Arduino as wi-spy

Anyone who's used an arduino as a wi-spy device?

I have the Ethernet version, but maybe anyone with the Xbee Shield Wireless Module can let me know whether they've tried it?

Former Member over 13 years ago

i am very interested in your project about arduino work like wi-spy.
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fustini over 13 years ago in reply to Former Member

Hi - I hadn't heard of Wi-Spy before. Is this product at ThinkGeek it?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/c240/?cpg=clrss

Tracks all radio activity from Wi-Fi, Cordless Phones, Microwave ovens, Zigbee, Bluetooth, or any other 2.4 GHz device.

You raise an interesting idea for an Arduino project. I would imagine though that a more generic radio than a XBee or Wi-Fi module would be needed to survey the spectrum as described, but I don't know that much about RF. Maybe software defined radio (SDR) could play a role here. Although I would imagine that would require an FPGA solution or at least a microcontroller with more horsepower (maybe like the Beagle Bone?).

Jeri Ellsworth did a video on SDR's awhile ago: http://www.element14.com/community/videos/2925/l/Direct-Conversion-Receivers---You-Only-Live-Nine-Times

Cheers,
Drew
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fustini over 13 years ago in reply to fustini

Just found this:

DIY-Spy
http://tim.cexx.org/?p=646

This looks very promising:
As proof of concept (and a cool toy for anyone who has one of these lying around), I have implemented a working Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer on TI’s ez430-RF2500 development kit ($50), a 2-part USB dongle which consists essentially of a CC2500 radio strapped to an MSP430 low-power microcontroller (detachable bottom half) and a USB interface which enumerates as a virtual serial port (top half). The top half doubles as a standalone MSP430 programmer, so this kit is a great cheap way to get started playing with them.
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DAB over 13 years ago

Hi Drew,

I agree, TI has both the components and the software already available to set up a WiSpy device fairly quickly. Given some of the data complexity, you will probably want the MSP430 for this task. The Arduino is probably not fast enough to handle some of the data rates and formats.
I downloaded the software and bought the parts, but I have not yet had time to build and test it. They claim it will work for both 1 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz, depending upon the RF module you use.

Just a thought,
DAB
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