MeshMapper: Creating a Bluetooth Mesh Communication Network

With threat actors ever evolving, the need for secure communications continues to grow. By using non-traditional means as a way of a communication network, it is possible to securely communicate within a region using the bluetooth mesh protocol. The goal is to automatically place these mesh devices in a defined region in order to ensure the integrity and reliability of the network, while also ensuring the least number of devices are placed. By placing a provisioner node, the rest of the specified region populates with mesh nodes that act as relays, creating a network allowing users to communicate within. By utilizing Dijkstra’s algorithm, it is possible to calculate the Time to Live (TTL) between two given nodes in the network, which is an important metric as it directly affects how far apart two users can be within the region. When placing the nodes, a range for the nodes being used is specified and accounted for, which impacts the number of nodes needed within the region. Results show that when nodes are placed at coordinate points given by the generated map, users are able to communicate effectively across the specified region. In this project, a web interface is created in order to allow a user to specify the TTL, range, and the number of nodes to use, and proceeds to place each device within the region drawn by the user.