Interacting with Thread network via bluetooth using mobile app.

[Scorpio Droid]

Can you, please, point me towards documentation and (if available) samples of mobile app that would allow me to commission and then interact with devices in RF52840-based thread network via bluetooth using mobile app. I saw several videos showing mobile apps commissioning and turning on/off lights on thread network, but I cannot find any documentation on how to do it.

Thank you!

A.Heiphetz 

[Carl Richard]

Hello!

I will need to ask internally about whether we have such a sample app, but from my knowledge there isn't any. You would likely have to combine something like the OpenThread External Commissioner app and an application that manages to communicate over Bluetooth, like the nRF Toolbox. Is it our videos you are referring to? If so, please share them here and then I can reach out to the people involved.

Best regards,
Carl Richard

[Scorpio Droid]

Carl:

Thank you for your reply. The video I mentioned is indeed from Nordic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA_bbVShOoc

But regardless of the video, can you point me towards documentation on communication between a mobile app and Thread through bluetooth? What specific data in what format should I send from a mobile app and what should I expect in response?

Thank you!

[Carl Richard]

Hello again!

In our samples (and the video you shared) the Nordic UART Service is used to send commands over Bluetooth to a Thread CoAP client, which then performs a Thread operation based on the given command. The documentation is different depending on which of our SDKs you want to use, but the samples I link to below are in essence the same.

- For the newer nRF Connect SDK most of the relevant information and links should be present in the Thread: CoAP Client sample documentation.
- In the nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee v4.1.0 you should read up the BLE UART and Thread MTD CoAP Client Examples. As well as the guide to adding multiprotocol Thread support to BLE examples.

For both samples you can use the nRF Toolbox application that I linked to earlier. This has support for sending custom commands over BLE using the Nordic UART Service. The app does not support Thread commissioning directly, but both of the above samples enables pairing of Thread nodes which can be initiated by a command from the app.

In summary, we do not have any custom BLE-Thread bridge communication format. The translation must be handled by the application running on a multiprotocol enabled device.

Best regards,
Carl Richard

[Scorpio Droid]

Thank you! Not the answer I hoped to hear, but it does help with the planning of my project!

Thank you!

A.Heiphetz

[Carl Richard]

That's unfortunate, but I'm glad I could help!

Best regards,
Carl Richard