Programming instructions

Atmel AT02597: ZigBee PRO Packet Analysis with Sniffer [APPLICATION NOTE]
32210A−WIRELESS−09/2013
3
1. Overview
In ZigBee networking, a sniffing tool is important during development and testing for the capture and analysis of frames
exchanged in the network. It is more significant in networks that have ZigBee products from different vendors to test and
verify that they inter-operate with one another.
The sniffing tool shall be capable of real-time capture of frame formats supported by the ZigBee protocol and the IEEE
®
802.15.4 standard. The sniffer shall also provide parsed information of different fields and sub-fields of the frame, which
shall aid the user in quick analysis.
A visual view of the network topology, time stamping, multi-channel capture and saving of the capture files are some of
the features of sniffers that the user can benefit from, to gain a complete picture of the wireless environment that is
being monitored.
The Wireless network sniffer environment is setup by running one of the network protocol analyzers in Figure 1-1 on the
PC.
Figure 1-1. Supported ZigBee Network Protocol Analyzers.
To start capturing frames on an IEEE 802.15.4 channel, one should have a sniffer hardware tool running a sniffer
firmware, plugged into the PC.
Figure 1-2. Supported Sniffer Hardware Platforms.
The RZUSBSTICK and the deRFusb23E06 [10] can be used to sniff IEEE 802.15.4 2.4GHz operating channels.
The deRFusb13E06 [10] ca
n be used as an IEEE 802.15.4 sub-GHz sniffer.
1.1 The Wireshark Capture Interface from Atmel Gallery
A simple Capture Interface that can be used to create capture sessions for IEEE 802.15.4 2.4GHz channels is available
for download from Atmel Gallery.
Apart from the RZUSBSTICK, this interface supports the RZ600-RF231 radio board [2] as a sniffer hardw
are platform.