Is it possible to interface a DALI-controller and simultaneously have full BLE Mesh functionality running?

[kolten]

Hi!

We are evaluating the 52832 soc for use with a DALI-controller. The communication speed with the controller is at 1200 baud, Manchester encoded. Is it possible to interface it with, like GPIO and DMA, and still have full BLE Mesh functionality. Can it be done with any other interface on the soc?

[MartinBL]

Hi,

It depends on how much data you need to transfer I guess. BLE Mesh isn't that demanding with regards to timings as it does not require devices to maintain a reliable BLE connection. I think the more important question is how you are going to do manchester encoded on an IC without any manchester capable peripherals. I have two suggestions:

1. You can look into using the UART. It might be possible to send two UART symbols that the DALI's encoder interprets as one Manchester symbol. The challenge will be the unavoidable stop bits produced by the UART though. 
2. You can do bitbanging. Whether this is suitable depends on how much data you need to transfer, how often you need it transferred, and whether you need exact timings. If timing isn't important, and you don't need to transfer a lot of data, this is probably the easiest (if not only) solution. 

[Sharan Avati]

Hi Kolten, Were you able to implement it using one of the suggestions from Martin? I'm in the similar situation, so wanted to check with you before I start trying something.

[kolten]

Hi, I did go with the bitbanging solution and so far It seams to work just fine. I have not tested it extensively yet though. I also switched from nordics implementation to mynewt.

[Sharan Avati]

Hi Kolten,

Thanks for your response. Much appreciated.