CC2642R: Unable to change the channel number in Smart RF Sniffer Agent-v1.10.0

Hello Navami GS,

Did you read or reference the Packet Sniffer guide found withing the Z-Stack? The guide its very helpful when getting started (and shows changing channel to 16). 

Packet Sniffer — SimpleLink CC13XX/CC26XX SDK Z-Stack User's Guide 7.40.00 documentation

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi Alex,

Thanks for replying.

But im looking for Bluetooth, but in the document its mention for zigbee.  

Hello Navami,

We also have a section in the BLE guide that discusses how to use the packet sniffer:

Debugging — SimpleLink CC13XX/CC26XX SDK BLE5-Stack User's Guide 2.02.09.00 documentation

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi Alex

This is the document we referred, in this we are not able to update/ modify the channel range from 37-39 to 0-39

. 

Hello Navami GS,

I just found out from a BLE team member that a downside to Packet Sniffer is that it is not able to receive all BLE packets, instead we would recommend ellisys with a sniffer if you want to go that route. 

Which packets were you targeting to read?

What configuration options (IE BLE 1 Mbps or others) do you have access to? 

Unfortunately, you may need to configure your application to channel 37-39, as you may not be able to change the range to 0-39 (at least for the BLE - BLE 1 Mbps - 2402 MHz - Freq Band) option. 

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi Alex,

Which packets were you targeting to read? - we want to read both adv and data packets.

What configuration options (IE BLE 1 Mbps or others) do you have access to? - I need to use this BLE - BLE 1 Mbps - 2402 MHz - Freq Band

Thankyou

Hello Navami,

I tried seeing if I could modify the sniffer to something other than channels 37-39 with no success, reaching out to see if this is a limitation of the sniffer program.

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the reply.

If you find any solution, please let us know.

Thankyou

Hello Navami,

I have reached out to the internal team to see if we can get some more information, and possibly a solution on this matter, awaiting their response!

Thanks,
Alex F

Hello Navami,

The internal team told me the following:

The sniffer agent will first start by listening to one of the adverting channels and then if a connection request is received, it will start following that connection by changing the channel as given in the request.

They also said that if you just wanted to look at the packets SmartRF Studio (a separate tool) should work well too (and is easier to use).

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi

How to capture data packets using SmartRF studio

Hello Navami,

First you will need to download SmartRF Studio 7 from TI's website here. (SmartRF 8 is only for select new devices so use SmartRF 7) 

Then you will open up the application, and select the CC2642R device in BLE or proprf mode (depending on packets you want to sniff, lets do BLE): 

Once the CC2642R session is opened (and connected) you will have a screen similar to the following, which you can select the BLE configuration, and change the frequency! 

Press start to start receiving packets which will fill the lower part of the screen (will also tell you the packet error rate/rssi). 

To do an easy test on SmartRF 7 get two of the same board, open up two instances of the device control panel (one per device), match the config, and set one device to RX and one device to TX then press start. 

Thanks
Alex F

Hi 

Hello Navami,

You can also use SmartRF Studio 8 to capture packets with CC2340R5 (SmartRF Studio 8 does not support CC2642R), you will follow similar steps to before (open up SmartRF Studio 8, click on the device, and then select the BLE PHY and click start)

If you have two CC2340R5s then as a quick test you can use two devices (one RX and one TX) in the same workspace (do alt + 2)! 

Thanks,
Alex F

Hi,

I have only one CC2340R5.

I want to see the data flow between central (TI Mobile App) and peripheral (TI EVB)

Hello Navami,

I apologize for the delay. If you could get a second CC2340R5 to test with here it would be a great help! You can also reference the following documentation about testing your Bluetooth project: 

How to Do RF Radio Test With Your Bluetooth Product (Rev. A) (ti.com)

Then an alternative tool to test our HCI commands (which should be included with your BLE stack download) is "BTool". We have a guide for this tool here:RF Testing using BTool — SimpleLink CC23xx SDK BLE5-Stack User's Guide 3.03.01.00 documentation, and for the CC2642R device here: RF Testing using BTool — SimpleLink CC13XX/CC26XX SDK BLE5-Stack User's Guide 2.02.09.00 documentation.

Thanks,
Alex F

Hello Navami, 

While it is possible to capture data packets with the CC2340R5 it is not possible for the same device to capture its own packets (at the same time) through the tools mentioned so far. 

- (The device would be blocked into either transmitting the packets, or receiving/sniffing them, it cannot do both at the same time). 

You could try logging data through CCS but that is different from what we want here. 

(Maybe we output the data via serial/uart to see what's going on perhaps?) 

Thanks,
Alex F

You could try logging data through CCS but that is different from what we want here - How to do this? using this can we capture data between central and peripheral.

Uart we tried - As of now we are using this to print the debug logs.

I want to know, every data packet that gets sent is there any acknowledgment we receive from the stack?

Hello Navami,

Visit the SDK for detail on logging BLE: Debugging — SimpleLink CC23xx SDK BLE5-Stack User's Guide 3.03.01.00 documentation

-Basically, if you want to sniff packets from Device A, you cannot also have Device A be the sniffer, you will need Device B to be the sniffer reading packets from Device A. 

-In your case to sniff packets from Device A (CC2340R5) you need a second similar/same Device B (CC2340R5). 

Navami GS said:

I want to know, every data packet that gets sent is there any acknowledgment we receive from the stack?

Yes, you should be able to read these response events. (read the GATT section in SDK about response Generic Access Profile (GAP) — SimpleLink CC23xx SDK BLE5-Stack User's Guide 3.03.01.00 documentation)

Thanks,
Alex F