Ble Mesh Network for Building Automation

[Nydegger]

Hi

I'm really excited about Bluetooth 5 and Mesh Networking, but I'm not sure what DK to get.

I want to make Sensor Network for Building Automation. So I can read every Sensor at just one point of the builing and don't need a accesspoint every 15m.

All sensors would be powered by battery. with Temp, light etc. but also have buttons on them or ReadContacts.

Is this possible?  I don't really understand the Mesh Networking yet.

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Bluetooth Mesh is not really tailor fit for battery powered devices, as the radio must be on most of the time to be able to receive packets from other devices. If you want a low powered device, then Mesh specifies a low power node. The Nordic Mesh SDK does not yet support low power nodes, but we are working hard to implement low power nodes in our Mesh SDK.

If this is not an issue, I would recommend buying a couple of nrf52832 dev kits or some Nordic Thingy:52s. The advantage of the dev kit is that the mesh sdk examples work out of the box on the dev kits, while you would need to make a few changes to make it work on the Thingy:52 devices. The advantage of the Thingy:52 devices is that this device already has various sensors integrated. We also have a mesh demo for the Thingy:52 to get you started with Mesh on the Thingy:52.

Also, just want to point out that Bluetooth Mesh does not use Bluetooth 5.

[Nydegger]

Thank you for the fast answer.

So this would work?:

Some BLE Beacons -> A RelayNode <-> my Device

Only the Beacons would be battery powered.

Example: "squares are rooms in a building"

on Each floor of a building it would look this.

Range?

And I want Bluetooth 5 because of the higher range. So I can atleast connect one Office with just one Node.

Does the Nrf52832 also have the higher range?

[Bjørn Kvaale]

I do not quite understand. Will the beacons be part of the mesh network or only connected to the node via proxy (i.e. the N node can communicate over BLE & via the Mesh network)? Where are the relay nodes and your device located in the figure you drew? 

As I said previously, Bluetooth Mesh does not use Bluetooth 5. If you are referring to Bluetooth 5 Long Range, only the 52840 device supports this.

[Nydegger]

OK I get it...

I can't use the Ble 5 longrange feature and Mesh, right?

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Nope. You cannot use Bluetooth 5 long range in a mesh network.

[Nydegger]

What I need:

Some Beacons, that are battery powered and carry temp and light information.

My server needs to be able to read all beacons in the house.

What I've tried:

Setup some beacons with nRF51822. works creat. Except I need a device (like happybubble), that can read the beacons and sends the data to the Server, in almost every room.

Solution:

BLE 5 long range (nrf52840):

Beacons have a longer range and I just need 1 maby 2 BLE5/WIFI module, that reads all beacons in the house and sends the data to the server.

+ longer range of beacons

+ I don't need alot of relay nodes, that can't be battery powered

- I might need more than one BLE5/WIFI module

Mesh:

I can use beacons like this http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.meshsdk.v2.0.1%2Fmd_models_simple_on_off_README.html

and I need a nrf52832 as relay node in every room.

and only one BLE/WIFI module some where in the network to controll everything over wifi.

+ Closed system, it only needs one BLE/WIFI

- It's not longrange

- relay nodes can't be battery powered.

Conclusion:

Mesh is only better, if I would have some Bluetooth actors in every room. Because most actors do have a powersupply (like light, blinds...),  to build the mesh network.

But I only have sensors that needs to be battery powered.

So ble5 beacons are the better solution in this case?