Build A Wi-Fi Performance Analyzer For $75

[sfx2000]

Doesn't Kismet take care of this by taking control of the Wi-Fi interface?

yes and no - it tries to put the interface/driver into monitor mode - but if the interface is already associated, you will get unexpected results, so break the associations.

Have you used the new development version w/ web GUI?

yes, I have

 

[thiggins]

Part 2 posted. All discussion can continue in this thread.

 

[sfx2000]

@thiggins - the Alfa is a great Kismet adapter - know it well...

One consideration - they will typically include a 5dB and a 9dB external antenna - those are great for doing large scale data collection (e.g. war-driving), but less than useful for site-surveys, as the additional gains there can provide misleading results when considering typical client performance.

 

[Makaveli]

The Neo2 starter kit is still out of stock sadly.

 

[thiggins]

The Neo2 starter kit is still out of stock sadly.

The key parts, board and OLED display "hat", are in stock. Will cost a bit more, but still a bargain.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

The key parts, board and OLED display "hat", are in stock. Will cost a bit more, but still a bargain.

The NanoPi NEO2 is a cool little computer, took me 8 minutes to assemble because of several mistakes. Booted fine with the included microSD card. Got an IP address ...224 immediately from my Asus RT-AC68u router. Easy to SSH into a command prompt as per NanoPi quickstart guide. Why can't we browse to the thing?

10 minutes later...

OOPS, forgot to look at this part of the SmallNetBuilder article:

The WLAN Pi image, which you download, unzip and burn to the micro SD card that comes with the NanoPi NEO2 kit, has everything you need.

Oh yeah, you have to download the Linux image at

http://www.morefrag.com/nanopi/neo2/images/wlanpi_1.2_neo2.img.zip

and burn it onto the little industrial-grade MicroSD card that came in the $38 dollar kit, to make the NanoPi boot up as a WiFi testing collaborator. THEN we can browse to the NanoPi as the SmallNetBuilder article describes.

Heck, nobody ever told me to read the instructions...

 

[thiggins]

Oh yeah, you have to download the Linux image at

That was going to be my first question to you. Have fun!

 

[ahpsi]

The Neo2 starter kit is still out of stock sadly.

I had an order confirmed right after this article posted and then cancelled a few days later. I'm thinking the NEO starter kit -> http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=190 with a standalone NEO2 1GB board http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=180 does cost more but is an easy way to get everything you need, albeit with an extra, unnecessary SBC.

 

[ahpsi]

I had an order confirmed right after this article posted and then cancelled a few days later. I'm thinking the NEO starter kit -> http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=190 with a standalone NEO2 1GB board http://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=180 does cost more but is an easy way to get everything you need, albeit with an extra, unnecessary SBC.

NVM, just noticed the aluminum housing is laid out differently for the NEO, so you won't have a case. Also can't seem to find the housing available separately.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

That was going to be my first question to you. Have fun!

As mentioned above in post number 26, with the correct Wlan Pi image burned onto a micro-SD card, with the easily-downloaded "Etcher" software for my little Linux box downloaded from
https://etcher.io

, and then doing this from my Linux command prompt:

$ sudo chmod +x Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage
$ sudo ./Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage

to burn the "wlanpi" disk image to any micro-SD card of 4 gigabytes capacity or greater, the little WLan Pi computer came up immediately. First thing done was an Ethernet speed test from the box, and indeed it pumped out 940 megabytes per second over a gigabit cable connection to an Asus router.

Mistake made was to order a *way overkill* overly-long-for-a-pocket 10-amp-hour battery for this gadget for $28 dollars, cost way more than the single board computer. Left the computer running for five or six hours on the 10-amp battery and it only used 25%-50% of the battery. The 3-amp-hour $7 dollar lithium battery suggested would have been plenty plenty.

Haven't really understood what all to do with the WLan Pi yet, and not sure how to get wireless going (though it does seem to be interacting with a USB RTL8814au 3-stream USB adapter)...but have already used it as a simple cabled LAN routing speed tester.

Thanks again for your writeup, Tim.

P.S. It is also fun booting the device with the software on the SD card sold on the Neo website. Immediately you are running what looks like a fairly standard if stripped down Ubuntu version 16.04, that you can easily SSH secure shell log onto. Guess this little machine can run AutoCad under Wine emulation, etc. Let the Bitcoin mining begin!

 

[wleeb]

I purchased a NEO2 starter kit and installed wlanpi_1.2_neo2.img to it. Booted right up and immediately attempted to SSH to it with no success. Does anyone know the root credentials?

 

[thiggins]

I purchased a NEO2 starter kit and installed wlanpi_1.2_neo2.img to it. Booted right up and immediately attempted to SSH to it with no success. Does anyone know the root credentials?

Use wlanpi for both username and password. Root access is not enabled for login.
You'll need to use sudo with password = wlanpi if you need elevated privs. But for SSH,
wlanpi/wlanpi will do it.

 

[wleeb]

Use wlanpi for both username and password. Root access is not enabled for login.
You'll need to use sudo with password = wlanpi if you need elevated privs. But for SSH,
wlanpi/wlanpi will do it.

Thanks that worked.

Ran the speed test on the Gigabit Ethernet and I am topping out at 550/560 Mbps down/up nowhere close to what you were able to achieve? Nothing between my Lenovo P50 and NEO2 but a Cisco 2960 switch? As a comparison I ran iperf3 on the stock Ubuntu image that came with the NEO2 and it gave me ~670 Mbps both ways. Any thoughts?

 

[wleeb]

Tried it using Chrome (used FF before) and got much better results 761/986 Mbps.

Jumped to command line with iperf3 and setup a server on one NE02 and client on another (I purchased 2) and got a more respectable 881/871 Mbps.

 

[System Error Message]

Just saw this article, very nice job @thiggins .

Thanks that worked.

Ran the speed test on the Gigabit Ethernet and I am topping out at 550/560 Mbps down/up nowhere close to what you were able to achieve? Nothing between my Lenovo P50 and NEO2 but a Cisco 2960 switch? As a comparison I ran iperf3 on the stock Ubuntu image that came with the NEO2 and it gave me ~670 Mbps both ways. Any thoughts?

It'd also depend on the wifi of the devices involved, what busses they use (some have limitations in bandwidith), and what sort of config and throughput negotiated along with any traffic/interference around the channel. 80Mhz is actually bigger than people realise in 5Ghz.

 

[sfx2000]

It'd also depend on the wifi of the devices involved, what busses they use (some have limitations in bandwidith), and what sort of config and throughput negotiated along with any traffic/interference around the channel. 80Mhz is actually bigger than people realise in 5Ghz.

SDIO can be a bottleneck for some devices - but for Kismet, the bandwidth isn't so much, it's a passive scanner...

For 11a/n/ac channels - as long as the client firmware and drivers support DFS, it's a good scanner - the beacon's are always on a 20MHz channel in any event. And that's what one needs to evaluate, as Tim noted, some drivers might report different channels, but the channel in the 802.11 HT operation primary channel epigram must be spot on as that is what clients are looking for - not just to find the AP, but also to determine the channel quality and opportunity to associate with that AP.

 

[crashnburn]

Just came across this kit & stuff Very interesting.

 

[djgizmo]

Like crash, I just found this article. Looks like no one sells the NEO2 kit anymore. Any suggestions for a differ SBC or where to buy the NEO2?

 

[thiggins]

This should do it for the basic board:
https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=180

Doesn't look like they sell the kit. But you can put the equivalent together from the options presented.

 

[sfx2000]

Like crash, I just found this article. Looks like no one sells the NEO2 kit anymore. Any suggestions for a differ SBC or where to buy the NEO2?

Can always consider the Neo Metal Kit from FriendlyARM - the H3 should have more than enough horsepower to run the apps...