The widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has positioned smart homes as paradigmatic examples of distributed automation systems, where reliability, efficiency, and interoperability depend critically on the underlying communication protocol. Among the low-power wireless technologies available for this scenario, Zigbee and Matter over Thread have emerged as leading contenders. While Zigbee represents a mature, non-IP mesh networking solution, Matter over Thread introduces an IP-based architecture designed to unify device interoperability across different ecosystems. However, despite extensive documentation of their design principles, there is a lack of empirical, comparative performance data under realistic network conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental comparison between the two protocols, conducted on a testbed built from commercially available hardware. The proposed methodology focuses on different key performance dimensions, such as scalability, responsiveness, and fault tolerance. The results reveal that Zigbee achieves a lower baseline overhead and faster route recovery, making it more responsive in static small-scale deployments. Matter over Thread, conversely, exhibits superior scalability and robustness, maintaining stable throughput and predictable latency across multi-hop scenarios. Overall, we highlight that Zigbee and Matter over Thread embody distinct trade-offs between agility, efficiency, and scalability.

翻译：物联网的广泛普及使智能家居成为分布式自动化系统的典型范例，其可靠性、效率与互操作性从根本上取决于底层通信协议。在适用于该场景的低功耗无线技术中，Zigbee和Matter over Thread已成为主要竞争方案。Zigbee代表成熟的非IP网状网络解决方案，而Matter over Thread则采用基于IP的架构设计，旨在实现跨生态系统的设备互操作性统一。然而，尽管二者设计原理已有详尽文献记载，但在实际网络条件下仍缺乏实证性的性能对比数据。本文通过在商用硬件构建的测试平台上对两种协议进行全面的实验比较。所提出的方法论聚焦于可扩展性、响应能力和容错性等关键性能维度。结果表明：Zigbee具有更低的基准开销和更快的路由恢复速度，使其在静态小规模部署中响应更敏捷；而Matter over Thread则展现出更优的可扩展性和鲁棒性，在多跳场景中能保持稳定的吞吐量与可预测的延迟。总体而言，本研究揭示Zigbee与Matter over Thread在敏捷性、效率与可扩展性之间体现了不同的权衡关系。