About Mesh "Node" controls

[Art Wong]

Hi, we're just starting with BLE and Mesh.  Very confusing and find it hard to follow the on line information.  Hopefully someone can point us in the right direction :

My understand about BLE Mesh is "Relay Node", "Proxy Node", "Low Power Node" and "Friend Node" are all "optional features".  The "very basic" function of "a node" in a Mesh is basically using the "advertising" and "receiving response" using the Mesh method "IF" none of the 4 "optional function" is added.  Is this correct ?

If "yes", then how can we control the activating or de-activating those 4 "optional function" ?  What are the proper procedure (ie chain of "command") ?

To make it clear of my confusion, I have added the questions on the attached screen shots on "LPN Life Cycle" and "LPN Topology".  I hope someone can help us out and/or point us to some good readings.  Many thanks.

Many thanks.

[Mttrinh]

Hi,

Yes, you are correct the feature you mentioned is optional feature and does not need to be added. How to activate/implement these different feature I suggest you have look at the different examples in our SDK. They will show you how these feature are implemented.

Regarding the first picture, I suggest you to look at the LPN example and Integrating Low Power node feature.

As for your second picture:

Edge node means end node/end device. Unless it is a Low Power node then it does normal operation with Mesh/High power Operation.

"Should this be Proxy node"
Yes, the relay node shown in the picture is a Proxy node for it to be able to connect to a phone. But a relay node does not need to be a proxy node,

"Is it possible to switch in and out of the different mode"

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Just to clarify, a LPN can also be an Edge node and a node can be both a Relay node and a Proxy node.

Hope this helped.