Project Description (Cryptic):

The objective of the project is to develop a RF sniffer tool which will sniff the packets
in the frequency band 902-928 MHz. The RF sniffer is a passive scanning device
whose purpose is to sniff RF activity on a given radio link and present that
information to a user in an organized format. RF packet sniffer enhances network
testing by providing an eagle eye view of RF activity in the network. At any given
time, digital data packet moves in and out of the RF devices and within the network.
RF packet sniffer detects these transactions and displays them in a
formatted/human readable form. This empowers the network diagnostic to be done
more effectively and in real time.
The RF sniffer will comply with the IEEE 802.15.4e and IEEE 802.15.4g specifications
focusing specially on FSK and OFDM modulation schemes. Its hardware will be
based on SDR (Software Defined Radio) platform. Refer figure below.

Wiresh
ark
tool

RF
Sniffer
Ethernet/
USB wire

802.15.
4e/g
based

Figure 1: Usage of Cryptic tool in the field

At the broad level, the key activities involved are:

Mesh
networ
k

1. Development of RF Sniffer model in Matlab and then using FPGA simulation

tools like Sysgen
a. Decode the frames in a single channel of 400 KHz for FSK and 800 KHz
for OFDM
b. Decode the frames in all 32 channels (for OFDM) and 64 channels (FSK)
2. Once model is completed and validated in Sysgen, port the code to target
FPGA platform
3. Program FPGA to interface it with RF Front end at one end and with PC using
Ethernet/USB interface to PC
4. Program/Modify the Wireshark to display the frames captured via sniffer tool
in real time