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Not only is there a physical tap in traditional sniffing, but the sniffer must have some knowledge of the physical
characteristics of the link being sniffed. For example, a Bluetooth air sniffer must know the BD_ADDR of at least
one piconet member to allow it perform clock synchronization. A serial sniffer must know the bit rate of the
tapped circuit or be physically connected to the clock line of the circuit.
With Virtual sniffing the protocol analyzer itself does not actually tap the link and the protocol analyzer does not
require any knowledge of the physical characteristics of the link.
In computer jargon, “virtual” means “not real”. Virtual memory is memory that doesn’t actually exist. Virtual
reality is something that looks and feels real, but isn’t real. So we use the term Virtual sniffing, because there is
sniffing taking place, but not in the traditional physical sense.
A.3.5 The Convenience and Reliability of Virtual Sniffing
Virtual sniffing is the most convenient and reliable form of sniffing and should be used in preference to all other
forms of sniffing whenever practical. Virtual sniffing is convenient because it requires no setup to use except for a
very small amount of software engineering (typically between one and four hours) that is done once and then
never again. Once support for Virtual sniffing has been built into application or into a development environment
none of the traditional sniffing setup work need be done.
This means:
l NO piconet synchronization.
l NO serial connection to tap.
l NO USB connection to tap.
Virtual sniffing is reliable because there is nothing that can fail. With Virtual sniffing all data is always captured.
A.3.6 How Virtual Sniffing Works
ComProbe software Virtual sniffing works using a feature called Live Import. Any application can feed data into
ComProbe software using Live Import. A simple API provides four basic functions and a few other more advanced
functions. The four basic Live Import functions are:
l Open a connection to ComProbe software.
l Close a connection to ComProbe software.
l Send an entire packet to ComProbe software.
l Send a single byte to ComProbe software.
All applications that send data to ComProbe software via Live Import use the first two functions. Usually only one
of the two Send functions is used by a particular application. When ComProbe software receives data from the
application via Live Import, the data is treated just as if it had been captured on a Frontline ComProbe sniffer. The
entire protocol stack is fully decoded.
With Virtual sniffing the data can literally be coming from anywhere. ComProbe software does not care if the data
being analyzed is being captured on the machine where ComProbe software is running or if the data is being
captured remotely and passed into ComProbe software over an Internet connection.
A.3.7 Virtual Sniffing and Bluetooth Stack Vendors
As the complexity of the Bluetooth protocol stack increases Bluetooth stack vendors are realizing that their
customers require the use of a powerful Bluetooth protocol analyzer. Even if the stack vendor’s stack is bug free,
Appendicies TELEDYNE LECROY
Frontline BPA low energy Hardware & Software User Manual 230