Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

a.da — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 05:40:39 GMT

Hi Terje,

Using the software with the applied patch, one smartphone, and one DK, I tried the following several times.
In all cases, the Mesh Network was able to resume.

Reboot the DK while keeping the nRF Mesh App running.
Reboot the nRF Mesh App while keeping the DK running.

I will continue to monitor the situation.

Thank you for your support.

Kind regards,

a.da

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

tesc — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:29:55 GMT

Hi,

There is a fix now in review for going into Zehyr, see Bluetooth: Mesh: Fix proxy after board reboot by Balaklaka · Pull Request #87620 · zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr.

In addition, there are some other related changes already merged into Zephyr: Bluetooth: Mesh: Fix proxy advertiser handling with GATT server enabled by Balaklaka · Pull Request #87428 · zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr.

As you can see, (part of) the solution is to add back in the bt_mesh_adv_gatt_update(), as you suggested. We expect those patches to make it into the final release of nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0, or at least similar patches such that GATT Proxy will be fully functional again.

Regards,
Terje

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

tesc — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:48:38 GMT

Hi,

Please note that v3.0.0 has not been released yet. What has been released, is v3.0.0-preview1, which is a preview version of the SDK and not a proper release.

We have identified the issues that you see. They are already known issues, which we are actively working on fixing. Although I do not at the moment have any timeline for the fix, I will keep you updated when there is more info to share. Thank you for your patience.

Regards,
Terje

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

a.da — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 23:46:19 GMT

Hi Terje, thanks for your reply.

I apologize for the inconvenience, but I appreciate your kind assistance. I am waiting for new information.

Other important bug fixes for me are included in v3.0.0. I would like to use this version, or any future versions, with confidence.

Kind regards,

a.da

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

tesc — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:52:09 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out to us. We highly appreciate feedback on the preview version of the SDK, as this allows us to look into the issues before final release. We are looking into both issues, and I expect to have some more information within a day or two.

Regards,
Terje

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

a.da — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 08:32:08 GMT

Additional Note:

I noticed from the difference between v2.9.0 and v3.0.0-preview1 that bt_mesh_adv_gatt_update() is no longer called after bt_mesh_proxy_gatt_enable() in proxy_srv.c.
After adding bt_mesh_adv_gatt_update(), the Mesh Proxy Service now starts during a software reboot.
However, I am not sure if adding bt_mesh_adv_gatt_update() is the correct solution.

int bt_mesh_proxy_gatt_enable(void)
{
	int err;

	LOG_DBG("");

	if (!bt_mesh_is_provisioned()) {
		return -ENOTSUP;
	}

	if (service_registered) {
		return -EBUSY;
	}

	err = bt_gatt_service_register(&proxy_svc);
	if (err) {
		LOG_ERR("Unable to register Mesh Proxy Service (err %d)", err);
		return err;
	}

	service_registered = true;

	for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(clients); i++) {
		if (clients[i].cli) {
			clients[i].filter_type = ACCEPT;
		}
	}

	bt_mesh_adv_gatt_update();			// @@@ add
	return 0;
}

Additionally, the issue where the Mesh Proxy Service does not start upon restarting the smartphone app has not been resolved.

RE: Mesh Network is unstable in NCS v3.0.0-preview1

a.da — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 05:53:21 GMT

Additional Note:

It seems that in v3.0.0-preview1, the Mesh Proxy Service sometimes fails to start for some reason.

After Provisioning
This doesn't always happen.
When there are no other nodes temporarily in the Mesh Network
This almost always happens.

Newly tried:

I prepared one smartphone and two nRF5340DK's.
One DK was flashed with the v3.0.0-preview1 sample program, and the other with the v2.9.0 sample program.
I provisioned them in the order of v3.0.0-preview1 and then v2.9.0 via the smartphone app.
Even after restarting the smartphone app or rebooting the sample programs, the Mesh communication was successfully resumed.

When I originally created this ticket, I was testing with just one smartphone and one DK.
I thought that when the DK loses sight of the smartphone, the Mesh communication might not be able to resume, so I tried adding more DKs as described above.
Also, when both were flashed with the v3.0.0-preview1 sample programs, I gave up because it continued to fail at step 3.

Apologies if this was an incorrect assumption.