STMicroelectronics ST BLE, UM2180 User Manual
UM2180
User manual
Getting started with the ST BLE Mesh Android application
Introduction
The ST BLE Mesh Android App is designed to help you evaluate the ST Bluetooth low energy mesh solution.
The application works with ST BLE devices running the embedded mesh over Bluetooth low energy (MoBLE) library. You can
use it to evaluate provisioning, un-provisioning and controlling MoBLE embedded nodes in a mesh network over the Bluetooth
low energy protocol to create distributed control system such as smart lighting and home automation.
Communication between the Android App and the mesh network is secured by encryption and authentication. The underlying
standards of secured communication are compliant with the BLE Mesh technology standards.
Figure 1. ST BLE Mesh scenario
A. Button to turn the light ON or OFF
UM2180 - Rev 3 - September 2020
For further information contact your local STMicroelectronics sales office.
www.st.com
1 ST BLE Mesh Android App overview
The ST BLE Mesh App allows performing the following tasks in a BLE mesh network:
• Add new devices to the network via the provisioning process
• View and configure nodes in a BLE mesh network
• Control the nodes (Vendor, Generic, Lighting and Sensor model commands)
• Remove nodes from the network using the un-provisioning procedure
• Create and manage groups of nodes
• Set subscription and publication addresses on nodes
• Upgrade firmware of compatible nodes
1. The App includes a subset of model commands for demonstration purposes. More commands are available in the customer
application using the ST BLE Mesh SDK.
Bluetooth® Mesh Profile can be used for home, office and industrial applications.
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ST BLE Mesh Android App overview
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2 Getting started with the App
2.1 Hardware and software requirements
The App is tested on various Android phones (for details, refer to STSW-BNRG-Mesh software package release
notes in the Android folder) and works with the following boards running the BLE mesh firmware:
• NUCLEO-L152RE STM32 Nucleo-64 development board with the X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 Bluetooth® low
energy expansion board based on the SPBTLE-RF module
• STEVAL-IDB007V1 evaluation platform based on the BlueNRG-1 low power BLE single-mode system-on-
chip
• STEVAL-IDB008V2 evaluation platform based on the BlueNRG-2 Bluetooth® low energy wireless system-
on-chip
Refer to the STSW-BNRG-Mesh firmware SDK for the default evaluation board support. The SDK can also be
ported on any board based on BlueNRG-MS, BlueNRG-1, BlueNRG-2 and STM32WB devices.
2.2 Installing and running the App
Follow the instructions below to install the ST BLE Mesh Android App on a compatible Android (6 or later
versions) device.
Step 1. Download and install the application in one of the following ways:
– Follow the link to Google Play® store to install the app directly to your Android device
or
– Copy the APK file provided in the STSW-BNRG-Mesh\Android\apk folder to your smartphone via
USB cable
UM2180
Getting started with the App
Step 2. Click on the ST BLE Mesh icon to launch the App and accept the request prompt to allow Bluetooth
radio and location turn on.
Note: From Android 6.0 onwards, you must allow the location services (GPS) to work with BLE.
Therefore, it is recommended to keep the GPS location on.
Figure 2. Turning the Bluetooth radio and location on
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2.3 Introduction to the App controls
The app has following tabs:
1. Devices: opens the Provisioning View which allows adding new provisioned mesh capable devices into the
mesh network
2. Nodes: is the app home page and allows opening the Network View to show the list of all the nodes and
their elements in the current mesh network
3. Groups: opens the Groups View which shows the list of all the groups in the network
4. Models: opens the Model View which shows the list of nodes supporting the selected model. It allows
sending specific messages to the nodes
The figure below shows the overview of the app control panels and the flow from the app launching to the device
connected into a mesh network.
Figure 3. ST BLE Mesh app flow
1. ST BLE Mesh app launching
2. Prompt message to turn the Bluetooth on
3. Un-provisioned node identification
4. Device UUID for node identification
5. Adding a device
6. Quick provisioning
7. Loading device features: getting all the information and models supported by the device
8. Quick configuration to configure your device in less time and directly control it
9. Adding default key and starting configuration
10. The device is ready to be used by pressing OK
11. Provisioned devices: you can control the device and change settings
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Introduction to the App controls
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Node features are the network features supported by the node and displayed close to each node name in the
app. If a feature is supported, it is possible to enable or disable it from node settings.
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Introduction to the App controls
The network features defined in Mesh specifications are:
1. Relay: a node that supports this feature can relay the messages destined for other nodes in the network. If
there are few relay nodes, a message may not reach its destination; on the contrary, too many relay nodes
may cause network congestion.
2. Proxy: the current generation of smartphones do not fully support sending and receiving mesh packets over
advertising bearer. So, a proxy node is necessary to communicate with the smartphone over Bluetooth ® low
energy using the GATT protocol. The proxy node forwards the messages received on GATT to the mesh
network and vice versa.
3. Low Power: low power nodes are battery-operated nodes which wake up occasionally to send packets and
to check any incoming packet.
4. Friend: as low power nodes are sleeping most of the time, a friend node is necessary to receive messages
on their behalf. When low power nodes wake up, they can retrieve the pending messages from the mailbox
maintained by their friend node.
Figure 4. ST BLE Mesh node features
You can also enable/disable any network feature supported by the node:
• by tapping on the refresh icon to read the current status
• by tapping on the switch icon to enable/disable the feature
Note: If you disable the proxy feature in the supporting nodes, your smartphone can communicate with the node only
through another proxy node in the network. If you have only one node in the network and you disable the proxy
feature, the smartphone cannot communicate with that node at all. In this case, the only solution is to reset the
node manually.
Tapping the gear icon next to any element, the Element settings page is displayed.
When enabling/disabling a network feature, the information is not stored in the non-volatile memory (NVM) and
reverts to default when powering the node.
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Figure 5. ST BLE Mesh app controls
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2
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8
7
6
5
4
3
1.
Navigation bar
Heartbeat
2.
3. Provisioned nodes
4. Node elements
5. Devices, Nodes, Groups and Models tabs
6. Models:
– G - generic
– L - lighting
– S - sensor
– V - vendor
7. Node features:
– P - Proxy
– R - Relay
– LP - Low Power
– F - Friend
8. Element settings
9. Node settings
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Introduction to the App controls
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When you open the Provisioning View, the app scans for un-provisioned mesh capable devices in the proximity.
The devices are listed with RSSI values and identified by their UUIDs (or MAC address in Android only) and
advertised names. The provisioning process starts by clicking on the (+) icon next to each device name.
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Figure 6. ST BLE Mesh - Provisioning View
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Group, node and element settings
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After the provisioning process, it is necessary to disconnect from the provisioning service and connect to the
proxy service of any node in the network. By default, this option is enabled to ensure the phone connects to the
proxy service of the just provisioned node and not to any other node. The post provisioning configuration process
involves transfer of a relatively high number of large messages. It is more reliable and efficient to transfer this
data over GATT connection instead of mesh network. If the “Node Identity Proxy” options are disabled, the
configuration is performed over the mesh network, which would be slow. In some cases, where the node does not
support proxy service nor node identity option, the option must be disabled.
Group, node and element settings
In the Groups View, each group is identified by group address and you can:
• toggle a group on and off with the switch button close to the group name
• add a new group with the plus button
• open the Group Settings menu
This view displays the list all the configured groups and allows sending messages to a group of nodes.
The gear icon close to each group is used to access its publication and subscription settings.
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Figure 7. ST BLE Mesh - Group View
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Group, node and element settings
The (+) icon on the top is used to create a new group. It creates the group starting from address C001 and the
default name Group 1. You can change the name from Group Settings.
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Figure 8. ST BLE Mesh - adding a new group
• A - Click the plus button to add a new group
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Group, node and element settings
From the Group Settings view, you can:
• edit group names
• set the subscription address for a given model (in the drop down list) by enabling the check box next to the
group address
• remove the subscription address for a given model (in the drop down list) by disabling the check box next to
the group address
• remove groups
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Figure 9. ST BLE Mesh - Group Settings
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Group, node and element settings
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The network view lists all the nodes (and elements) in the mesh network and allows configuration of various
parameters as shown below.
The switch on each element can be used to send on/off commands to the element.
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Figure 10. ST BLE Mesh - Nodes
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Group, node and element settings
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Tapping the gear icon close to any node, the Node Settings page is displayed.
This view allows updating the node display name, subscription and publication settings.
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Figure 11. ST BLE Mesh - Node Settings
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Group, node and element settings
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From the Element Settings view, you can :
• edit the element name
• bind more app keys and select the key set for a given model (in the drop down list) by enabling the check
box next to the group address
• remove the subscription address for a given model (in the drop down list) by disabling the check box next to
the group address
• set the publication address for a given model (in the drop down list) by enabling the check box next to the
group address
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Figure 12. ST BLE Mesh - Element Settings
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