BLE Mesh Configuration - nRF52833 Proxy Supporting 40 Mesh Nodes

[Terry2]

I would like to configure and use a mesh network based on nRF52833 devices. One device as the proxy gateway connection to a mobile phone or tablet, and up to 40 mesh nodes that relay sensor data through the proxy to the mobile device. Is this configuration possible using the nRF53833 without a host processor? Will there be enough memory in the nRF52833 device acting as a proxy mesh node to support 40 mesh devices?

Is it possible to create one firmware load that depending on the provisioned configuration, the software can act either as a proxy or end mesh node (both client and server codebases)?

[Edvin]

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply. 

I would say that a mesh network with 40 nodes should not be an issue. 

Will there be enough memory in the nRF52833 device acting as a proxy mesh node to support 40 mesh devices?

I don't think there are any memory requirements for being a proxy device. It is just a door into the mesh network. The proxy node doesn't know/care to what nodes the messages are going to. It just receives via BLE and forwards via Mesh. 

As a gateway, there is no standard way to communicate between Mesh and IP (internet). You just need a node that will listen to the channels that you want to forward to the internet, and forward the data to some device that is capable of doing that, such as a phone via BLE or a raspberry pi via serial/usb.

Best regards,

Edvin

[Terry2]

Hello Edvin, thanks for the reply. Just so I'm clear, a nRF52833 device is capable of being configured (as a proxy) for simultaneous communication between the mobile device and the devices in the mesh network? Can the firmware running on the proxy and the end nodes be the same (just configured or execute different paths) or are different firmware binary loads necessary?

Thanks,

Terry

[Edvin]

The Proxy node is just a normal node that also has a Bluetooth Low Energy connection (or possibility to have it). The BLE service that it contains is the proxy service, which is a "serialization" of the Mesh network. It forwards Mesh packets over BLE, and vice versa. So it doesn't really care how many Mesh nodes that are attached to the network. As a side note, the throughput in the mesh network will throttle long before the BLE throughput will do so. So if you like, you can have 1000 nodes and one proxy node, as long as the traffic in the Mesh network is low enough for it to work as intended. 

As long as you are able to compile and run the proxy node on an nRF52833, with the configuration you would like, it doesn't matter whether you have 10 or 1000 nodes in the network.

BR,
Edvin