
- The reference application interfaces with a smartphone app, allowing the user to configure and control devices in the Zigbee network.
- OTA server functionality distributes firmware updates to the devices in your network
How does the QPG7015M DK support Bluetooth LE?
- The Bluetooth LE host stack API is compatible with the Amazon Common Software (ACS) API, enabling integration with ACS-compliant device SDKs. This API can be used to build custom Bluetooth peripherals as well as central applications.
- The Bluetooth LE controller and host stack is certified (Bluetooth Low Energy v5.2).
- A command line interface is available as a reference application. It shows typical Bluetooth LE functionality such as scanning, advertising, connecting and exchanging data.
- Qorvo ConcurrentConnect™ is supported, allowing Bluetooth LE peripheral/central functionality to be combined with the Zigbee and Thread applications without any compromise or requirement for application-managed time slicing.
How does the QPG7015M DK support Matter and Thread?
- Thread Border Router and Thread FTD command-line applications are included in the DK, enabling you to build custom Thread-based applications.
- The included Thread border router configuration works out of the box with Matter devices – this configuration is required for a Matter hub.
- Thread and Thread border router are based on the open-source OpenThread Thread implementation. All software and documentation to customize and integrate OpenThread on your platform is included
- The OpenThread Radio Co-Processor (RCP) approach is used to maximize the abilities to run multiple communication stacks concurrently.
Why is support for the Matter standard important?
- Matter is an IoT protocol backed by Apple, Google and Amazon and will launch in the fall of 2022. Matter will solve the main issue IoT products are suffering from today: interoperability across ecosystems.
- Matter technology is being integrated in smart home hubs today (i.e., Apple TV, Apple Homepod, Google Wi-Fi, etc.). The Matter hub will connect Thread-based Matter devices (i.e., light bulbs, switches, smart plugs) to Wi-Fi based Matter devices (i.e., smartphone, TV, etc.). Because Matter is IP based, no application-level translation is needed on the hub. The hub use case is fully supported in the QPG7015M DK through a reference Thread border router implementation.
- Matter will bring simplicity to consumers – no more devices that only work with one ecosystem – and to developers – no need to build dedicated bridges and hubs for each ecosystem.
- The QPG7015M’s ConcurrentConnect Technology allows concurrent use of Bluetooth Low Energy scanning functionality with the Matter protocol using a single-chip solution. This technology allows the Matter hub using QPG7015M to also onboard new Matter devices seamlessly (no Smartphone interaction needed).
How do I get started?
- Visit the QPG7015M gateway getting started link: https://github.com/Qorvo/QMatter/blob/v0.7.1.0/Documents/Guides/setup_ot_borderrouter.md
- Visit the Matter Starter Kit and link to Out-of-the-Box QuickStart Guide: https://github.com/Qorvo/QMatter/blob/48f9bfc4c135433bd362444fb810e25695285617/Matter_Starter_Kit.md