ESP BLE Mesh v0.5 Beta has been released

[ESP_Island]

Thanks for your continuous support and attention on ESP BLE Mesh, we are glad to announce that the first beta version of ESP BLE Mesh has been released.

Please note this is a temporary BLE Mesh branch on GitHub, we will continue to update.

It is now allowed to clone the ESP BLE Mesh project:
Branch: feature/esp-ble-mesh-v0.5
BLE Mesh APIs & Core code: components/bt/ble_mesh
BLE Mesh Examples: examples/bluetooth/ble_mesh

Please help understand that this is a beta version and we think there's still a lot to be improved.

We hope to receive your suggestions about the ESP BLE Mesh. So if you have any issues/advice/questions/feature requests, don't hesitate to raise issues on GitHub.

When you raise issues/questions/requests, please help add a tag of 'BLE Mesh' to the issue title, so that we could quickly recognize and track. Thanks.

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Note: “ESP-BLE-Mesh-v0.5” supports the following features

Provisioning
* Support PB-ADV and PB-GATT bearers
* Add Provisioner feature
Networking
* Support relay, segmentation, etc
Proxy Support
Foundation Models
* Configuration Server Model
* Configuration Client Model
* Health Server Model
* Health Client Model
Generic Client Models
* Generic OnOff Client
* Generic Level Client
* Generic Default Transition Timer Client
* Generic Power OnOff Client
* Generic Power Level Client
* Generic Battery Client
* Generic Property Client
Lighting Client Models
* Light Lightness Client
* Light CTL Client
* Light HSL Client
Sensor Client Models
* Sensor Client
Time and Scenes Client Models
* Scene Client

[WiFive]

Are we going to get a port of the whole zephyr bt/ble stack as an alternative to bluedroid?

[ESP_Island]

Maybe it is possible in the future

[chegewara]

Ive been running ble mesh example for few minutes as for now and i have question. From menuconfig options i understand that esp32 should store all necessary data exchanged during provisioning like app key, IV etc, but now it seems not work. My question is: is it implemented now, will it be implemented or do we need to implement it in our app? No complaining, just asking.

[Ritesh]

Maybe it is possible in the future

Hi,

Thanks for providing details for that.

We have also started feasibility for Bluetooth into ESP32 for few of our projects in which WiFi and Bluetooth will be used as part of communication medium.

So, Would you please let me know below queries response regarding same?

- Up to how many nodes you have tried with this MESH Networking using BLE?
- What will be the average current consumption if you have connected multiple nodes?
- How network has been formed means like parent and child or like hope mechanism?
- Is there any critical issue to use BLE MESH current release so that we can plan accordingly?
- which ESP32 IDF version will be supported for that?

I will try to check it into next week and will ask few more questions based on our analysis.

[ESP_Island]

Ive been running ble mesh example for few minutes as for now and i have question. From menuconfig options i understand that esp32 should store all necessary data exchanged during provisioning like app key, IV etc, but now it seems not work. My question is: is it implemented now, will it be implemented or do we need to implement it in our app? No complaining, just asking.

ESP32 stores all necessary provisioning data like app key, IV etc, as you mentioned.

Currently, it doesn't store the data in NVS. So if you don't reboot the device, it should work finely. If it doesn't work on your side, could you tell us how to reproduce your issue?

BTW, for the "power-down memory" feature:
* We have finished the "NVS storage" of Mesh nodes and it will be released soon
* For the "NVS storage" of Provisioner device, it is on the development plan and will be released in the near future

[ESP_Island]

Hi,

Thanks for providing details for that.

We have also started feasibility for Bluetooth into ESP32 for few of our projects in which WiFi and Bluetooth will be used as part of communication medium.

So, Would you please let me know below queries response regarding same?

- Up to how many nodes you have tried with this MESH Networking using BLE?
- What will be the average current consumption if you have connected multiple nodes?
- How network has been formed means like parent and child or like hope mechanism?
- Is there any critical issue to use BLE MESH current release so that we can plan accordingly?
- which ESP32 IDF version will be supported for that?

I will try to check it into next week and will ask few more questions based on our analysis.

What follows is my response to your questions, hope it helps you:

• Up to how many nodes you have tried with this MESH Networking using BLE?
  * We have tried with 100 BLE devices;
  * Maybe this demo will help you make a first impression about how is "ESP32 BLE Mesh" going: Espressif Fast Provisioning using ESP BLE Mesh App .
• What will be the average current consumption if you have connected multiple nodes?
  * BLE Mesh nodes need to stay on the scanning state all the time, so they are normally main powered (e.g., 220V power supply).
  * There is a special role "Low Power Node" in BLE Mesh which is designed for the ultra-low power sensors;
  * But some features are disabled for those LPN nodes, such as relay feature, proxy feature, friend feature, etc.
  * I think ESP32 is not suitable for the "ultra-low power" case compared to some other BLE-Only chips.
• How network has been formed means like parent and child or like hope mechanism?
  * BLE Mesh is a "Flooding Mesh" and it requires neither "routing table" nor "parent-child". That means, all the devices are broadcasting data and also listening to the broadcasting from the nearby devices.
  * I think the following article will help you have a basic knowledge about "BLE Mesh Networking": An Intro to Bluetooth Mesh
• Is there any critical issue to use BLE MESH current release so that we can plan accordingly?
  * We have fixed most of the critical issues that we have encountered during our test;
  * I think the main "critical issue" is that we need more test about our BLE Mesh. And we hope that our customers can help test our "beta version" and provide more suggestions about it. So that we can make it stable more quickly.
  * We have been developing on BLE Mesh to improve our performance, like "Wi-Fi & BLE Mesh Coexistence Performance", "Fast OTA Performance", etc.
  * And we will release a version soon which has a much improved "Wi-Fi & BLE Mesh Coexistence Performance".
• which ESP32 IDF version will be supported for that?
  * If all goes well, I think IDF 4.0 or IDF 4.1 will be supported for "BLE Mesh SDK".

[chegewara]

ESP32 stores all necessary provisioning data like app key, IV etc, as you mentioned.

Currently, it doesn't store the data in NVS. So if you don't reboot the device, it should work finely. If it doesn't work on your side, could you tell us how to reproduce your issue?

BTW, for the "power-down memory" feature:
* We have finished the "NVS storage" of Mesh nodes and it will be released soon
* For the "NVS storage" of Provisioner device, it is on the development plan and will be released in the near future

Yes, it works perfect now. All necessary data are stored in ram. What I asked is "power-down memory" feature, but answer is satisfying my question, thanks for support.
About esp32 using as provisioner it is too early to me, as for now silab and nRF provisioners are working good.

[chegewara]

Ritesh
https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/tr ... /mesh_docs

[Ritesh]

Ritesh
https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/tr ... /mesh_docs

Hi,

Thanks for providing links for same. I have checked few basic links and will check few links into details