WiFi Wireless Projects
Presence detection
Working on detecting when my phone enters and leaves the Wildsong AP. Presence detection
Alfa
Famous race condition causes it to come up sometime as wlan0 and other times as wlan1, basically annoying the daylights out of me.
I tried the raspi-config (really kalipi-config) "predicatable names" option and it failed.
Next I tried this, which works!!
sudo rm /etc/systemd/network/73-usb-net-by-mac.link update-initramfs -k all -u reboot
I think the .link file (which points to null) was masking the one with actual information in it in /lib/systemd/network/ Read carefully "man systemd.link", especially how the directories are searched in order, so the fake .link file was overwriting the real one. Now I have the builtin wifi at "wlan0" and the Alfa interface at wlx00c0ca52c04b. No more confusion as to which one is the Alfa.
Wardriving
Setting up a Raspberry Pi to do some wardriving (or warcycling or warwalking?) Will probably use an Alfa 802.11b/g/n adapter from Rokland.
- Horst = Highly Optimized Radio Scanner Tool = low footprint
- Kismet = been around longer, more features
Testing on Pi 4 Tenrec today with sudo iwlist wlan0 scan|grep SSID With the Alfa I see 35 stations. On the built in wlan0 I see 9. So, Alfa it is. The built in interface is dual band (2.4 and 5.8) but the Alfa is 2.4 only. I might want to replace the Alfa later but most access points advertise on both bands so I don't think it matters to me right now.
- MAC on the Alfa is 00:c0:ca:52:c0:4b
- MAC on the Pi WiFi is b8:27:eb:3a:11:f0
Quickie test: sudo iwlist wlx00c0ca52c04b scan
Examine interfaces with
sudo iw dev sudo iw phy phy0 info sudo iw phy phy1 info
Horst info:
- https://www.linuxlinks.com/horst-highly-optimized-radio-scanning-tool/
- https://netbeez.net/blog/remote-wifi-packet-capturing-with-horst-on-raspberry-pi-and-odroid/
To-do:
- Install and test Alfa (DONE)
- Install and test Horst. Done but need to know more about it; logging? GPS?
- Install and test Kismet on Pi 4
- hook up a GPS (in car: UBlox AEK-4P walking? I have a little chip GPS around)
- remove the Pi 4 from the 7" screen -or- go with a Pi 3 -or- even a Pi Zero?
Can I run this software on a Pi Zero? I just want to log data, nothing else. That would be Kali on Pi0W
I guess if I am going this route I best pull out the Pi Zero W now. The Pi 4 is a big mess all over the kitchen counter now anyway.
5" display
I am using this 5" display and a Pi 3 from SEARC
https://elecrow.com/wiki/index.php?title=HDMI_Interface_5_Inch_800x480_TFT_Display
I tried installing the drivers per the instructions here and the board did not reboot. I will try again someday. Who needs a touch screen anyway?
Kali
I tried installing Kismet on Raspbian and it failed, so I installed Kali.
Kali runs X11 by default; it can be disabled with
systemctl disable lightdm
I would disable HDMI too, to save power, but I am afraid I will need to connect the KVM up in the near future to get access when WiFi is not available.
Kismet
sudo -s systemctl enable kismet systemctl start kismet
Now go to a browser go to for example http://zebra:2501/ and set a username and password.
Okay, it ran for a good 15 minutes and I think it wants at least a Pi 3. Starting again with a Pi 3 named "clear" since it's in a clear case. Or it would be if it all fit.
Wireless resources
Personal Telco Portland
WISP news
Frontier Broadband Industry News http://www.frontierbb.com/blogger.shtml
Broadband Wireless Exchange http://www.bbwexchange.com/
Wireless Internet Service Provider Association http://www.wispa.org
Equipment suppliers
Rokland Alfa high power WiFi USB adapters
Metrix Wireless development kits
Fleeman Anderson Bird Antennas and a lot more. Really like these folks.
Manufacturers
E-zy made the EZ-2-Go radios that I just got for Chintimini
RouterBoard
[Ubiquiti] makes some products that look interesting including the "Bullet".
Organizations
Certified Wireless Network Providers
Bluetooth
IrDA
Wi-Fi
Wi-Max
Zigbee
