Bluetooth Mesh

Complete solution

For developing your Bluetooth Mesh product

Mesh

If you are developing a Bluetooth Mesh product it is wise to evaluate what the #1 supplier of Bluetooth Low Energy System-on-Chips (SoCs) offers, as Bluetooth Mesh is built on top of Bluetooth LE.

We offer a broad portfolio of SoCs supporting Bluetooth Mesh. The SoCs have different memory sizes and capabilities, enabling you to select the perfect match for your product's requirements. Complementing our SoCs, we offer development hardware, software, and tools to make it easy for you to build your product, while also reducing time-to-market. We offer a qualified Bluetooth Mesh stack with all mandatory and selected optional features supported, in addition to a wide range of application models and samples for lighting and sensor networks. Use this as a foundation to build on top of. We also offer a mobile app, nRF Mesh, available as free source code for both iOS and Android. This is a great starting point for your own app. The app can be used to provision, configure, and control Mesh nodes in evaluation and test.

We offer our excellent technical support to anyone developing a Bluetooth Mesh product with one of our SoCs. We guide you through the whole product development process.

Explore our Bluetooth Mesh solutions below!

Concurrent multicast in large-scale networks 

Bluetooth® Mesh is a state-of-the-art mesh networking technology that extends the capabilities of Bluetooth Low Energy. It enables powerful concurrent multicast (many-to-many) communication in networks with thousands of nodes. The functionality is a vital update for new applications in lighting, sensor networking, predictive maintenance, asset tracking and positioning.

Bluetooth Mesh is a managed flooding mesh, which is a simple and reliable approach to distribute messages in larger networks. Reliability is ensured with multiple paths from source to destination and there is no single point of failure. The Bluetooth Mesh technology has separate encryption for network and application layers enabling network mangers to create multi-level access control mechanisms.

Security

Bluetooth Mesh is designed with security as a top priority and provides industrial-grade security for protection against all known attacks. Comprehensive security that covers the entire network of devices and various groupings of devices is mandatory. Additional features are available to further enhance security and network device privacy. Furthermore, the complete Bluetooth® Mesh security architecture is open and available for public review. The Bluetooth Mesh technology has separate encryption for network and application layers.

Bluetooth Mesh Protocol 1.1 and new features

The latest release of the Bluetooth Mesh Protocol specification v1.1 and associated specifications responded to the demands of the industry with further standardization of the core use cases, new features, and enhancements. Bluetooth Mesh with the latest improvements defines standards for Mesh Device Firmware Upgrade (Mesh DFU), Remote Provisioning, and Binary Large Object (BLOB) Transfer. These features aim to decrease the complexity and the cost of installation and maintenance of the systems. Bluetooth Mesh Protocol v1.1 also adds a few more new features, enhancements, and security improvements.

Bluetooth NLC

Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control (NLC) is a set of Bluetooth Mesh profiles that standardize interfaces for luminaries, sensor and control devices. NLC is a full-stack standard for wireless lighting control covering standardization on the radio layer, the protocol layer, and the device layer. Bluetooth NLC enables multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control. NLC profiles define standards for for following device types: Ambient Light Sensor, Basic Lightness Controller, Basic Scene Selector, Dimming Control, Energy Monitor, and Occupancy Sensor. 

nRF Connect SDK supports all NLC profiles with the samples – read more in the Development Software tab.

 

Walkthrough Bluetooth Mesh 1.1 and NLC

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Walkthrough Bluetooth Mesh 1.1 and Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control (NLC)

Introduction to Bluetooth Mesh

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Introduction to Bluetooth Mesh

Topology and roles

Bluetooth Mesh uses Bluetooth Low Energy as bearer or transport for its messages. The Bluetooth Mesh messages are encapsulated in either Bluetooth LE advertisements or GATT packets, referred to as advertising bearer or GATT bearer (connections). Normal nodes typically use the advertising bearer, but when a smartphone connects into the network it typically uses the GATT bearer. The smartphone connects to one node and then that node relays the messages into the network.

The below figure shows an overview of the Bluetooth Mesh roles:

  • N: Node is the most basic role. It uses the advertising bearer only and its receiver is always on. It will not retransmit messages.
  • RN: Relay node uses the advertising bearer only and its receiver is always on when not retransmitting messages. It extends the network range and allows messages to hop between multiple relay nodes.
  • P: Proxy node has the same functionality as a RN, but can also use the GATT bearer to connect to for example a smart phone. It runs the Bluetooth Mesh stack and the Bluetooth LE stack.
  • FN: Friend node has the same functionality as a RN, but can establish a friendship with one or more LPNs. It will store messages for the LPNs it has a friendship with.
  • LPN: Low power node uses the advertising bearer and its receiver is mostly turned off. It wakes up at a certain interval and polls for messages from its Friend node. It can wake up at any time to send a message to the network.
  • GATT connectivity represents a node that connects to a Proxy node over a GATT connection.

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If you want to learn more about Bluetooth Mesh we recommend reading the Bluetooth Mesh concept section and also the "Mesh Profile" specification.