Intergrating Nrf52811 BLE sensors into mesh

[Peter Lop.]

Hi,

In our old project we developed low energy sensors based on the Nrf52811 (nrf Connect sdk), using advertisements to broadcast the sensor data, then collecting them with raspberry based devices.

The next project will be around Bluetooth mesh, and it would be really nice, if we could integrate these sensors as well.
I looked into it a bit now, and the Nrf52811 does not support Mesh, due to ram size concerns. Tried to reduce the ram sizes of some examples in the connect sdk, but did not manage to get them under about 35k RAM.

So at the moment i only see two possibilities:
a) maybe working with the "nrf5 sdk for mesh" could work (some threads here that discussed that topic using the nrf52810)
b) adapting the code of the other mesh devices to also listen to the normal advertisements and "translating" them to mesh messages.

the sensors do not require to recieve any data at all (a plus would be only at startup, to change some settings for them).

So, what path would be feasible/easier? Is there an alternative i have not seen yet? Or should we just skip that idea and redesign the sensors to another, bigger chip?

Thanks for your help!

Peter

[Simonr]

Hi Peter

I think option B of these two would be the best, as fitting the nRF5 SDK for Mesh onto the nRF52811 will also be a tight fit, and if you plan on also having a normal BLE application coexist with the Mesh SDK on an 811 that will definitely not fit the RAM and Flash. Having the other mesh devices (that hopefully have enough room for both a BLE and Mesh application) work as "relays" instead will likely be the better solution. If your plan is to have sensors that transmit over BLE and that also should be Mesh devices I would indeed go for an SoC with more Flash/RAM (nRF52832/833/840).

Best regards,

Simon