How to do nRF9160 Device to Device Communication

[KyeongTaek Jeong]

I'd like to use two nRF9160s to do D2D (Device to Device). Is it possible?
For example, if you press Button 1 on nRF9160 (1), then LED 1 on nRF9160 (2) is displayed.
Is it possible to conduct a blink experiment?

If possible, how can you experiment?

What is the easiest way to do SES, UART, etc.?

I only use batteries when I do experiments outside, is it possible D2D (Device to Device) Communication to use LTE-M

[Simon]

That should be possible, I think UART would be a good option. Please tell me if you need guidance on how to implement this.

Best regards,

Simon

[KyeongTaek Jeong]

I'm a beginner, and I want to do the above experiment by wireless, not UART. Do you have a simple example to follow?

[Simon]

You could make the nRF91 chips communicate wireless with each other using e.g. a TCP Server/Client approach. However, this would not be direct communication as it will go through a cell tower. I guess your goal is direct communication?

The nRF9160 does not support BLE, so it's not possible to communicate in this way. However, if you connect an nRF52 device to the nRF9160 you can communicate in this manner:

[nRF91←UART→nrf52]  ←BLE→  [nrf52←UART→nRF91]

Are you using an nRF9160 DK? On that board there is an nRF52840 present already. This sample may be useful as well.

Best regards,

Simon

[KyeongTaek Jeong]

Thank you very much for your answer. But it's a little different from what I want. And I am using nRF9160 DK.

I want direct communication through LTE-M, not through BLE communication. Is it possible? If not, do I need to use repeaters?

What I want is as follows.

Device1 <--direct communication -> Device2 <--Cell tower----> Labtop or Smartphone

[Simon]

This is not possible unfortunately, if you want to communicate wirelessly between two nRF91 chips, they have to be connected to the cellular network and the communication will go through a cell tower.

Best regards,

Simon

[KyeongTaek Jeong]

1. Is it possible to communicate like this in a series?  D(Devcie) = nRF9160DK

[D1<--BLE-->D2<--BLE-->D3<--BLE-->....(Not affected by Sell power)]...<--Sell tower-->D6

2. Can BLE communicate 1:N, N:N, 1:1?

[Simon]

KyeongTaek Jeong said:

1. Is it possible to communicate like this in a series?  D(Devcie) = nRF9160DK

[D1<--BLE-->D2<--BLE-->D3<--BLE-->....(Not affected by Sell power)]...<--Sell tower-->D6

This should be possible, however I do not see any point of using nRF9160DK's to do this, since you are only using the nRF52840 within it. Then I would instead just use boards that only contains the nRF52840 (or another nRF52 device), like Thingy:52, nRF52840 DK, nRF52 DK nRF52840 Dongle or another.

KyeongTaek Jeong said:

Can BLE communicate 1:N, N:N, 1:1?

All of these should be possible with BLE. Regarding N:N, you may want to use Thread, BLE Mesh or Zigbee. This is out of my area of expertise and I would urge you to browse Devzone/open a new ticket about this.

Best regards,

Simon

[KyeongTaek Jeong]

Using nRF52840 inside the nRF9160DK, communication between D1 and D6 is possible.
Did I understand you correctly?

[Simon]

Yes, you understood me correctly. That is possible.