Programmatically allowing end user to add a Xenon to a mesh network

jslawsky · February 6, 2019, 4:05pm

I’ve worked on a project which uses one or more Xenons in a mesh environment. IF I decided to make the project public, there would need to be a way for the end user to add additional Xenon powered devices to their network. I’m looking to do this in an integrated package so that the user does not need to use multiple tools or need technical knowledge.

Basically once (IF) the design becomes commercial I want the end user to be able to add as many xenon devices I provide as they want (up to the technical limit) and add them at their leisure.

armor · February 6, 2019, 6:42pm

I would be interested in any answers to your question. I guess you are talking about a self connection (to a mesh network) process that is end user driven - a bit like press a setup button and the xenon should discover the mesh networks nearby and join. Have you thought about how easy or complicated the process can be - i.e. what an ideal user journey would look like? Would there need to be BLE (which hasn’t arrived yet) and a mobile app or just LEDs and buttons on each device?

mstanley · February 6, 2019, 8:15pm

This seems like it’d be a fun project to learn more about.

I’d say at this point though, a self-service setup would be a bit more clunky as many of the APIs and setup tools are not yet exposed. This is likely something best revisited at a later date when BLE and NFC APIs are exposed, and the CLI is updated for mesh-focused networking joining/provisioning.

My understanding is that for much of this, the end of Q1 is the current ambition. While not set in stone, I’d certainly be checking in around that time to see what new tools and features are available for this.

jslawsky · February 7, 2019, 12:57pm

It is good enough that it is in your roadmap. I had a feeling that with the advent of mesh computing eventually leading to configurations where I could supply a main unit and one or two mesh units to start, with the eventuality of selling additional mesh units for the same setup would logically be a marketing / development focus for Particle. Thanks!