... using two Gateways

[zzz-teo]

Hi all,
how can i pass a message from one gateway network to another gateway network without using a controller (NRF24 & RS485)Is there any bridge for such purpose?

[gohan]

Do you mean you want to route messages from nrf24 gateway to another rs485 gateway?

[sundberg84]

@zzz-teo - check this out: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/5455/bridge-between-rf24-and-rs485

[zzz-teo]

@gohan , yes i have imagine a gateway(Serial or Ethernet or...) that both NRF & RS485 is hooked on and route messages transparently from one to other.
If not hooked on gateway just act as repeater in between of, and then use a NRFGateway or RS485Gateway to connect the Controller (or manage the trafic).

[zzz-teo]

Thank you @sundberg84for the link but this thread seems to be a dead end.

[gohan]

I know it would be nice to have one single gateway for both interfaces

[zzz-teo]

@gohan
... i was dreamed of activating both
// # Define MY_RADIO_NRF24
// # Define MY RS485
but i got this!
" #error Only one forward link driver can be activated "
... now i keep dreaming ...

[zzz-teo]

... may be using a MEGA to connect to serial1,2,3 ports
an NRF Gateway
an RS485 Gateway
and build a new serial output to Controller that will merge and manage messages via serial API.

[scalz]

Hello,

no bridge yet as far as i know. Mysensors allows one transport layer per gw for the moment.
It would need some software work though, like handling well both transport without missing packets, queue, more ram and also flash for fw. All of this for one mcu. Better use a good mcu for this.
Or it's very simple to use a cheap rpi like and use node-red for routing imho

[gohan]

@scalz of course you can use a controller to route messages from one sensor network to the other, but in order to keep things simple it would be nice to have a bridge between the two

[scalz]

@gohan
hehe. It depends on the angle of view. Simple for end user, but not for the dev

I explained it above, but actually the lib works like this, 1x transport.

• This needs a few more coding abstraction layers to get that. Taking in account current todolist priorities, dev, testing, and time
• better with an rtos too, as most common mcu are one core, it needs to handle well all the tasks involved..and the lib is not completely ready for this too.
• Lot of things to think for doing this (the message routing and so on) ..or no reliable comm.

That's why, i said, for the moment it may be easier to use an rpi for this even if i understood the point

[gohan]

don't get me wrong, I know very well that it is much more complex working on the code for microcontrollers that have limited resources

[scalz]

@gohan not my intention. i think in future that may be easier to bridge than actually, just a matter of time. thx to mysensors team, and the community because it's tricky to test all hardware setup

[gohan]

Would it be possible to use mqtt to bridge 2 gateways?

[mfalkvidd]

@gohan not without some sort of filtering
The two gateways would have the same id (0) and forwarding messages with destination 0 would probably confuse the other gateway.
There would probably also be some extra routing mechanism, to be able to handle routing between the two networks. To nodes on "network 1", it would have to look like gateway 2 is a repeater which is routing messages for all nodes in "network 2", and the other way around.

[gohan]

@mfalkvidd
Of course some changes would have to be made. I was only brainstorming about what could be the less complex way

[zzz-teo]

@mfalkvidd
hmm... that is more complicated than i thought!
seems that need a repeater NRF to RS485 to handle the "INTERNAL" trafic also and not two Gateways ...

[mfalkvidd]

@zzz-teo well, if it was easy it would probably already be supported

[zzz-teo]

@mfalkvidd
... sure! and since i'm not qualified for such task, hope this topic to alert someone and build it!

[gohan]

@zzz-teo what exactly are you trying to accomplish with the repeater?

[zzz-teo]

@gohan ...to have a wired backbone in a bigger vertical installation, each level has a repeater for level wireless connectivity.

[gohan]

I guess at the moment you can only use repeater nodes and or use longer range radio modules

[zzz-teo]

@gohan
... yes this is the only solution ... but using long range modules the network is exposed to neighborhoods and may someone be motivated to play with it!
By using RS485 backbone the exposed level is reduced. (as well as EMI exposure).
... and by using repeaters may not be stable due to area division by Slabs.

[gohan]

That's why encryption and signing have been invented

[zzz-teo]