CreepyDOL, the Creepy Digital Object Locator, is a distributed tracking system that uses low-cost hardware sensors, a robust communications system, and simple observation to give near-real-time identification of humans and tracking capabilities to anyone. It’s goal is to develop hardware and software for passive surveillance of WiFi data and draw inferences regarding human behavior therefrom. […]
Category Archives: RF
Xbox RF module controlled by R-Pi
tin0 decided to explore the hardware on an Xbox 360 and harvested the RF Module with the intent on using it with the Raspberry Pi. He wrote up this detailed tutorial posted at Astrorats, including links to the source code written in Python using the wiringPi2 library. Via the contact form.
TI announces sponsorship of Innovation World Cup challenge
TI has announced their participation as a sponsor in the Worldwie Innovation Cup competition: “For the fourth year in a row Texas Instruments have joined the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup where developers from all over the world are called to submit their innovative solutions for wearable devices. New ideas, products and prototypes can be […]
DIY RF Transceiver using MRF49XA and AT90USB162
William Dillon has posted his initial work on a prototype USB RF data packet Transceiver dongle using the MRF49XA and an Atmel AT90USB162 micro controller. He embarked on a journey exploring the development of packet formats and protocols, as well as types of error correction. This open source project’s details, code links, schematic and photos […]
TI announces CC1200 sub-1 GHz transceiver
TI has announced the pending release of the CC1200, the newest member of their family of sub-1GHz devices. This component specs a data rate of up to 1Mbps and supports all the IEEE 802.15.4g FSK modes with hardware packet handling, as well as hardware AES security support. It purports to offer full flexibility on RF […]
TI wireless connectivity guide
With TI wireless devices being encountered from time to time in your hardware hacking it’s important to be able to recognize the types of chips and their associated capabilities. TI has a free Wireless Connectivity Guide available covering their offerings for various wireless technologies including mesh and IP networks, personal area networks, locationing, RF sub-1 […]
Hacking wireless radiator valves with GNU Radio
In an effort to better proportion the heating system in his house, Mike Stirling decided to use Conrad FHT8V wireless thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) to control heat distribution in zones. He decided to analyze the valve’s 868 MHz control signals using his RTL-SDR dongle and GNU Radio. After discovering that the protocol uses simple on-off […]
Reverse engineering a wireless burglar alarm
Cybergibbon has been working on reversing the digital protocol used by a wireless alarm system he recently acquired. He began by observing the alarm sensor’s signal using first an RF Explorer, then using RTL-SDR and SDR# to record the signal, which he analyzed with Audacity. Next, he cracked open the sensor itself to investigate the […]
Open Zigbee sniffer
Lubomir Mraz and his fellow Wislab crew members have released the documentation on their open multi-platform, multi-band wireless sensor network analyzer. Known as the Open Zigbee Sniffer, the RF device interfaces with your PC via the Ethernet interface. It includes protocol dissectors for IEEE 802.15.4, Zigbee, 6LoWPAN and Atmel LightWeight Mesh, covering the 2.4GHz and […]
HackRF based radio spectrum analyzer
Jared Boone displayed this project at the recent Maker Faire. This project is built around the HackRF, a software-defined radio transceiver. I programmed it to sample 20MHz of radio spectrum from an antenna, do a frequency analysis on the data, and display the results on a Noritake vacuum fluorescent display. I added the tuning wheel […]
HackManhattan’s Nordic nRF51822 breakout board
Guan Yang of HackManhattan informs us of his efforts in working with a Bluetooth low energy component: This amazing component is the Nordic nRF51822 that was released last year and is now available for order from Mouser. It’s a Bluetooth Low Energy system-on-chip that includes a transceiver and a Cortex-M0 microcontroller. Here’s a breakout board […]
Notacon 10 – DC to Daylight: A whirlwind tour of the radio spectrum
Ever wonder what’s going on in those portions of the spectrum outside the regular broadcast and public safety bands? This video from the just concluded Notacon 10 conference in Cleveland, OH, provides a summary of the radio spectrum assignments from the proverbial “DC to daylight”. This presentation by Stormgren concentrates on those radio frequency assignments […]
RTL-SDR dsd tutorial: monitoring P25 digital voice
The crew over at RTL-SDR.com has posted a simple tutorial on using the RTL-SDR dongle and free SDR# and Digital Speech Decoder software (dsd) to monitor P25 digital radio voice comms. They describe, “Digital radio voice communications are becoming more commonly used in the radio spectrum. This is due to the various improvements offered over […]
TIDeals: eZ430-Chronos watch again
If you missed it before, TI is offering the Chronos Watch as their current week’s deal at $38 (plus shipping.) The eZ430 deal includes the wireless enabled watch, CC1111 USB RF access point, and a CD containing software and documentation. This is the watch featured in a recent post on hacking RF devices in the […]
MAX2173 RF to bits tuner
Maxim Integrated has announced the availability of their new MAX2173 RF to bits tuner chip. The MAX2173 is a highly integrated direct-conversion tuner for digital audio broadcast (DAB) and terrestrial digital multimedia broadcast (T-DMB) applications in the 168MHz to 240MHz (VHF band-III) and 1452MHz to 1492MHz (L-band) frequency bands. For FM and DRM+ reception, a […]
HITB Amsterdam 2013: Aircraft RF hacking
At the recently concluded HackInTheBox 2013 (HITB) conference German security consultant Hugo Teso has once again drawn into question the security of aero comms. In a presentation at the Amsterdam conference, Hugo highlighted the security vulnerabilities of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Aeronautical Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) digital aero radio data systems. […]
Shmoocon 2013: Sniffing Bluetooth low energy
In this presentation from the recent Shmoocon 2013 conference in Washington, DC, Mike Ryan from iSec Partners discusses the new generation of wireless hacking tools to intercept and inject Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) communications. Also known as Bluetooth Smart, BTLE was defined in the BT 4.0 spec and will be appearing in a growing number […]
Obscure mil doc: Telemetry Systems Radio Frequency Handbook
If you’re interested in obscure RF topics here’s a document for you. The Telemetry Systems Radio Frequency Handbook is a 133 page manual in PDF released by the US Army and found on the White Sands Missile Range website. It was prepared to assist in the development of improved RF telemetry transmitting and receiving systems […]
Authoritative GNU Radio training videos
Want free, in depth training on GNU Radio from an authoritative source? Then you’ll want to spend four hours viewing this series of videos by Tom Rondeau, KB3UKZ, the GNU Radio project manager since 2009. Tom provides a detailed, in-depth study of this Software Defined Radio experimental and development system. These videos are taken from […]
SDR Touch Android app for RTL-SDR
Here’s an app which purports to turn your radio equipped Android device into a SDR. It called SDR Touch and is available for free download from the developer’s website. According to the developers, its designed to work with the familiar RTL-SDR dongles, and Android 3.1 and up. According to the developer Martin Marinov the app: […]