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  • Case ID: 277804
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Which module for 1000x unit low range mesh

Pinchy

Hi everyone, I’m have a wired network of 1000 devices (relay switches) that I’ve been tasked to upgrade to wireless.

  • Devices are inside a warehouse, about a pallet apart (~1m). So each device would be ~1m away from at least 4 others, 10m away from at least 40 others, all devices would be within a 100m radius of each other
  • Devices are powered by wired 24VDC.
  • Devices need to broadcast a "heartbeat" at least daily, no acknowledgement required
  • ~50 devices need their state changed (on/off) every minute or so, acknowledgement required
  • Each device is unique, rather than a group, so unicast messaging (or grouping IDs in a multicast message) may be required

I’ve used the nrf52832 before and liked it so would like to explore other Nordic options  

my question is, is the above problem solvable using Bluetooth 5? If so, which would be the cheapest module to use? What are some considerations to explore? Thank you!! 

  • 0

    Hello Pinchy,

    Good Day.

    The issues  you mentioned above can be solved (except the one related to Device power) by using  Bluetooth 5 . As It (Bluetooth 5) introduces four times more range than previous version even without a need to increase peak output power. The ability to perform periodic and deterministic advertising, which allows scanners to synchronize their scanning for packets with the schedule of the advertising device. Therefore, periodic broadcasting is possible with or without acknowledgement. In Unicast messaging, the receiver has to Acknowledgement all the packets and if these packets are not acknowledged, this acknowledgement has to send again. 

    Regarding device powered by DC 24V – none of our devices support that much voltage. For example: Supply voltage range of nRF52805 and nRF 52832 is 1.7V to 3.6 V. You may use a voltage converter for your system to be compatible with your required 24VDC. 

    The nRF52 Series multiprotocol SoCs support Bluetooth 5 and the nRF52840 supports all new features of Bluetooth 5. For pricing, you can contact Regional Sales Manager(RSM) and/or Distributor  Contact us - nordicsemi.com  .

     To find specific module according to your requirement, you can look at this link https://www.nordicsemi.com/Nordic-Partners/3rd-party-modules

    Hope it helps. 

    Let me know if you would like to know more.

    Best Regards,

    Kazi Afroza Sultana

  • 0 in reply to Kazi Afroza Sultana

    Thanks for the reply Kazi!


    Not after a module - apologies I used that word - the cost won't be low enough for our application and we're happy to put a PCB trace antenna on the board.  Noted on the voltage, that was merely me stating that it's not battery operated and we don't care about "low power".

    What I'm after is confirmation that Bluetooth 5 will work with a densely populated network of 1000 devices and if there's anything specific I need to consider.  This unfortunately is one of those difficult applications to test at a small scale as network transient effects like delays and collisions may only appear in large networks so I want to avoid that issue before manufacturing and installing 1000 devices!

    Is the nRF52840 the most economical SoC to use?



  • 0

    Hello Pinchy,

    Good Morning. Thanks for these further queries. This case came at weekend. We are working on it and will come back to you whenever the answers get ready.

    Best Regards,

    Kazi Afroza Sultana

  • 0

    Hello Pinchy,

    Good day.

    nRF52840 with nRF5 SDK based Mesh SDK is good enough for your setup until mesh specification V1.0.  As Mesh Specification is based on an older version of the Bluetooth low energy specification (BLE 4.0). You can find the The versions of nRF5 SDK for mesh here in this link (Nordic Semiconductor Infocenter)  you also can look at this devzone case as well about the long range-  nRF52840-DK: Coded PHY (Long-range) Mesh SDK - Nordic Q&A - Nordic DevZone - Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com) , Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com). 

    One suggestion regarding your network density:-  as the network density seems high if it is needed you can decrease the number of relay nodes. As having too many relay will cause a huge load on the network and disturbance between the nodes. In mesh specification 1.0 - The flooding based approach to message relaying can cause a lot of redundant traffic on air, which may impact the throughput and reliability of the network. Therefore, it is highly recommended to limit the number of relays in a network to restrict this effect. The rate of relay-enabled devices in the network is a trade-off between message route-redundancy and reliability. It should be tuned according to network density, traffic volumes, network layout, and requirements for reliability and responsiveness.

    Suggestion about SoC selection:- If you are open to use NCS nRF Connect SDK , it would be beneficial to use nRF53 to make your network compatible with future requirements and specification.  Though  which SOC you would use, it depends on what features/resources you need and what kind of applications you plan to develop.  You can look at this link: nRF Connect SDK and nRF5 SDK statement - Blogs - Nordic Blog - Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com). There are more profiles those are supported in NCS Mesh than nRF5 Mesh SDK, so, you can find and select more features to choose from. Some of those features might also help you improving the network stability and node communication.

    Based on the above suggestions, you may have an idea which SoC would meet up your purpose and regarding the most economical one, you can contact Regional Sales Manager(RSM)  Contact us - nordicsemi.com . 

    Hope it helps. Feel free to ask if you need any more information. 

    Best Regards,

    Kazi Afroza Sultana

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