Packet Sniffing

Using a packet sniffer, you can see the data sent from one node to another. One good free one is available from Texas Instruments: [Texas Instruments Packet Sniffer] and this can be loaded on the TI [CC2531 USB Evaluation Module] using the TI [CC-DEBUGGER Tool]. Another packet sniffer is the [Ubilogix Ubiqua].

Zigbee supports many channels. The coordinator will select a channel when it starts based on how it is configured. To sniff packets you must know which channel the coordinator is using. To do this find the "Device Channel" entry below. In this case, it is 11. Write this number down as you will need it shortly. Note: some examples don't show network information by default to reduce code size. In these examples you may have to #define DISPLAY_NETWORK_INFORMATION to see this data.

To observe packets using the free TI packet sniffer:
 * 1) Purchase the CC2531EMK and CC-DEBUGGER.
 * 2) Download the TI Packet Sniffer software
 * 3) Follow the instructions in the Packet Sniffer to load the required firmware onto the CC2531EMK.
 * 4) Configure the Packet Sniffer application:
 * 5) 802.15.4/Zigbee on CC2530
 * 6) Zigbee Pro 2007 protocol
 * 7) Channel: select the channel you wrote down above
 * 8) Now, push the play button (right arrow)
 * 9) To get it to scroll automatically, push the double-down-arrow.
 * 10) You should now see something like the following.



Note: If you are using the TI packet sniffer then you will not be able to view the contents of the packets because the TI packet sniffer does not support decryption of Zigbee packets. If you need this, use the Ubilogix packet sniffer instead.