Tools for Teaching Wireless
Mark Ciampa
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Display Signal Strength
Network Discovery / Signal Strength /
Connection Manager
Wireless Calculators
Virtual Wireless Routers
Spectrum Analyzers
Wireless Packet Sniffing
WLAN Simulators
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Display Signal Strength
Display Signal Strength
Network Meter v6
o http://www.addgadget.com/
o SSID, signal quality, IP address, External IP
address, IP lookup with Google maps, speed test,
upload speed, download speed, total usage,
whether connection is secure or not
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Network Discovery / Signal Strength / Connection Manager
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Vistumbler
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http://www.vistumbler.net/index.html
Discover APs
GPS Support
Export access point GPS locations to a Google Earth or
GPX(GPS eXchange format)
o Live Google Earth Tracking - Auto KML automatically
shows access points in Google earth.
o Speaks signal strength using sound files
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
inSSIDer
o http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/
o Track received signal in dBm over time
o Filter access points
o Highlight access points for areas with high Wi-Fi
concentration
o Export Wi-Fi and GPS data to a KML file to view
in Google Earth
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
WiFi Hopper (15 day, no longer supported)
o http://wifihopper.com/
o Network details, filters, RSSI graphing, built-in
GPS support
o Can connect to unsecured or secured WLANs
(must have proper credentials)
o Can create editable network profiles and
dedicated Connection Manager execution mode
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Wireless Mon ($29/$49)
o http://www.passmark.com/index.html
o Current connection information: SSID; Connected
access point MAC address; Signal strength; Tx
Power; Authentication type; RTS Threshold;
Fragmentation Threshold; Channel in use;
Frequency being used; Number of Antennas;
Beacon Period; ATIM Window; Dwell Time; Hop
Pattern; Hop Set
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Wireless Mon
o Statistics information: Frames sent and received,
error counts, transmission retry counters and
related low level data (30 parameters).
o IP information: Adapter MAC address; Adapter
device driver name; the IP Address; Subnet
Mask; if DHCP is enabled; the Gateway Address
and the DHCP server IP address.
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Wireless Mon
o IP counter information: Network throughput is
monitored and displayed. This includes the
maximum bandwidth available from the network
adapter hardware, the current send and receive
data rates in bytes per second and packets per
second, plus error counters.
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Wireless Mon
o IP counter information: maximum bandwidth
available from the network adapter hardware,
current send and receive data rates in bytes per
second and packets per second, error counters.
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Xirris WiFi Inspector
o http://www.xirrus.com/library/wifitools.php
o Search for Wi-Fi networks
o Troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity issues
o Site survey
o Manage device’s Wi-Fi connection
o Locate Wi-Fi devices
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Xirris WiFi Inspector
o Detect rogue APs
o Verify AP settings
o Aim Wi-Fi antenna
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Xirris WiFi Inspector
o Dynamic radar view displaying local Wi-Fi
network names and relative distance
o Detailed information table of all local Wi-Fi
networks
o Display of laptop’s Wi-Fi connection details and
network addresses
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Xirris WiFi Inspector
o Connection, Quality, and Speed tests for
troubleshooting wireless network connection
o Real-time graph of signal strength of one or more
Wi-Fi networks with 8 minute history
o Locate mode for tracking Wi-Fi network signal
strength, including audible beep
o Export Wi-Fi networks to .csv file
Network Discovery/Site Survey/Connection
Manager
Xirris WiFi Inspector
o Directly Connect/Disconnect to Wi-Fi networks
o Option to Enable/Disable Wi-Fi adapter
o Integrated glossary of Wi-Fi terms
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Wireless Calculators
Wireless Calculators
Radio theory and link planning for Wireless
LAN (WLAN)
o http://www.swisswireless.org/wlan_calc_en.ht
ml
EIRP Calculator
o http://www.distributedwireless.com/calculators/EIRP.html
Wireless Calculators
Veriwave WLAN Capacity Calculator
o http://www.xirrus.com/library/wifitools.php
o Determines expected performance of 802.11 and 802.11n network
o Provide parameters such as number of users, channel bandwidth,
and rates
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Virtual Wireless Routers
Virtual Wireless Routers
Microsoft Windows 7/2008 Virtual Wireless Routers
o A function added to Microsoft Windows 7 is wireless Hosted
Network
o Virtualization of the physical wireless NIC into multiple virtual
wireless NICs (Virtual WiFi) and a software-based wireless access
point (SoftAP) that uses a designated virtual wireless NIC
o It allows a single network connection of a laptop computer to be
shared by other computers and devices as if connected to an AP
o Users can wirelessly share any Internet connection (Wifi, LAN, Cable
Modem, Dial-up, Cellular, etc.) with any Wifi device (Laptop, Smart
Phone, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android Phone, Zune, Netbook, wireless
printer, etc.)
Virtual Wireless Routers
Virtual Router
o http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/
o Open source with no ads written entirely in C#
o The Wireless Network created & shared with Virtual Router uses
WPA2 Encryption; cannot turn off it off since feature of the Wireless
Hosted Network API's built into Windows 7 and 2008 R2
o Set virtual wireless SSID and password (minimum 8 characters)
Virtual Wireless Routers
Connectify
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http://www.connectify.me/index.html#
Not run on Microsoft Windows 7 Starter
Extend the range of home or office network
Turn mobile broadband card into a hotspot
Share hotel and expensive airport hotspots
Offline sharing folders, printers, drives
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Spectrum Analyzer
Spectrum Analyzer
Airview2 ($39)
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http://www.ubnt.com/airview
Windows XP, Vista, Apple OS X, Linux
Interface USB 1.1 or 2.0
Frequency Range (Model Dependent)2.399-2.485 GHz
(Airview2/EXT) or 895-935 MHz (Airview9/EXT)
o Sweep Time 260ms
Spectrum Analyzer
Airview2
o Waterfall Chart
o Time-based graph shows the aggregate energy collected since the
start of AirView session over time for each frequency
o The power of the energy in dBm is shown across the frequency span
and one row is inserted in this graph every few seconds.
o Color of energy designates its amplitude (Blues is low energy levels,
increasingly brighter colors Green, Yellow, Orange, and finally Red
designate increasingly higher energy levels at the specific frequency
Spectrum Analyzer
Airview2
o Channel Usage Chart
o Used determining the best channel to setup a WiFi network for
optimal performance; use to optimize installation by avoiding highly
used channels
o Each 2.4GHz channel represented by a bar displaying a percentage
representing the relative "crowdedness" of that specific channel
o This percentage is calculated by analyzing both the popularity and
the strength of RF energy in that channel since the start of a AirView
session
Spectrum Analyzer
Airview2
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Waveform Chart
Aggregate energy collected since the start of AirView Session
The power of the energy in dBm is shown across the frequency span
Displays the steady-state RF energy signature of a given environment
Tools for Teaching Wireless
Wireless Packet Sniffing
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Capturing data, control and management frames from a
wireless network using a Windows-based network protocol
analyzer software application can be difficult
 Wireless NICs can operate in one of six different modes:
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Master –Card acts as an AP
Managed - Station acts as a normal client
Repeater
Mesh
Ad-hoc
Monitor mode (also called Radio Frequency Monitor or RFMON)
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 When in monitor mode a card can capture frames without
first being associated with an AP
 Before Vista the Microsoft Windows Network Driver
Interface Specification (NDIS) not support monitor mode so
only data frames displayed
 Later versions of Windows (Vista and 7) limited support for
monitor mode was added but card specific
 Using virtual machine on Windows cannot capture all frames
 Linux does support monitor mode so that most cards and
their drivers can easily display all three types of frames
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Using Linux does not require that the operating system and
protocol analyzer softer be installed on a hard drive
 A "live" bootable CD or USB flash containing Linux and
selected applications can turn any computer into a Linuxbased protocol analyzer without using the hard drive
 Unetbootin
o http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
o Create live bootable USB flash drive
o Need 8GB USB flash drive
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Backtrack 4R2 (BT4R2)
o http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backtrack/backtrack-4-r2download/
o Includes Linux and Wireshark
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Unetbootin to Build Bootable USB Flash Drive with BT4R2
o Click the radio button Diskimage
o Click the browse button (labeled “…”) and locate the downloaded
Backtrack .ISO file
o Under Type: be sure that it says USB Drive and not Hard Drive (Hard
Drive will erase the entire contents of the hard drive)
o Under Drive: be sure that it displays the letter drive assigned to the
USB flash drive you inserted above
o Click OK (depending on the computer it could take 3-5 minutes to
complete the process)
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Launch Linux/BT4R2/Wireshark
o Boot from USB
o root@bt:~# iwconfig [ENTER] (note the interface that is associated
with IEEE 802.11)
o root@bt:~# iwconfig [interface & channel number] (iwconfig wlan0
channel 11)
o root@bt:~# iwconfig mode monitor
o root@bt:~# airmon-ng start interface (airmon-ng start wlan0)
o root@bt:~# startx
Wireless Packet Sniffing
 Launch Linux/BT4R2/Wireshark
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Click the K Menu icon (the first icon in the lower left corner).
Click Privilege Escalation (note: BT4R1 click “Internet”).
Click Wireshark-Network Analyzer
Click Capture
Click Interfaces
Select the device mon0 and click Start
Click Capture and then Stop to stop collecting packets.
Click File and Save As to save your capture to a data file (but cannot
save to USB flash drive)
Tools for Teaching Wireless
mark.ciampa@wku.edu