BLE Mesh Proxy fine questions

[thormj]

I have an existing phone app (using the traditional GATT system), and I would like mesh-enable my products so that if the products can see each other, then the phone can connect to and control any node (so, not so much an automation system but a relay system for configuration messages).

1. Is there a good tutorial on how the mesh-proxy connection works in the firmware/phone side (does the proxy "broadcast" all the BLE Node addresses so it's truly transparent, or should I put in a GATT attribute for "I really want to connect with  this node?"

2. Can I pre-share the NSK for a "all nodes are part of the mesh out of the box"?  I don't expect the factories that our sensors are in to be close to each other (and if they are, cutting nodes out would be just as easy as commissioning them in...

[Hung Bui]

Hi Thor, 

1. We currently don't have a tutorial for the mesh proxy protocol. The best source for this is at chapter 6 in the Bluetooth Mesh spec v1.0.1 

At section 6.3 you can find the Proxy PDU description. The phone send the normal Mesh packet inside a GATT packet. The proxy node receive the packet and transparently relays the mesh packet into the mesh network. 
You can also have a look at our nRF Mesh app source code as the reference. 

2. What is the NSK ? You can pre-provision a node to put it to an mesh network in production. It's not defined in the Bluetooth Mesh spec, but there shouldn't be a problem to do so. Have a look here: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/short-range-guides/b/bluetooth-low-energy/posts/mass-provisioning-of-nordic-ble-mesh-nodes