We are just in the very beginning of developing a mesh network with 150 devices and a gateway (with a nRF52840 in it). We want to find the best strategy for provisioning. Provisioning needs to be as automatic and simple as possible for the end user.
One option that our supplier has talked about is using a phone or tablet to be the provisioner. But my understanding of that is that we would need to pass the provisioning information to the gateway once provisioning happens. And from this forum, it sound like this is something we would have to write code to do - it is not built into the Bluetooth spec nor is it part of the SDK. Let me know if this is a correct understanding. The advantage of this method is that we can move the provisioner to within range of the node to be provisioned and not need to use remote provisioning.
Another option would be to have the gateway do provisioning after all units are installed using remote provisioning. If I understand how this works, this would mean that I would need to put 150 Remote Provisioning Servers out there to provide relaying. Is that a correct understanding and is it possible to have 150 Remote Provisioning Servers?
Another option would be to bring the node to the gateway before it is installed and thus it would be in range. We could also use NFC as the OOB method in that case.
I am really looking for advice and best option for ease of both development and installation. Perhaps you can propose another option. There will be 3000 such installations. Each one will be different in configurations so we won't be able to pre-plan who is a relay and who is not a relay. Therefore we need them all to be relays. And thus in option two, we would need them all to be Remote Provisioning Servers.
Thanks in advance for providing some recommendations.
