Test scenario to assess Bluetooth Mesh’s capabilities
to support many-to-many communications and robust message delivery ensuring that the network performs effectively under various conditions.
- Description: Testing Bluetooth Mesh’s ability to support many-to-many communications and ensure robust message delivery involves evaluating the network’s performance and reliability when multiple devices are involved.
- Test Case: Many-to-Many Communications and Robust Message Delivery in Bluetooth Mesh
- Objective: To verify that a Bluetooth Mesh network can handle many-to-many communications effectively and deliver messages reliably across multiple nodes.
Test Environment:
- Devices: Multiple BLE devices configured as nodes in a Bluetooth Mesh network (e.g., 10-20 devices for scalability testing).
- Software: Mesh network management tools or applications for provisioning, configuration, and message monitoring.
Test Steps:
1.Setup and Initialization:
- Provision Nodes: Provision all devices into the Bluetooth Mesh network, ensuring they are properly added as nodes with unique addresses.
- Configure Network: Set up network parameters, including addressing, group addresses, and publication/subscription configurations for the nodes.
2.Configure Many-to-Many Communication:
- Define Groups: Create one or more groups of nodes that will be used for communication (e.g., a group address for a set of devices).
- Publish/Subscribe Configuration: Configure some nodes to publish messages to a group address and others to subscribe to that group address.
3.Message Broadcasting:
- Send Broadcast Messages: Initiate message broadcasting from the publisher nodes to the group address. Ensure that the messages are designed to be broadcasted to multiple subscribing nodes.
- Monitor Delivery: Verify that all subscribed nodes receive the broadcast messages. Use tools to check if the messages are delivered successfully and whether any packets are lost.
4. Robustness Testing:
- Test Interference: Introduce sources of interference (e.g., other wireless devices) and observe the impact on message delivery. Ensure that the mesh network can handle interference and still deliver messages reliably.
- Stress Test Network: Increase the frequency and volume of messages sent to evaluate the network’s capacity to handle high traffic loads and maintain message delivery performance.
5.Message Integrity and Handling:
- Check Message Integrity: Verify that the content of the messages received by subscribing nodes matches the messages sent by the publishing nodes, without corruption or data loss.
- Handle Retransmissions: Test how the network handles retransmissions and acknowledgments. Ensure that messages are retransmitted if necessary and successfully received by all intended nodes.
6.Failure and Recovery Testing:
- Simulate Node Failures: Disconnect one or more nodes from the network and observe how the remaining nodes handle message delivery. Verify that the network continues to function and deliver messages despite the failure.
- Reintegrate Nodes: Reconnect the previously disconnected nodes and ensure that they are re-integrated into the mesh network and can resume normal communication.
7.Performance Metrics:
- Measure Latency: Record the time taken for a message to travel from the publisher to all subscribing nodes.
- Measure Throughput: Assess the overall throughput of the mesh network by measuring the number of messages delivered per unit of time.
- Track Packet Loss: Monitor and document any packet loss or failed message deliveries.
Expected Results:
- Successful Communication: All subscribed nodes should receive the broadcast messages from the publisher nodes.
- Reliable Delivery: Messages should be delivered reliably, even in the presence of interference or high traffic conditions.
- Data Integrity: The content of the received messages should match the sent messages without corruption.
- Resilience: The network should handle node failures gracefully and recover effectively, maintaining overall communication reliability.
Reporting:
- Document the results of the many-to-many communication tests, including message delivery success rates, performance metrics, and any issues encountered.
- Include observations on network behavior under different conditions, such as interference or high traffic.
- Provide recommendations based on the findings, such as any improvements needed for better performance or reliability in the mesh network.
None of the companies I worked for ever used this scenario. How many of us are using 10 devices at the same time? Humor aside, of course it is about the a different situation: user story I have not found yet. Event like scenario. Subscriptions per se are something you don’t see often but it is realistic tho.