nRF5 SDK for Mesh v3.2.0
Beaconing example

This example shows how to do concurrent beaconing, which allows an application to advertise beacons (such as iBeacon or Eddystone beacons) while participating in the mesh network. Moreover, it demonstrates the usage of the RX callback.

Table of contents

Beacon sending

To send beacons, the application uses the mesh-internal packet manager and advertiser structure directly.

The application first initializes the advertiser (initialization is needed only once). It then allocates and fills the fields of the packet. There is no need to set the packet type or advertisement address, because this is taken care of by the advertiser module.

After the initialization, the application schedules the packet for transmission by putting it in the TX queue of the advertiser, with a parameter indicating the number of repeats that the advertiser will do. In this example, the repeat count is set to BEARER_ADV_REPEAT_INFINITE, which causes the packet to be retransmitted forever or until replaced by a different packet.

Warning
Using the packet manager and advertiser directly makes the application compete for the same resources as the core mesh framework. Incorrect or heavy usage will affect mesh performance or stability. Treat these modules with caution.

RX callback

The beaconing example also demonstrates the usage of the Packet RX callback. This functionality allows to receive all non-filtered, BLE-compliant advertisement packets in the application code. These packets are captured by Scanner.

The ble_packet_type_t type lists all advertisement packets that it is possible to receive. Once a new packet is captured by the Scanner, it is passed through the provided RX callback to the user application.

To listen to advertisement packets, the example registers the RX callback by calling nrf_mesh_rx_cb_set(). As input, the RX callback function takes a pointer to a parameter struct that contains all data available on the incoming packet.

The RX callback is invoked for all packets that are processed by the mesh after the mesh itself has processed them. The mesh assumes that all incoming packets adhere to the Bluetooth Low Energy advertisement packet format.


Hardware requirements

You need one supported development kit board for this beaconing example.

See Compatibility for information about the supported boards.


Software requirements

You need to install nRF Connect in one of the following versions:


Setup

You can find the source code of the beaconing example in the following folder: <InstallFolder>/examples/beaconing


Testing the example

To test the beaconing example:

  1. Build the example by following the instructions in Building the mesh stack.
  2. Program the board by following the instructions in Running examples.
  3. Connect RTT viewer to see the RTT output generated by the beaconing example in the RTT log.

Once the example is running, it outputs all incoming packets over RTT. Outgoing beacons can be observed with nRF Connect for Desktop or nRF Connect for Mobile.


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