Can not create a Zigbee mesh topology with Nordic SDK

[Tu Hoang]

Hi everyone,

I've just been working with NRF52833 and nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee v4.1.0 to create a zigbee mesh network for home automation. My network is pretty simple with 1 coordinator, 2 routers and 1 end-device.

It all went well until i realise that the examples in Zigbee stack (namely multi_sensor and light_control) inside the SDK just create a star network rather than the mesh topology that i need.In fact,  When a router in the middle is down, the whole network is frozen, to transmission is available to the coordinator from the end device while the other router is still online.

Is there any way for me to configure the network to mesh topology, i am using 4 custom dev board of NRF52833 with Thread and Zigbee SDK v4.1.0. the code that I used is identical to the light control example with some minor change the device to use with a custom NRF52833 board.

Please help, thank you

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Zigbee always work in a mesh topology, where the routers are connected by a full mesh, and the end devices are connected to the routers in a star topology.

The network shouldn't be frozen. However, it takes some time for the routers to discover the fact that the node is down and find a better route, which also applies to the end devices. The end devices has to change the parent ("star") by rejoining the network.

One thing you might try is to reset all devices after the router is switched off. That way, all end devices will be forced to rejoin, speeding up the rejoin process.

Best regards,

Marte