nRF52840 wireless mesh network set up

[Rorisang]

Hi, all. I am in need of serious help. I need to set up a wireless mesh network using the nRF52840 SoC. It must have 9 nodes and be capable of multi-hopping. I need to set up the mesh in a building with obstacles and  each nodes may need to relay packets to other nodes to help with the communications. I also need help with logging the latency and packet delivery ratios. Is it possible to detect the dynamic routing within the mesh?  I am only a beginner and i have done the examples successfully but i simply cannot do the mesh-it seems out of my league for now and so i need help. I have even gone through the You Tube videos but they have no code and mostly show only the 'blinky examples'. Please help. I tried  to contact other developers on the forum who wanted the same solutions but they have not responded and so i decided to contact the general community. Thank you in advance. 

P.S. I am new to this and so please be more plain in your explanations.

[David Edwin]

I assume you used the nRF5x SDK for Mesh ? You need to be specific with the question otherwise it is hard to help. . Get started with the nRF5x SDK for Mesh with the getting started section for Mesh.

Use the documentation and if you have questions, make the question specific and there will be help. It is easier to help if the questions are specific.

[Rorisang]

Hi, David. I hope i will be clearer now.

I am trying to set up a nine router/node wireless mesh network using the nRF52840 SoC. I am stuck in that i do not know how to program the chips so that they can connect to each other and communicate. I have downloaded the SDKs and can only do the easy 'blinky' examples. My knowledge is limited as i have a physics background.

[David Edwin]

Have you read the getting started sections and all the parts it refers to ?

[awneil]

Rorisang said:

My knowledge is limited as i have a physics background

So imagine that someone came to you saying, "I need to do <some complex physics problem>, but I don't know much about physics...".

How would you advise them?

What you are asking is not a beginner problem - so you're going to need to spend some time getting up to speed with embedded code development, and wireless networking ...

https://www.avrfreaks.net/comment/2079906#comment-2079906

[Rorisang]

I have read all the sections. I have 3 boards in front of me right now-all on. I want to replicate the mesh light switch example. I am using Segger. Whe i try to build the solution before programming the cleint, server and provisioner chips i get  the error :

Building ‘light_switch_client_nrf52840_xxAA_s140_6.0.0’ from solution ‘light_switch_client_nrf52840_xxAA_s140_6.0.0’ in configuration ‘Debug’
Compiling ‘main.c’
C:\Users\Rorisang\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v2.2.0_src(1).zip\examples\light_switch\client\src\main.c: No such file or directory
Compiling ‘mesh_softdevice_init.c’
C:\Users\Rorisang\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v2.2.0_src(1).zip\examples\common\src\mesh_softdevice_init.c: No such file or directory
Compiling ‘mesh_provisionee.c’
C:\Users\Rorisang\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v2.2.0_src(1).zip\examples\common\src\mesh_provisionee.c: No such file or directory
Compiling ‘rtt_input.c’
C:\Users\Rorisang\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v2.2.0_src(1).zip\examples\common\src\rtt_input.c: No such file or directory
Build failed

[David Edwin]

did you unzip the zip file to a folder ? This looks like you have opened the zip file and are trying to compile it.

Added Edit:

Extract the zip file before attempting to compile it. On windows : Right click on the zip file and click on the "Extract all..." option. 

[Rorisang]

I extracted all the SDKs to the C drive. I somehow am missing the nrf_sdm.h file( error is : nrf_sdm.h: No such file or directory). I followed the instructions which say i must extract both the mesh and

nrf5_sdk_for_mesh &
nRF5_SDK_15.0.0_a53641a

files to the same folder. My problem seems to be this procedure. 

[Rorisang]

The nRF5 SDK for Mesh now requires the nRF5 SDK to compile.

This is what the documentation says.

[David Edwin]

Yes, you do need to the nRF5 SDK , extract it and you should be able to compile it. Make sure you extract it at the same folder level as the Mesh SDK.

[Rorisang]

Hi, David. Thanks a lot for the help. I have managed to set up the client, server and provisioner examples on the three boards. I do not know if i did it the correct way:

I copied the (extracted) folders from the Mesh SDK into the (extracted) nRF5 SDK and the code compiled without any errors. I did not have any app. that could extract the two files simultaneously into a single folder and combine them accordingly.

Now, if i may ask, how do i send packets/adverts between 2 or more routers (nRF52840 's)?