bluetooth 5 vs 4.2

[mikkel1e]

Hi
i'm going to do a school project with bluetooth mesh network so i was wondering if bluetooth 5 supports it and what are the benefits of using bluetooth 5 over bluetooth 4.2
The reason I'm asking is because I have to buy a board so I know if I need one with 5 or 4.2
hope you can help
You may make a documentation for your claim

[MartinBL]

Hi,

The short answer is that you can use any device compatible with  BLE version 4.2 or above. 

The longer answer is that BLE 5 devices are backwards compatible and support all the features you will find in BLE 4.2. When a BLE 5 device tries to connect with a 4.2 device they exchange information about what features each device supports and then decide upon the "least common denominator". If you want to use a Nordic device I suggest that you chose a device from the nRF52 family. You can find more information about Nordic's mesh solution here: nRF5 SDK for Mesh.

[mikkel1e]

Why use 5 if 4.2 supports the same, does 5 not have some better features like range but thanks 

[MartinBL]

As mentioned, BLE 5 is backwards compatible. So let us say that 

BLE 4.2 supports feature A and B
BLE 5.0 supports feature A, B, C, and D. 

A BLE 5.0 device can communicate just fine with a 4.2 device using feature A and B, but a 4.2 device cannot use feature C and D. Examples of features a 4.2 doesn't support is Long range (also known as coded phy) and 2Mbps mode. 

[mikkel1e]

thanks, i know you done a lot but do you have a place it says that bluetooth mesh makes use of bluetooth 5 so we can prove it in the report we are going to write.

[MartinBL]

Hi,

Please refer to Mesh Profile Specification 1.0 Ch 1.2:

1.2 Bluetooth specification release compatibility
This specification shall be used with:

• Core Specification Addendum 6 [3] combined with an allowed Bluetooth Core Specification (see [3]
  Volume 1, Part D, Section 1.2, Table 1.3), OR
• Any version of the Bluetooth Core Specification later than v5.0.

[David Edwin]

Just to make this very clear, BTLE Mesh does NOT require BT 5 , though it can run on BT 5. It should be able to run on BT 4.0 and greater with the CSA 6. 

[mikkel1e]

just one more thing, it's board nrf52840 if you burge sdk mesh version 1.0.1 then run it on bluetooth 5 or 4.2 because i'm not sure

[leonwj]

hello mikkelle,

The Nordic Mesh SDK v1.0.1 is compliant with the Bluetooth Mesh Specification v1.0 and as such it supports the features inherent in BLE v4.2...

The backstory is that when the Bluetooth SIG Mesh Working Group set out to implement the mesh standard they had a number of key design choices to make. One of those was which BLE version to base the mesh standard on. So the choice was:

(1) Base it on Bluetooth LE v5.0 (and in doing so take advantage of increased range, increased speed, encoded PHY, utilize data channels for advertising etc.) BUT exclude the millions of Bluetooth v4.x radios currently in the marketplace (in phones etc.)

or

(2) Base it on Bluetooth LE v.4.x, thereby allowing all the (millions of) current Bluetooth v4.x radios in use to be able to take part in Bluetooth mesh networks. This option would also allow Bluetooth v5.0 radios to take part in mesh networks since Bluetooth LE v5.0 is backwards compatible with v4.2 (as indicated by MartinBL and David Erwin above)

The Mesh Working Group chose to go with option (2), therefore any compliant (and fully interoperable) mesh stack from any vendor (whether it runs on a Bluetooth v5.0 (e.g. nrf52840) or Bluetooth v4.2 radio) will only utilize the inherent features of Bluetooth v4.2. 

I hope that clarifies things for you.

Regards,

[mikkel1e]

Thanks, but just to be sure, e.g. Nrf52840 there use bluetooth 5, Will it also use bluetooth 5 features doing mesh, it is just too be sure