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 

[leonwj]

hello mikkelle,

Do you mind posting the links to the articles that you have read that explicitly state that Bluetooth 5 specific features are used in the SIG Mesh standard.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

[rperkins]

Thanks @leonwj for your detailed explanation...

btw - I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for @mikkel1e to post those links to the 'articles' that they supposedly read. It seems they continually ask the same question on different threads hoping to get the answer they want to hear.

[mikkel1e]

Yes, because we wanted to make sure we did not write something wrong in our assignment, we also asked him to be sure

https://www.mouser.dk/applications/bluetooth-5-mesh-networking-standard/

[leonwj]

hello mikkel1e,

I can only suggest that you re-read the article in the link that you posted (fairly slowly)... although it attempts to conflate the Bluetooth mesh and Bluetooth 5 standards, in no way does it state that Bluetooth 5 specific features are used in the Bluetooth Mesh. In fact, it's really about Bluetooth 5 with references to mesh thrown in (I would imagine to increase its hit count). Hopefully wishing for certain features to be implemented doesn't always help and at worst case you have the full specification to fall back on should you be in any doubt in the future. Additionally, most of the current vendor mesh stacks out there (Nordic, SiLabs, Zephyr to name a few) are published with the full source code available, so reviewing the code is also an option.

Nonetheless in this case, I believe that you have been corrected in your misconception regarding the mesh standard using Bluetooth 5 specific features by more than one person in this forum.

Take Care and good luck with your assignment.

Regards,

[mikkel1e]

Yes, in frustration that we could not really understand what version of Bluetooth was used, I think we were confused with what you wrote and what the other one has written, we can see how it is connected, I believe just that when nrf52840 use bt 5 we'd also think that when we use mesh it also use bt 5, but with your help and read more on the web, we understand it much better and I apologize for not believing at you a the first , but many thanks for the help

[MartinBL]

I think my comment above may have been confusing, and for that I'm sorry. One very important thing to understand when talking about Bluetooth 5 though, is that the Bluetooth SIG has decided that vendors are not required to support any(!) Bluetooth 5 features to be allowed to brand their products as "Bluetooth 5 ready" (emphasis on the ready). Please have a look at this blog post and take special not of the "What’s not being talked about" paragraphs: Bluetooth 5: What to expect.