Bluetooth Mesh NLC: Ambient Light Sensor/Occupancy Sensor

The Bluetooth® Mesh NLC Ambient Light Sensor/Occupancy Sensor sample demonstrates how to set up a basic mesh Sensor Server model application that provides sensor data to one Sensor Client model. Eight different sensor types are used to showcase different ways for the server to publish data. In addition, the samples demonstrate usage of both single-channel sensor types and sensor series types, as well as how to add and write to a sensor setting.

Note

This sample must be paired with the Bluetooth Mesh NLC: HVAC Integration (Sensor observer) sample to show any functionality. The mesh sensor provides the sensor data used by the observer.

This sample demonstrates how to implement the following Bluetooth Networked Lighting Control profiles:

• Ambient Light Sensor NLC Profile

• Occupancy Sensor NLC Profile

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms	PCA	Board name	Board target
Thingy:53	PCA20053	thingy53	thingy53/nrf5340/cpuapp
nRF54LM20 DK	PCA10184	nrf54lm20dk	nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp
nRF54L15 DK	PCA10156	nrf54l15dk	nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp
nRF54L15 DK (emulating nRF54L10)	PCA10156	nrf54l15dk	nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp
nRF54L15 DK (emulating nRF54L05)	PCA10156	nrf54l15dk	nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp
nRF52 DK	PCA10040	nrf52dk	nrf52dk/nrf52832
nRF52840 DK	PCA10056	nrf52840dk	nrf52840dk/nrf52840
nRF21540 DK	PCA10112	nrf21540dk	nrf21540dk/nrf52840

For provisioning and configuring of the mesh model instances, the sample requires a smartphone with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF Mesh mobile app installed in one of the following versions:

• nRF Mesh mobile app for Android

• nRF Mesh mobile app for iOS

Note

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

Additionally, the sample requires the Bluetooth Mesh NLC: HVAC Integration (Sensor observer) sample application. The application needs to be programmed on a separate device, and configured according to the sensor observer sample’s testing guide.

For more security, it is recommended to use the */ns variant of the board target. When built for this variant, the sample is configured to compile and run as a non-secure application using security by separation. Therefore, it automatically includes Trusted Firmware-M that prepares the required peripherals and secure services to be available for the application.

Overview

The following Bluetooth Mesh sensor types, and their settings, are used in this sample:

• On Sensor Server instance on Element 1:

  • bt_mesh_sensor_present_amb_light_level - Periodically requested by the client, and published when a button is pressed on the server.

    • bt_mesh_sensor_gain - Used as a setting for the bt_mesh_sensor_present_amb_light_level sensor type to set the gain the ambient light sensor value is multiplied with.

    • bt_mesh_sensor_present_amb_light_level - Used as a setting for the bt_mesh_sensor_present_amb_light_level sensor type to calculate sensor gain based on measured reference ambient light level. This value does only have a set command.

• On Sensor Server instance on Element 2:

  • bt_mesh_sensor_presence_detected - Published when a button is pressed on the server.

    • bt_mesh_sensor_motion_threshold - Used as a setting for the bt_mesh_sensor_presence_detected sensor type to set the time (0-10 seconds) before the presence is detected.

  • bt_mesh_sensor_time_since_presence_detected - Periodically requested by the client and published by the server according to its publishing period (see Configuring models).

• On Sensor Server instance on Element 3:

  • bt_mesh_sensor_motion_sensed - Published when a button is pressed on the server.

  • bt_mesh_sensor_time_since_motion_sensed - Periodically requested by the client and published by the server according to its publishing period (see Configuring models).

• On Sensor Server instance on Element 4:

  • bt_mesh_sensor_people_count - Periodically requested by the client, and published when a button is pressed on the server.

• On Sensor Server instance on Element 5:

  • bt_mesh_sensor_present_dev_op_temp - Published by the server according to its publishing period (see Configuring models), or periodically requested by the client.

    • bt_mesh_sensor_dev_op_temp_range_spec - Used as a setting for the bt_mesh_sensor_present_dev_op_temp sensor type to set the range of reported temperatures.

  • bt_mesh_sensor_rel_runtime_in_a_dev_op_temp_range - Periodically requested by the client.

Note

These values can be requested through shell commands by the Bluetooth Mesh NLC: HVAC Integration (Sensor observer).

Moreover, the on-chip TEMP_NRF5 temperature sensor is used for the nRF52 series, and the BME680 temperature sensor for Thingy:53.

Note

When running this sample on Thingy:53, some functionality will not be available as the device only has two buttons. The two buttons on Thingy:53 will be used for the ambient light sensor and presence detected sensor functionality as described for Button 1 and Button 2 in this documentation. Button 2 can be accessed by removing the top part of the casing.

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.

Use nRF Mesh mobile app for provisioning and configuring of models supported by the sample.

Models

The following table shows the Bluetooth Mesh sensor composition data for this sample:

Element 1	Element 2	Element 3	Element 4	Element 5
Config Server	Sensor Server	Sensor Server	Sensor Server	Sensor Server
Health Server	Sensor Setup Server	Sensor Setup Server	Sensor Setup Server	Sensor Setup Server
Sensor Server
Sensor Setup Server

The models are used for the following purposes:

• 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.

• Sensor Server instances provide sensor data to one or more mesh sensor observers.

• Sensor Setup Server instances are used for configuration of the corresponding Sensor Server instances.

The model handling is implemented in src/model_handler.c. It uses the TEMP_NRF5 or BME680 temperature sensor depending on the platform.

The sample has a descriptor related to the bt_mesh_sensor_present_dev_op_temp sensor, which specifies tolerance values for the TEMP_NRF5 temperature sensor calculated based on the nRF52832 Temperature Sensor Electrical Specification. The descriptor also specifies the temperature sensor’s sampling type, which is BT_MESH_SENSOR_SAMPLING_INSTANTANEOUS.

The DK Buttons and LEDs library is used to detect button presses.

The Zephyr settings API is used to persistently store the following settings given that CONFIG_BT_SETTINGS is enabled:

• The temperature range used in the bt_mesh_sensor_present_dev_op_temp sensor

• The presence motion threshold used in the bt_mesh_sensor_presence_detected sensor

• The ambient light level gain used in the bt_mesh_sensor_present_amb_light_level sensor

User interface

Buttons:

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

Once the provisioning procedure has completed, the buttons will have the following functionality:

nRF21 and nRF52 DKsnRF54 DKs

Button 1:

Simulates different ambient light sensor values. These dummy values represent raw values coming from an ambient light sensor.

Button 2:

Simulates presence detected. For how long the button has to be pressed before the presence is detected depends on the motion threshold. The motion threshold has five steps from 0 % (representing 0 seconds) to 100 % (representing 10 seconds) separated by 25 %-steps.

Button 3:

Simulates motion sensed.

Button 4:

Simulates different people count sensor values. These dummy values represent raw values coming from a people count sensor.

Configuration

See Configuring and building for information about how to permanently or temporarily change the configuration.

For nRF5340 and Thingy:53, the extended advertiser has to be set manually for the network core, because the Bluetooth® Low Energy does not know that the Bluetooth Mesh is enabled when built for this core. This is already done for this sample by setting CONFIG_BT_EXT_ADV=y for the network core.

Source file setup

This sample is split into the following source files:

• A main.c file to handle initialization.

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

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 nRF21540 DK.

• Manually create a devicetree overlay file that describes how the nRF21540 FEM is connected to the SoC. See Configuring devicetree 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, for example -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek. This variable instructs the build system to append the appropriate devicetree overlay file.

  nRF Connect for VS CodeCommand line

  To build the sample in nRF Connect for VS Code for an nRF52840 DK with the nRF21540 EK attached, add the shield variable in the build configuration’s Extra CMake arguments and rebuild the build configuration. For example: -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek.

  See How to work with build configurations in the nRF Connect for VS Code documentation for more information.

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

Each of these options adds the description of the nRF21540 FEM to the devicetree. See Developing with 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/sensor_server in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

For more security, it is recommended to use the */ns variant of the board target (see the Requirements section above.) When built for this variant, the sample is configured to compile and run as a non-secure application using security by separation. Therefore, it automatically includes Trusted Firmware-M that prepares the required peripherals and secure services to be available for the application.

To build the sample, follow the instructions in Building an application for your preferred building environment. See also Programming an application for programming steps and Testing and optimization for general information about testing and debugging in the nRF Connect SDK.

Note

When building repository applications in the SDK repositories, building with sysbuild is enabled by default. If you work with out-of-tree freestanding applications, you need to manually pass the --sysbuild parameter to every build command or configure west to always use it.

When building this sample with Sysbuild for an SoC that has a network core, the IPC radio firmware is automatically applied to the build. The IPC radio is one of the companion components in the nRF Connect SDK and allows to use the radio peripheral from another core in a multicore device. If needed, you can modify the IPC radio configuration in the prj.conf source file in the sample’s sysbuild/ipc_radio directory.

Testing

Note

The Bluetooth Mesh sensor sample cannot demonstrate any functionality on its own, and needs a device with the Bluetooth Mesh NLC: HVAC Integration (Sensor observer) sample running in the same mesh network. Before testing the sensor sample, go through the sensor observer sample’s testing guide with a different development kit.

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

Configure Sensor Server model on each element on the Mesh Sensor node:

• Bind the model to Application Key 1.

• Set the publication parameters:

  • Destination/publish address: Select an existing group or create a new one, but make sure that the Sensor Client subscribes to the same group.

  • Retransmit count: Set the count to zero (Disabled), to avoid duplicate logging in the Sensor Client’s UART terminal.

• Set the subscription parameters: Select an existing group or create a new one, but make sure that the Sensor Client publishes to the same group.

The Sensor Server models are now configured and able to send data to the Sensor Client.

Configure the corresponding Sensor Setup Server model on each element on the Mesh Sensor node:

• Bind the model to Application Key 1.

• Set the subscription parameters: Select an existing group or create a new one, but make sure that the Sensor Client publishes to the same group.

The Sensor Setup Server models are now configured and able to receive sensor setting messages from the Sensor Client.

Note

To enable Sensor Server configuration by a Sensor Client, an application key must be bound to the Sensor Setup Server. This functionality must also be programmed in the Sensor Client device.

External flash for settings partition

This sample supports relocating mesh settings to external flash on nrf52840dk/nrf52840, nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp, nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp, and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp board targets. See the nRF52840 DK User Guide or the nRF54L15 DK User Guide for details about the external flash memory available on the board. This provides additional storage space for mesh persistent data.

To enable external flash settings storage, set FILE_SUFFIX to settings_ext_flash when building the sample.

Build the sample using the following command:

west build -p -b *board_target* -- -DFILE_SUFFIX=settings_ext_flash

Note

The external flash is not erased during the internal flash erasing procedure. See nRF Util for more information on how to erase the external flash.

The settings subsystem requires allocating some persistent memory area, which is done through the settings subsystem backend configuration in the form of an allocated number of sectors.

For NVS backend:

• CONFIG_SETTINGS_NVS_SECTOR_COUNT

• CONFIG_SETTINGS_NVS_SECTOR_SIZE_MULT

For ZMS backend:

• CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_CUSTOM_SECTOR_COUNT

• CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_SECTOR_COUNT

• CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_SECTOR_SIZE_MULT

The sector size depends on the flash memory layout.

Apart from this, the allocated partitions are defined in a devicetree (DTS) overlay file. The size of the storage_partition node defined in the DTS overlay must be equal to the memory size configured for the settings subsystem.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following nRF Connect SDK libraries:

• Sensor Server

• Bluetooth Mesh provisioning handler for Nordic DKs

• DK Buttons and LEDs

In addition, it uses the following Zephyr libraries:

• include/drivers/hwinfo.h

• Kernel Services:

  • include/kernel.h

• API:

  • include/bluetooth/bluetooth.h

• Bluetooth Mesh Profile:

  • include/bluetooth/mesh.h

• Settings:

  • include/settings/settings.h

The sample also uses the following secure firmware component:

• Trusted Firmware-M