Possible to make an RPi3 as a Mesh proxy client/server?

[Matthew K]

Hi, there~ Nordic's Mesh SDK is fascinating! I was thinking of a way how to connect the Internet with Nordic's Mesh devices.

From the web, you might have seen these types of diagrams, explaining wireless testbeds. I always imagined placing nodes, which might be nRF-DKs using the Mesh SDK, just like the described picture. However, those nodes use only Bluetooth Mesh so there is no Internet connection unless I connect DKs with USB cables to a network switch or router.

So I thought how about using the Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi 3) as a proxy node!?!? The RPi3 supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Looks like there are no HW/SW supports for RPi's Bluetooth Mesh, yet. Also, most people expect that there will be no RPi 4 until the year 2019. Instead of waiting, I thought it would be great to configure the RPi 3 as a proxy node! After connecting the RPi 3 with a nRF-DK, it will be great to send Wi-Fi data to reach the Internet!

I think a proxy example is not ready in Mesh SDK 0.10.1. Will I able to test a proxy node in the future using Nordic's Mesh SDK, nRF-DKs, and RPi 3? Or what about combining the Nordic's IoT SDK (MQTT, CoAP, etc) since my imaginary model uses the RPi? I hope I'm not gibbering something ludicrous. Thanks for reading this!

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Nice illustrations! Have you taken a look at the Nordic Thingy:52 plus Raspberry Pi demos? In the demos, a Raspberry Pi is used as a gateway to connect the Thingy:52 to the Internet. Here's also a great blogpost that might be helpful. I would suggest taking a look at the infocenter too. Let me know if that helps or if you have other questions regarding this case. :)

[Matthew K]

This is awesome! Before asking an additional question, I have added some inquiries in the "Nordic Thingy:52 node.js/Raspberry Pi demos blog". When streaming, I can't figure what BLE service, or something, is used. My point is can I merge both the streaming example (or other examples from the node.js/Raspberry Pi demos) and the Mesh example into a single firmware application for the PCA10040? If so, looks like choosing what PCA10040 board for connecting to the RPi will be my next assignment for me. Thanks for your time!

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Take a look at this devzone question. This case could also be helpful. This high throughput demo could also be interesting for you. Before Bluetooth 5, it was not recommended to stream audio over Bluetooth Low Energy, but with Bluetooth 5 this definitely is a possibility. It should definitely be possible to merge the streaming example with the mesh example, but it could take a bit of work.

[Matthew K]

How to add mesh into nRF5 SDK v14.1 BLE application? This tutorial will be a good start for me! Hope to see a future release about solving the Limitation - Permanent storage of provisioning and configuration on flash. Additionally, working on the above RPi3 concept together will be great, too. Thanks~