Which boards will support 6LowPAN over BLE?

Hi all,

I'd like to try and create a WebThing (GitHub - WebThingsIO/webthing-arduino: Simple server for ESP8266, ESP32, Ethernet, or WiFi101-compatible boards compliant with Mozilla's proposed WoT API) using 6LowPAN over BLE. I want to use BLE because the Wifi boards consume too much power and I need to run this WebThing off batteries - currently I'm getting ~2.5 days off one 18650 cell, which isn't enough really. BLE should be much more battery efficient if I can get the right board.

Second, I want to use 6LowPAN because native WebThings need an IP address otherwise they won't be recognised.

I believe that nRF5 boards should all support 6LowPAN over BLE from this: GitHub - sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5: Arduino Core for Nordic Semiconductor nRF5 based boards.

But what about other Arduino boards? Do boards using the u-blox NINA-W102 support 6LowPAN over BLE? What about older boards like the Tian with the CSR8510? Will the Portenta support it? (too expensive for my use case but since we're on the topic...). I imagine any older board or shield with an XBee socket will also be able to support 6LowPAN over BLE if I get the right XBee.

All helpful suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks :slight_smile:

Well i did the research i should have done before posting

If you don't mind, what are the results of your research? Someone else might have the same question and find it the information very useful.

Hi @pert,
Oddly i didn't get a notification message about your reply.

Basically, they all probably can if one can find the software stack!

However, the NINA chips are just ESP32 which also doesn't have good battery life for my purposes so I didn't investigate any further. Battery life would also be a problem for the Tian AFAICT. The 101 would probably be fine but i can't find them for sale anywhere, in any case the Nano 33 BLE would still have better battery life.

But, I don't think the native Arduino support for the Nano 33 BLE includes support for 6lowpan over BLE so something else must be used. I think that if the Nordic IoT Softdevice is used with the Arduino Core I linked above then 6lowpan over BLE should work, but I've not got one of these boards yet so can't confirm.

Maybe someone else can?

Cheers

Thanks for taking the time to share your findings @madbilly!

madbilly:
Oddly i didn't get a notification message about your reply.

Unfortunately, the default forum settings are for notifications of replies to be disabled. That was an unpleasant surprise for me when I first started using this forum.

Here's how you can configure the notification settings:

  • Hover the mouse pointer over your avatar in the top right corner of any arduino.cc page.
  • Click "Profile".
  • Click "Forum Settings > Edit".
  • Click the "Settings" tab.
  • Click "Notifications".
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  • Click the "Save settings" button.

Hi @pert,

Thanks for the explanation, you're right that those settings were quite well hidden!

I think that the Primo and Primo core should also be able to support 6lowpan over BLE with the board support I linked above but again I can't confirm as I don't have these boards. The Portenta will certainly be able to, but doesn't use an nRF chipset for bluetooth so won't work with the above board manager.

I'm surprised that I can't find any library made specifically for Arduino IDE which supports 6lowpan over BLE (the Internet Protocol Support Profile, IPSP, in official Bluetooth speak) but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

Cheers