Bluetooth: Mesh Light Control

The Bluetooth Mesh Light Control sample demonstrates how to set up a light control Mesh server model application and control a dimmable LED with the Bluetooth Mesh, using the Generic OnOff models.

Overview

This sample is split into three source files:

  • A main.c file to handle initialization.

  • A file for handling Mesh models, model_handler.c.

  • A file for handling PWM driven control of the dimmable LED, lc_pwm_led.c.

After provisioning and configuring the Mesh models supported by the sample in the nRF Mesh mobile app, you can control the dimmable LED on the development kit from the app.

Models

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

Element 1

Element 2

Config Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Health Server

Light Control Server

Gen. Level Server

Light Control Setup Server

Gen. OnOff Server

Gen. DTT Server

Gen. Power OnOff Server

Gen. Power OnOff Setup Server

Light Lightness Server

Light Lightness Setup Server

The models are used for the following purposes:

  • The first element contains a Config Server and a Health Server. The Config Server allows configurator devices to configure the node remotely. The 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 seven other models in the first element are the product of a single instance of the Light Lightness Server. The application implements callbacks for the Light Lightness Server to control the first LED on the device using the PWM (pulse width modulation) driver.

  • The three models in the second element are the product of a single instance of the Light Control Server. The Light Control Server controls the Light Lightness Server in the first element, deciding on parameters such as fade time, lighting levels for different states, and inactivity timing. In this sample, the Light Control Server is enabled by default on startup.

Other nodes can control the Light Lightness Server through the Light Control Server by sending On/Off messages to the Light Control Server or to the Generic OnOff Server in the second element.

Note

It is possible to bypass the Light Controller Server by directly communicating with the Lightness Server on the first element.

For more details, see Light Lightness Server and Light Lightness Control Server.

The model handling is implemented in src/model_handler.c, which uses the DK Button and LEDs library and the PWM API to control the LEDs on the board.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms

PCA

Board name

Build target

nRF52840 DK

PCA10056

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nrf52840dk_nrf52840

nRF52 DK

PCA10040

nrf52dk_nrf52832

nrf52dk_nrf52832

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

User interface

Buttons:

Can be used to input the out-of-band (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. First LED outputs the current light level of the Light Lightness Server in the first element.

Building and running

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

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

Testing

After programming the sample to your board, you can test it by using a smartphone with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF Mesh 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 LC device to connect to it.

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

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

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

Configuring models

Complete the following steps in the nRF Mesh app to configure models:

  1. On the Network screen, tap the Mesh Light LC node. Basic information about the mesh node and its configuration is displayed.

  2. In the Mesh node view, expand the second element. It contains the list of models in the second element of the node.

  3. Tap Generic OnOff Server to see the model’s configuration.

  4. Bind the model to application keys to make it open for communication:

    1. Tap BIND KEY at the top of the screen.

    2. Select Application Key 1 from the list.

    You are now able to control the first LED on the device by using the Generic On Off Controls in the model view.

  5. Tap ON to light up the first LED on the development kit.

You should now see the following actions:

  1. The LED fades from 0% to 100% over 500ms Standby -> On.

  2. The LED stays at 100% for three seconds On.

  3. The LED fades from 100% to 50% over five seconds On -> Prolong.

  4. The LED stays at 50% for three seconds Prolong.

  5. The LED fades from 50% to 0% over five seconds Prolong -> Standby.

Light level transitions over time

Light level transitions over time

Note

The configuration of light levels, fade time and timeouts can be changed by altering the configuration parameters in prj.conf, and rebuilding the sample.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following nRF Connect SDK libraries:

In addition, it uses the following Zephyr libraries: