RF Explorer packet sniffer

[Ariel Rocholl]

RF Explorer firmware beta development for packet sniffer functionality will start. There won't be public beta available for this functionality, so contact me directly or share your ideas in this thread if you want to be part of the initial development. Final release is expected in 2-3 months.

Background: RF Explorer will include functionality to capture, analyze and transmit data packages in configurable format and speed using FSK and OOK.

The main goal is to provide a useful tool to capture, diagnose and remote control wireless traffic in the ISM bands supported. It will be fully configurable so the packet format is not limited to a specific transceiver vendor. Software will include data capture logger in flash for users with Expansion Board available.

An example of how the Packet Sniffer may work is:

• You create a project with an Arduino board which uses a RF transceiver for wireless communication (for instance a CC1101 like RFBee or a Si4xxx like HopeRF modules)
• You easily call the RF module library for a simple "hello world" in a given frequency and baud rate.
• Configuring RF explorer for that baud rate and frequency will show you the "hello world" string on screen, in addition to showing exact frequency read value and received power current functionality.
  

The Open Source Windows PC Client will display packet in a similar way as Texas Instrument Packet Sniffer does for SimpliciTI (see screenshot below), the only difference is RF Explorer is not limited to a specific vendor protocol.

[Omer Agmon]

That's sounds very interesting, and since I only got my new RF Explorer today (4 years after this post), I would definitely like to hear where the packet sniffer stands today.

Since I couldn't find anything recent about this, would appreciate if you could share. Thanks!

[Ariel Rocholl]

Hi - yes we did a proof of concept version long ago and worked with a couple of beta testers but nobody had (apparently) too much interest on working hard to finetune this. We are getting some renewing interest on this so may eventually get back to this development and make it available as Beta, I will announce it here so you may contribute if you are interested.

[Omer Agmon]

Thank you for the response. 

The lack of interests you describe amazes me, since this sounds like a killer feature, that should make the RTL-SDR packet sniffing with their 1.7Ghz limitation pale. 

So please let me express a great interest in testing any kind of beta you already have, even before public announcement. I can check various ranges from 49Mhz through 315Mhz, 433Mhz and of course all the 2.4Ghz jazz - ZigBee, bluetooth, NRF24, etc. ... I'll be more than happy to try something like that out :) 

[Ariel Rocholl]

Ok, please keep this thread open with volunteer list and ideas, we will keep the list updated on when we can have something BETA available to test.

Note this will be PSK and OOK, the two most common modulation schema for sub-GHZ networks, and custom 2.4GHz IoT. However that is not compatible with ZigBee or Bluetooth which uses DSS and therefore impossible to demodulate with embedded ICs, that will require different separated hardware.

[Mark K]

I have TI CC1120 development kits to generate a varity of modes and data.  I would be happy to help test.
Mark

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Ariel Rocholl]

Nice, so if there is enough support for this development we will start soon with re-coding old BETA to make it compatible with latest software so you guys have something to test. Anyone willing to help developing open source C# code for this initiative is welcome too!

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 7:09:01 PM UTC+2, mark wrote:

I have TI CC1120 development kits to generate a varity of modes and data.  I would be happy to help test.
Mark

[Omer Agmon]

I'll be happy to contribute to the C# windows client, I'm already pretty familiar with its design & code.

[Ariel Rocholl]

Great! I will keep you posted, hopefully in a few weeks we can have a working Beta you can start testing and can coordinate new development.

[nicol...@gmail.com]

Hello,

I'm very interested in Packet Sniffer, I'm working with several modules (SI4432,Si4463, CC1100 and other low level raw Tx/Rx modules). I'll be happy to help and hurry to test it.

Regards

Nico

[Ariel Rocholl]

Excellent, we are working on that and hopefully can release soon a Beta you guys can help on testing...

[nicol...@gmail.com]

Hi Ariel,

Could you give us somme feedback about packet sniffer functionnality developpement. I'm very hurry to test it.

Regards

Nico

Le jeudi 8 septembre 2011 18:06:11 UTC+2, Ariel Rocholl a écrit :

[Graham]

Yes, I would also like to learn the status. If you are still looking for beta testers I would love to help. I just ordered a cheap logic analyzer to trouble shoot a bunch of my wireless temperature sensors. It sure would be nice to use my RF Explorer instead of having to throw together a 433MHz receiver and an AVR just to capture the wireless data stream. I know it is a 433MHz signal using OOK but I need to identify the data in the packets.

Regards,

Graham

[Ariel Rocholl]

Hi guys,

We are still working on it - multiple priorities are not allowing us to progress at the speed we would like, but should be a matter of weeks to get a draft version for testing. Thanks for your patience.

Best Regards,
----
Ariel Rocholl
http://www.rf-explorer.com

[Ariel Rocholl]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay on this, we had a chance to make progress and expect to have a version next week, available for BETA testers only.

Those of you interested on participate please send private message to con...@rf-explorer.com with subject BETA SNIFFER.

Regards. Ariel

[Ariel Rocholl]

We are currently all set with Beta testers for this feature, thanks for your support.

[Stefan]

Hi!

Are there any news on the development/status of this RF sniffer? Such a tool would really be very handy, and I would definitively be interested in it.

Thanks for the effort and the good work!

BR,

Stefan

[Ariel Rocholl]

Hi Stefan,

Yes, we have been working hard and have a new version almost ready to be released, extremely powerful. Some last minute bugs prevented it from being released yet, but hopefully can make into public release this week (or the week after as a limit time).

We will publish the news here.

[Ariel Rocholl]

This major feature for RF Explorer Spectrum Analyzers is now available as public Beta release.

We have been working hard the last few months to embed a huge list of features, including the ability to create your own decoder Add-ins:

• Capture OOK/ASK modulation data packets at any frequency supported by your device model (in the range 15-2700MHz)
• Filter and trim noise out of the data capture
• Included decoders for PT2264 remote controls and Oregon Scientific weather stations
• Advanced zoom, contextual menus, text, configuration settings for sample rate and frequency.

There are so many features included, the only way to elaborate them is through an accompanying guide included in the software package.

Download available in the BETA area of the download page.

How the RF sniffer works

You can detect RF transmission and decode data either manually or automatically.

Most gadgets and devices like the ones depicted below can be easily captured and processed by RF Explorer sniffer tool:

The RF transmission would look like a train of pulses at first sight, but it can include a large number of unusable noisy data, as well as duplicated data packets transmitted by the gadget.

Thanks to RF Explorer Sniffer tool advanced features, you can easily remove unwanted noise and detect envelope digital modulated signal, so it can be interpreted according to available documentation or reverse engineering.

If the device transmit a protocol currently supported by one of the included Decoders, the RF Explorer Sniffer will do all decoding with a single click:

Using this extremely advanced feature, checking any RF transmission is now a trivial task.

Below is a fully decoded RF remote control data packet including address and data values when pressing button [1] of that particular remote control. A good example of use for this would be to adjust your remote control receiver to the right address to react to that remote control.

And this is an example of fully decoded Oregon Scientific Weather Station sensor transmitting 7.9C temperature and 55% humidity.

This useful tool enables RF Explorer models such as 433M (by a mere $99) assist you on debugging RF projects, detect wanted and unwanted transmissions and interpret any gadget at hand. As opposed to other tools available, you do not need to disassemble or connect cables to the RF gadget in order to detect what is being transmitted: your RF Explorer connected to a Windows PC is all you need for the antenna capture and sniff around!

Developing your own Decoder add-ins

By using a simple yet effective Add-in model, RF Explorer for Windows can be easily extended with your own Decoders.

You can develop decoders in any language, samples are provided in Python and C#, but others like Perl, VB, C/C++, Java and pretty much any environment you are familiar with can do the work just fine. The only requirement is to produce a command line tool, following certain convention for data communication between the Add-in and the RF Explorer for Windows tool.

Happy hacking!

[Ariel Rocholl]

Important note:

An issue was reported by two users (thanks David and Graham!) using this firmware. If you are using RF Explorer Analyzer firmware v1.16B01, please make sure you either upgrade to v1.16B03 or use MENU button while the device is being operated by the Windows software in Sniffer mode. This has been corrected in v1.16B03.

Background: We did not designed the Sniffer mode to be operated from the device, and thus only Windows software should be in control. Unfortunately we did not prevented the user from changing settings with keyboard in the device itself, and that was the source of configuration issues with firmware v1.16B01.

Fix: We now corrected this in firmware v1.16B03, you can download from this link. To be sure, it has no added functionality when compared to old firmware, except to silently ignore any key press in the device while in Sniffer mode. This prevents any issue from happening on the device from now on.

We strongly suggest all users working with v1.16B01 to upgrade to v1.16B03 to avoid configuration issues. The link provided above includes firmware only, so you do not have to download full software package again.

Our main software package has been updated with this firmware in the Download page.

Regards

Ariel

[Anthony Hello]

Hello Ariel,

Is this project moving forward. I am very interested in the progress of this software and firmware.  I'm involve in network administration I'm working on the Wireshark Certified Network Analyst (WCNA) Program.  I am not able to locate the download identified on this user group.

Thank you,

Anthony

[Ariel Rocholl]

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we are working on the sniffer, among other firmware features - we have several requests for the sniffer and are working to cover them, but will require some more time before we can publish them.

The links included in this thread are obsolete, but latest firmware and software available in the download page includes them all, so we do not update links on every version but certainly keep backward compatibility. 

So please install the latest firmware and software to get access to latest sniffer features available.

Regards

Ariel

[T, C]

Excellent!!!

I've loaded the firmware with no problems along with the RF Explorer software.  Starting to work with this now.

GREAT JOB ARIEL!

Thank you,

Tony

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Luka]

Hi guys,

sorry for resurrecting old thread. I would like to know if this packet sniffer functionality is still alive in (beta?) firmware? I'm about to buy RF Explorer 443 and this is the main reason for purchase.

Dne četrtek, 08. september 2011 18.06.11 UTC+2 je oseba Ariel Rocholl napisala:

[RF Explorer]

Hi Luka,

Yes, the Sniffer is fully functional, still in Beta because we did not receive much feedback from customers yet. OOK/ASK demodulation typical for 433MHz is working perfectly.

Regards,

RF Explorer Team

[Luka H]

Hi,

OK, great. I’ll order one RF Explorer right away. Do you have any tutorial how to use Sniffer?

Thanks

Luka

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.

Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.

[RF Explorer]

Sure, just download the latest RF Explorer for Windows and check the Release Notes together with the specific zip file including all Sniffer details.

Regards,

RF Explorer Team

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Luka H]

Any plans for MAC OS version?

Thanks

Luka

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

[RF Explorer]

Yes, there will be a Mac version eventually, we do not have confirmed release date yet.

Regards,

RF Explorer Team

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Luka H]

Do you have any beta program, so I can join?

Thanks

Luka

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-explorer...@googlegroups.com.

[James King]

Just tried the Packet Sniffer and it is really Cool.  Used Windows Ver 1.26 Software release and firmware release with the RF Explorer 6G Combo.  Could not find much for instructions on how to use it.  It does work great though.

Below is a screen capture showing successful reception, demodulation. and decoding of an Oregon Scientific remote thermometer.  Show Temperature is 22.4 degrees C and Humidity is 40%

Jim K.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rf-explorer.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RF Explorer" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rf-explorer/Npe0COinuxY/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rf-ex...@googlegroups.com.