Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

RE: Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

Hung Bui — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:32:10 GMT

No, both Gateway and Proxy (a node that can do BLE and works as a bridge) node are not implemented in the SDK. In the mean time, you can create one (with ble_app_uart as in the video for example)

RE: Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

MANGO — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 08:46:30 GMT

It's defined in the Bluetooth Mesh spec, search for gateway. I apologize for this.

I have found it in the Mesh Networking Specifications (Mesh Profile) page.

A mesh gateway is a node that is able to translate messages between the mesh network and a non-Bluetooth technology.
A node may be able to send and receive mesh messages through a mesh gateway while not in the range of any of the Relay nodes.
This translation is out of scope for this specification.

This is the gateway which you have mentioned, right?

Lastly, is there any gateway related example or can I configure a PCA10040 as a gateway while testing the light control example?

All I see is client/server from the light switch or pb_remote example.

Thanks for your effort and have a nice weekend!

-Best Regards

RE: Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

Hung Bui — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 07:34:28 GMT

No, gateway is a gateway. It's defined in the Bluetooth Mesh spec, search for gateway.

Basically it's allow communication between mesh and outside network, via UART for example.

I can't say about future products, but as I mentioned, you can make your proprietary app to talk to mesh. We already have some example/demo, for example here.
Yes, the DFU protocol is proprietary (DFU is not described in the spec). Have a look at openmesh here.

RE: Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

MANGO — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 16:50:20 GMT

Thanks again, Hug Bui! I was so blind that I only read about the light control example. I wish for your understanding for my clumsiness. Speaking of clumsiness, may I ask some questions to double check?

-I'm a beginner to BLE Mesh. I haven't read anything about gateways from the Infocenter and the Bluetooth Blog. What do you mean by gateways; referring server/client/both nodes?

-About the gateway node, can the mobile app, if the mobile Mesh SDK is prepared in the future, act as a gateway node, too?

-I may have misunderstood your meaning. the communication protocol when doing DFU is not Bluetooth Mesh, but a proprietary protocol

You mean if I use the nrfutil tool to do the DFU to update multiple devices, it uses the Nordic's proprietary protocol, not BLE Mesh?

-Best Regards

RE: Possible to update firmware via Mesh SDK in the future?

Hung Bui — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 13:31:35 GMT

Hi Mango,

DFU bootloader for Mesh network is already provided. Have a look here.

Currently, the way it work is: you have a gateway node that connects to PC via UART. And you use a tool on PC (nrfutil) to do DFU via the gateway to the whole mesh network. It take a very long time to update firmware but it can update thousand devices at the same time.

It's possible to modify the gateway firmware to support receiving the DFU command and image from a phone instead of UART. But it's not implemented yet, but you should be able to make one.

Bluetooth Mesh GATT bearer might not relate here. It could play a role for the gateway to receive image from the phone, but this can be done via normal BLE GATT as well. Note that the communication protocol when doing DFU is not Bluetooth Mesh, but a proprietary protocol that Nordic defined (the OpenMesh).