How to provision a mesh node which is without proxy feature via proxy node

[Jeffery.Lin]

Dear support team,

I'd like to provision a mesh node which is implement on thingy and without proxy feature.

As I know, the BLE device (mobile) should communicate with mesh via proxy node.

So If I use the nRF Mesh APP(IOS.Android) as a provisioner to provision the node via the proxy node?

My computer platform is Windows, development software is Segger.

[Bjørn Kvaale]

You may be able to provision Thingy_2 via Thingy_1 if you port the remote provisioning example to the Thingy_1 (see client & server example). I would take a look at the remote provisioning example first. Is the reason you want to provision Thingy_2 via Thingy_1 because Thingy_2 is out of range of Thingy_1?

Yes, you are correct that the reading & control process of the generic on/off model uses the Mesh Proxy Service & the app sends a proxy pdu to communicate with the proxy node.

[Jeffery.Lin]

Dear Bjorn,

Thanks for your reply .According your question: 

Q: Is the reason you want to provision Thingy_2 via Thingy_1 because Thingy_2 is out of range of Thingy_1?

My answer is as below:

A:  Actually, the Thingy_2  nearby Thingy_1 . But Thingy_1(proxy node)  can communicate with BLE device and Thingy_2 (A normal mesh node)can't. I want to implement provisioner on PC(Windows) which acts as a BLE device and to provision both of them. Base on the Mesh spec. BLE device can communicate with mesh node via proxy node. Theoretically, the PC( I will develop a Windows app to be a provisionor) can provision the Thingy_2  via Thingy_1. My question is how to do that?Can I create a model on proxy node named provision. And when I receive a write command to enable the provision. I will do auto provision( I saw the function in Thingy_Bridge node). This is my plan. But I don't know is that the correct way. And I have seen the remote provisioning example and it didn't have proxy feature. So I think this isn't my solution. 

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Have you taken a look at the interactive pyACI script in mesh sdk v2.1.1? You can run this with the serial example. That way, you could use a nrf52 dk as the mesh serial interface device to the Thingy_1 & Thingy_2 & you would not need to use the proxy feature at all. The interactive pyaci script runs via python 3 & the regular windows command line interface. 

Another solution would be to create a nrf connect for pc app (see link here for documentation & a good starting point app for development) & use a 52 DK or the 52840 dongle to interface from the windows pc to the Thingy_1 proxy node over BLE. It is recommended to use a dongle or nrf52832 dk to interface via windows because this will most likely work out of the box & we have noticed various issues with the Windows Bluetooth drivers when trying to connect directly from a Windows PC to another Nordic device.

Are you referring to this Thingy_Bridge node found here? It could be useful to take a look at this Thingy demo FW here instead, as the first link uses an outdated version of the mesh sdk (v1.0.1), whereas the second link uses mesh sdk v2.0.1. Version 1.0.1 does not have a qualified Mesh Bluetooth stack, while v2.0.1 does. I do not believe the Thingy_Bridge node uses the proxy feature either (as this was not out in v1.0.1), so I would suggest taking a good look at the provisioner light switch example in mesh sdk v2.1.1 & modifying that to start provisioning when you receive a message from the computer to start provisioning. Hope that helps!