LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Menon — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:40:40 GMT

Hello,

Glad to hear that it’s working for you. I’m only using nrfutil commands here to sniff the BLE packets using Wireshark, and it’s working for me as well.

[quote user="Luiz Miranda"]Do you know how to include the Channel Index in the Wireshark column?
I tried Edit → Preferences → Appearance → Columns, + , Title -> Channel, Type -> Custom and Field: btle.channel
It didn't accept Field: btle.channel[/quote]

To display the Channel Index in Wireshark when using the nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE, start a capture and, in the Packet Details pane, expand the section labeled “nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE.” Find the Channel Index field, right-click on its value, and choose “Apply as Column.” Wireshark will automatically add the Channel Index to your Packet List using the correct field from the nRF Sniffer plugin (such as nordic_ble.channel) instead of the generic btle.channel field.

Kind Regards,

Abhijith

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Luiz Miranda — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 15:07:55 GMT

Hello:

It's working with all the options below:

1 - Uploading firmware via nRF Connect for Desktop

2 - Uploading firmware via:
nrfutil pkg generate --hw-version 52 --sd-req 0x00 --application sniffer_nrf52840dongle_nrf52840_4.1.1.hex --application-version 1 app.zip
nrfutil device program --firmware app.zip --serial-number EC073565DEFA

3 - Uploading firmware via:
nrfutil device program --firmware C:\Users\LMIRANDA\.nrfutil\share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware\sniffer_nrf52840dongle_nrf52840_4.1.1.zip --serial-number EC073565DEFA

Why didn't I see the packages?

The problem was that I wasn't using the Interface Toolbar because it didn't appear in Wireshark.
From what I understand, Wireshark doesn't display the Interface Toolbar by default in Windows.
The exercise doesn't say that the Interface Toolbar should be selected.
It shows the interface toolbar.
Since I didn't see it, I didn't select it.
I selected the Interface toolbar and the peripheral name in the Device field.
From then on, I started seeing Empty PDU and Connection Update Parameter packets.

The nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware command didn't work:

ble-sniffer is installed

C:\NORDIC\NRFSNIFFER> nrfutil -ble-sniffer\firmware
error: unexpected argument '-b' found

Usage: nrfutil.exe [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

For more information, try '--help'.

C:\NORDIC\NRFSNIFFER> nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware
nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware : The module 'nrfutil-ble-sniffer' could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module nrfutil-ble-sniffer'.
At line:1 char:1
+ nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotAutoLoadModule

I used the command below to find the zip file location.

nrfutil ble-sniffer bootstrap
Bootstrapping ble-sniffer...
Bootstrap succeeded
Next step
---------

Program a device with the appropriate sniffer firmware. We recommend using `nrfutil-device` for this.

Find the device you would like to program with the following command:

nrfutil device list

Then, you can program this device with the sniffer firmware with the following command:

nrfutil device program --firmware <fw> --serial-number <serial-number>

Supported devices
-----------------
* nRF52840 Dongle (firmware = C:\Users\LMIRANDA\.nrfutil\share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware\sniffer_nrf52840dongle_nrf52840_4.1.1.zip)
* nRF52840 DK (firmware = C:\Users\LMIRANDA\.nrfutil\share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware\sniffer_nrf52840dk_nrf52840_4.1.1.hex)
* nRF52833 DK (firmware = C:\Users\LMIRANDA\.nrfutil\share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware\sniffer_nrf52833dk_nrf52833_4.1.1.hex)
* nRF52 DK (firmware = C:\Users\LMIRANDA\.nrfutil\share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware\sniffer_nrf52dk_nrf52832_4.1.1.hex)

Do you know how to include the Channel Index in the Wireshark column?
I tried Edit → Preferences → Appearance → Columns, + , Title -> Channel, Type -> Custom and Field: btle.channel
It didn't accept Field: btle.channel

Thanks and best regards

Luiz

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Luiz Miranda — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 01:42:53 GMT

Hello:

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Menon — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 19:19:05 GMT

Hello,

What you’ve done so far is correct, but you’re programming the wrong file. For the dongle, you need to use the .zip file (see my screenshot below). This is because of the dongle’s bootloader, you can’t use a .hex file in this case.

When programming the firmware, make sure to provide the full path to where the firmware is located. See the command I used to program my nRF52840 DK (I don’t have the dongle at the moment).

If you’re unsure where the firmware is located, run the command from the folder where nrfutil is installed and then follow the path to
share\nrfutil-ble-sniffer\firmware.

Also, when working with the dongle, make sure to put it into bootloader mode before programming, and reset it once programming is complete.

Kind Regards,

Abhijith

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Luiz Miranda — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:57:11 GMT

Hello:

- nrfutil device list

98793AB063D13B58
Product nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE
Ports COM4
Traits serialPorts, usb, nordicUsb

1050386996
Product J-Link
Board version PCA10040
Ports COM5, vcom: 0
COM6, vcom: 1
Traits jlink, devkit, seggerUsb, usb, serialPorts

Supported devices found: 2

- Program the HEX file using nrfutil device, replacing <serial-number> and <hex> with the serial number of your device and the HEX file name, respectively:
The sintaxe is nrfutil device program --serial-number <serial-number> --firmware <hex>

The HEX file name sniffer_nrf52840dongle_nrf52840_4.1.1.hex and it is installed in same directory of nrfutil.
The _nrf52840dongle is connected in COM4

How should I write the command?
nrfutil device program --serial-number <serial-number> --firmware <hex>

I remember you that I am using nrf52840dongle (installed in COM4) with Wireshark and that I programmed the nrf52840dongle with nRF Connect for Desktop before sent you the support message.

I received error in command below

nrfutil device program --firmware sniffer_nrf52840dongle_nrf52840_4.1.1.hex --serial-number 98793AB063D13B58
[00:00:00] ------ 0% [98793AB063D13B58] Failed, The operation you tried to run is not available for the selected device. Error: One or more program tasks failed:
* 98793AB063D13B58: The operation you tried to run is not available for the selected device.

The operation is either not supported for this type of device or the device has issues and it cannot be recognized (NotFound)

Regards

Luiz

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Menon — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:59:58 GMT

Hello Luiz,

The packets you are seeing are the advertising channel packets, and the connection channel packets are missing. This appears to be a setup issue rather than a BLE problem. Could you try setting up the sniffer and Wireshark using nRF Util and see if that resolves the issue?

I suspect that the steps mentioned in the Academy sample might be outdated since we introduced nRF Util. I will check that internally. In the meantime, please follow the steps under section ble sniffer commands and update me with the results.

Kind regards,
Abhijith

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Luiz Miranda — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 19:48:24 GMT

Hello:

SDK and Toolchain: 3.1.0

The firmware works correctly with messages sent to the Terminal.
After CONNECT_IND, there are no more packets displayed in the Sniffer, but the messages are displayed in the Terminal.
So the firmware and the nRF Connect for Mobile work correctly.

Regards

Luiz

RE: LESSON 6 - EXERCISE 2 - Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals

Menon — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:15:10 GMT

Hello,

Have you followed all the steps mentioned in Setting up nRF Sniffer? What does it look like in Wireshark, could you share a screenshot? Which SDK version are you using?

Kind Regards,

Abhijith