Bluetooth: Mesh light

The Bluetooth® mesh light sample demonstrates how to set up a mesh server model application, and control LEDs with Bluetooth mesh using the Generic OnOff models.

Note

This sample is self-contained, and can be tested on its own. However, it is required when testing the Bluetooth: Mesh light switch sample.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms

PCA

Board name

Build target

nRF5340 DK

PCA10095

nrf5340dk_nrf5340

nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp

nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp_ns

nRF52840 DK

PCA10056

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nRF52 DK

PCA10040

nrf52dk_nrf52832

nrf52dk_nrf52832

nRF52833 DK

PCA10100

nrf52833dk_nrf52833

nrf52833dk_nrf52833

nRF52833 DK (emulating nRF52820)

PCA10100

nrf52833dk_nrf52820

nrf52833dk_nrf52820

Thingy:53

PCA20053

thingy53_nrf5340

thingy53_nrf5340_cpuapp

thingy53_nrf5340_cpuapp_ns

nRF21540 DK

PCA10112

nrf21540dk_nrf52840

nrf21540dk_nrf52840

The sample also requires a smartphone with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF Mesh mobile app installed in one of the following versions:

Note

If you build this application for Thingy:53, it enables additional features. See Thingy:53 application guide for details.

Overview

The mesh light sample is a Generic OnOff Server with a provisionee role in a mesh network. There can be one or more servers in the network, for example light bulbs.

The sample instantiates up to four instances of the Generic OnOff Server model for controlling LEDs. The number of OnOff Server instances depends on available LEDs, as defined in board DTS file.

Provisioning is performed using the nRF Mesh mobile app. This mobile application is also used to configure key bindings, and publication and subscription settings of the Bluetooth mesh model instances in the sample. After provisioning and configuring the mesh models supported by the sample in the nRF Mesh mobile app, you can control the LEDs on the development kit from the app.

Provisioning

The provisioning is handled by the Bluetooth mesh provisioning handler for Nordic DKs. It supports four types of out-of-band (OOB) authentication methods, and uses the Hardware Information driver to generate a deterministic UUID to uniquely represent the device.

Models

The following table shows the mesh light composition data for this sample:

Element 1

Element 2

Element 3

Element 4

Config Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Health Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Note

When used with Thingy:53, Element 4 is not available. Thingy:53 supports only one RGB LED, and treats each RGB LED channel as a separate LED.

The models are used for the following purposes:

  • Generic OnOff Server instances in elements 1 to N, where N is number of on board LEDs, each control LEDs 1 to N, respectively.

  • Config Server allows configurator devices to configure the node remotely.

  • Health Server provides attention callbacks that are used during provisioning to call your attention to the device. These callbacks trigger blinking of the LEDs.

The model handling is implemented in src/model_handler.c, which uses the DK Button and LEDs library to control each LED on the development kit according to the matching received messages of Generic OnOff Server.

User interface

Buttons:

Can be used to input the OOB authentication value during provisioning. All buttons have the same functionality during this procedure.

LEDs:

Show the OOB authentication value during provisioning if the “Push button” OOB method is used. Show the OnOff state of the Generic OnOff Server of the corresponding element.

Configuration

See Configuring your application for information about how to permanently or temporarily change the configuration.

Source file setup

This sample is split into the following source files:

  • main.c used to handle initialization.

  • model_handler.c used to handle mesh models.

  • thingy53.c used to handle preinitialization of the Thingy:53 board. Only compiled when the sample is built for Thingy:53 board.

FEM support

You can add support for the nRF21540 front-end module to this sample by using one of the following options, depending on your hardware:

  • Build the sample for one board that contains the nRF21540 FEM, such as nrf21540dk_nrf52840.

  • Manually create a devicetree overlay file that describes how FEM is connected to the nRF5 SoC in your device. See Set devicetree overlays for different ways of adding the overlay file.

  • Provide nRF21540 FEM capabilities by using a shield, for example the nRF21540 EK shield that is available in the nRF Connect SDK. In this case, build the project for a board connected to the shield you are using with an appropriate variable included in the build command. This variable instructs the build system to append the appropriate devicetree overlay file. For example, to build the sample from the command line for an nRF52833 DK with the nRF21540 EK attached, use the following command within the sample directory:

    west build -b nrf52833dk_nrf52833 -- -DSHIELD=nrf21540_ek

    This command builds the application firmware. See Programming nRF21540 EK for information about how to program when you are using a board with a network core, for example nRF5340 DK.

Each of these options adds the description of the nRF21540 FEM to the devicetree. See Working with RF front-end modules for more information about FEM in the nRF Connect SDK.

To add support for other front-end modules, add the respective devicetree file entries to the board devicetree file or the devicetree overlay file.

Building and running

This sample can be found under samples/bluetooth/mesh/light in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

See Building and programming an application for information about how to build and program the application.

Testing

After programming the sample to your development kit, you can test it by using a smartphone with nRF Mesh mobile app installed. Testing consists of provisioning the device and configuring it for communication with the mesh models.

Provisioning the device

The provisioning assigns an address range to the device, and adds it to the mesh network. Complete the following steps in the nRF Mesh app:

  1. Tap Add node to start scanning for unprovisioned mesh devices.

  2. Select the Mesh Light device to connect to it.

  3. Tap Identify, and then Provision, to provision the device.

  4. When prompted, select an OOB method and follow the instructions in the app.

Once the provisioning is complete, the app returns to the Network screen.

Configuring models

See Configuring mesh models using the nRF Mesh mobile app for details on how to configure the mesh models with the nRF Mesh mobile app.

Configure the Generic OnOff Server model on each element on the Mesh Light node:

  • Bind the model to Application Key 1.

    Once the model is bound to the application key, you can control the first LED on the device.

  • In the model view, tap ON (one of the Generic On Off Controls) to light up the first LED on the development kit.

Make sure to complete the configuration on each of the elements on the node to enable controlling each of the remaining three LEDs.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following nRF Connect SDK libraries:

In addition, it uses the following Zephyr libraries: