Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 14:44:50 GMT

Hi Mttrinh and thanks for your help.

Ok, now I understand that it may be more complex than I originally imagined 😄

Thanks for your references!

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 14:35:10 GMT

Hi,

I might have been misleading with the coexistence example. It was meant to use as a reference on how you can merge the blinky example and mesh example.

For provisioning, all nodes in the network need to be provisioned by the same provisioner. (Actually, it can be multiple provisioners, but then the provisioners must exchange information about the network beforehand, such as network key, already provisioned nodes, app keys, etc.)

So if you want to provision everything from the phone you can add support for PB-GATT yourself. I haven't done this myself but there should be many threads on this forum discussing about this already. I suggest you try to search around the forum, and this will be helpful.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 08:56:57 GMT

Hello! Thanks for this info, I have been waiting for another dev board until now.

Ok, so the last step from my project would be to actually integrate the Mesh project into the Nordic Blinky project, like I said in the beginning. But before trying to follow that tutorial (which I failed until now), I would like to ask you some questions.

🔍 So, on one hand, the provisioning needs to be done from the nRF Mesh phone Application (this works for the Mesh project).
🔍 On the other hand, for the combined example, provisioning cannot be make from the phone and needs to be made by a dev board.

This is not so feasible, because I would like to deploy this combined mesh+blinky on many Thingy:52, which will act as a range extender, like I presented in the beginning:

[quote userid="92310" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/65033/combining-mesh-and-blinky-examples"][server (Thingy:52), relay] [/quote]

But this can only be achieved if I specifically assign them with the same group address from the phone. So this cannot be just randomly done by a devboard.
I hope that I explained well enough my concern.

Do you see the problem that I will have even if I try to combine the two exampls? Maybe I should try another approach (?). 🤔 Do you have any ideas?

Thanks! 🌞

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:32:34 GMT

Yes, you need to use another development board to do the provisioning.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:35:40 GMT

Hello, Mttrinh.

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/65033/combining-mesh-and-blinky-examples/270885"]so you won't be able to see/provision it using the nRF Mesh app.[/quote]

- ok, I did not know that. Thanks. 🙂

I used the phone for the light switch example, because I do not have so many boards (in the example, it's specified that we can use either a board or the phone, so I just used the phone).

So, you are saying that I should use another development kit for provisioning, instead.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:02:56 GMT

Hi,

The Coexistense examples doesn't support PB-GATT so you won't be able to see/provision it using the nRF Mesh app. You need to use the provisioner example found in our SDK and provision it like you would with the light switch example. After you have provsioned it you can connect to it via nRF Connect and send data to the node.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 11:08:50 GMT

Hi! Sorry for the delay, I have been trying this example which you advised me.

It builds successfully. However, I cannot test it. My steps are the following:

1. Follow the 4 steps from the SDK UART coexistence example.

2. Try to connect via nRF Mesh App - not sucessfull 🚫 The board is not found in the app.

3. Try to connect via nRF Connect - not sucessfull 🚫 I can connect to the board. But whenever I try to write something in the field Mesh Proxy Data In, I get disconnected to the board (and I can reconnect back, but still the message is not received).

Do you have any ideas how to make this example work? Thanks a lot for your ideas and help!

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 12:46:06 GMT

Have you taken a look at the SDK UART coexistence example? It is an example where mesh is merged into the nRF5 UART example. This example can be used as a reference as to how you can merge mesh into the Blinky example.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 07:29:52 GMT

Hi Mttrinh.

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/65033/combining-mesh-and-blinky-examples/269005"]Copy it from the examples/templates folder in mesh stack repository into your project folder,[/quote]

I did that. But I would like to point out that nrf_mesh_config_app.h does not go in the project folder, i.e. C:\SESProj\nRF5_SDK_1530\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_blinky\pca10056\s140\ses, like you are proposing.

Instead, it goes to C:\SESProj\nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v320\mesh\core\api, where all .h files for the project are. Otherwise it will throw errors.

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/65033/combining-mesh-and-blinky-examples/269005"]Can you try copy from the template instead and remove #error message at the top of the fil? Does it make any difference?[/quote]

I did erase those 3 lines and I do not get that specific error anymore. Instead, other errors arise, from the file mesh_opt_gatt.h not being found. (and I neither find this in any folder nor on the internet).

[quote userid="15475" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/65033/combining-mesh-and-blinky-examples/269005"] think it might be easier doing it the other way around, use a mesh example[/quote]

Thanks for your suggestion, but it's completely unclear to me how to follow the original tutorial. If I switch to the other way round, I don't know which files from the SDK I should move to the Mesh folder. So, I will try to follow the original post, with the hope that it will work some day.. 😞

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 13:29:10 GMT

Hi,

From the documentation Integrating Mesh into nRF5 SDK examples:

If you are adding you own mesh functionality rather than working from an existing mesh example, you also need to add the file nrf_mesh_config_app.h. Copy it from the examples/templates folder in mesh stack repository into your project folder, and remove #error message at the top of the file. Make other appropriate changes to the file content, like adjusting ACCESS_ELEMENT_COUNT and ACCESS_MODEL_COUNT to the required number of elements and models.

Can you try copy from the template instead and remove #error message at the top of the fil? Does it make any difference? Also, go through the "Optional changes" in the document.

A comment on combining the two examples though. I think it might be easier doing it the other way around, use a mesh example(for example light switch) and then add the nRF5 functionality to it instead.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 08:29:14 GMT

Hi Mttrinh.

A short update: I decided to copy that file from the internet and now that error is gone. However. I get the following:

#error "This file should be copied, not included."

What does this refer to? I do not understand what "copy" and "include" mean in this context. Should I just copy the content? If yes, where?

Thanks in advance.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 10:01:42 GMT

Hi Mttrinh and thanks for replying me with detailed info. Now I have another error.

To sum up what I have done so far: from this tutorial, I followed the all 3 steps like this:

Including nRF5 SDK for Mesh functionality in an nRF5 SDK example
1. Include the following source files from nRF5 SDK for Mesh in the nRF5 SDK example's project file - done. I created a folder in SES like you explained, like this:

2. Add the following folders to the project include path of the nRF5 SDK example - done. I added all 15 mentioned folder paths in the "User Include Directories" like this:

../../../../../../../nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v320/mesh/core/api
../../../../../../../nrf5_SDK_for_Mesh_v320/mesh/core/include and so on for all 15 folders.

3. Add the following preprocessor symbols to the project file of the nRF5 SDK example - done. I added it similarly:

However, when building the project, I get the error: nrf_mesh_config_app.h: No such file or directory.

I notice that it is used in the context:

#ifdef CONFIG_APP_IN_CORE
#include "nrf_mesh_config_app.h"
#endif

Could you please help me debug this issue? Should I just comment it? I mention that I do not even find this .h file in my Mesh folder. However, I can just copy it from here.

Thank you in advance & best wishes, Alexa.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 10:43:39 GMT

Hi,

You don't necessarily need to copy the source files anywhere. "Including the source files" refers to adding the source files into your project. When you open the project go into the left pane(Project explorer), right-click on the Project/a folder then press "Add New File...".

In addition to adding the sorce files you need to include paths to your include files. Do the following:

1. Right-click on your project, press "Options.."

2. In the upper left corner in the drop-down box, change from "Debug"/"Release" to "Common"

3. Under "Code", press "Preprocessor"

4. Choose "User Include Directories" and add the path here

Assuming you are using SES.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:26:24 GMT

Hi Mttrinh! As you suggested me, I followed the links and now I'm trying to actually combine the two codes. But the documentation for this is a bit unclear to me - maybe because of my lack of experience. Anyway, I would like to ask if I understood correctly.

I understand that I should follow the steps from this link. But I do not know if including the source files refers to (1)folders copy-paste or (2) actually #include files in C?

That would be my first question.

My second question is: Where do all these files need to be copied? Should I make a specific folder with all of them in the SDK big folder? I guess that depends on how they are included in the other .c and .h files, but again - I do not know if I should change some C files too.

Thank you very much.

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

alexa — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 14:57:43 GMT

Hello and thanks for replying me! It looks very useful.

Ok, I will try these and come back if I am in trouble, thank you so much!

Best wishes!

RE: Combining Mesh and Blinky examples

Mttrinh — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 13:57:22 GMT

Hi,

I suggest you have a look at the coexistence examples from our Mesh SDK, you can use that as a reference to combine a mesh example and an example from nRF5 SDK.

This document is also relevant.