Mesh networks range testing best hardware

[Vladimir Aparin]

We going to test the link range of mesh networks (BLE mesh the first and Thread later) inside the building - between the floors.

It's possible the hop between the floor or two (best case)?

Because it's depends on a link budget, we need to understand, what's the best hardware (evaluation board) for these test?

We can use next evaluation boards for BLE Mesh: Thingy:52, nRF52-DK, nRF52840-DK, nRF52840-Dongle 

And the nRF52840-DK and nRF52840-Dongle for Thread.

I know that the antenna gain in nRF52840-DK is about the null (I asked it in other topic about some months ago). I see that the Thingy:52 has the chip antenna with +0.5 dB gain maximum. As i understand nRF52-DK should have the same antenna gain. I don't know the antenna gain of nRF52840-Dongle.

What can you recommend to achive the longest link range for BLE mesh and for Thread case?

[Mttrinh]

Hi,

It's possible the hop between the floor or two (best case)?

Do you mean like having one node on 1st floor and another node on 2nd floor, and having them send messages between each other? Or having a mesh network covering multiple floors?

To achieve the longest range I would recommend you to use the nRF52840-DK for testing. The DK already have an onboard debugger, which makes it easier for you to program the boards. Also, examples from our SDKs are built for the nRF52840-DK(PCA10056). It is possible to use the nRF52840-Dongle but will require more work to set it up.

[Vladimir RB]

I mean a node per floor, for example 1-2-3-4-5-6.
But at the same time we tested the configuration with some nodes per the floor and the floors without nodes at all: 3-4-(5 x2)-(7 x2).

I doesn't found the BLE mesh firmware for nRF52840-DK. Especially which will work with Thingy:52 we used for tests.