Can nrf52840 work with ESP32 in Bluetooth low energy application?

Question

I want to create a Bluetooth LE application, one peripheral and multiple (2- 5) centrals.For centrals I will use nrf52840 boards, but for peripheral, I was thinking of using ESP32 because I want to use it as a gateway to the cloud. 
 But my questions are 
 
 First is it possible for nrf52840 to work with ESP32? (It seems like ESP32 uses Bluetooth V4.2) 
 If yes are there any limitations? can the range be affected,comparing if I would have used nrf52 on both ends?

Simonr · Accepted Answer

Hi David 
 Depending on the material and number of the walls/barriers, you should be able to communicate at 30 meters between the two devices, but I urge you to test this in the environment before saying anything for certain. 
 It will not be possible to communicate with a BLE 4.2. device using Coded PHY (long-range) in BLE 5.0. You can transfer data over long-range between two nRF52 devices and then transfer from one of those to the ESP32 by switching to 1MBPS PHY which will make it able to communicate with the ESP32. But the ESP32 will not able to communicate with a BLE long-range device in the Coded PHY. 
 Best regards, 
 Simon

Simonr · Answer

Hi 
 Most of our examples operate with BLE_GAP_PHY_AUTO which sets the PHY automatically to whatever the other device prefers. So is you set a BLE_GAP_EVT_PHY_UPDATE_REQUEST when you've connected to the ESP32, the nRF52840 should recognize that the ESP32 only supports 1MBPS and will use that. 
 I don't think there is much else you need to modify in the nRF52 firmware, this all comes down to what you want the connection parameters, etc. to be. 
 Best regards, 
 Simon

Can nrf52840 work with ESP32 in Bluetooth low energy application?

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