BLE 4.2 sniffer

[lbehhhh]

I am hoping to get solid verification that nordic offers a solution for sniffing BLE 4.2 packets.

The application I need to sniff is maxing out the MTU (250B payload) so I need support for long packets.

The blogs and googling haven't provided me with a solid answer.

Thanks

[Phil Beeson]

It's a real shame Nordic haven't updated their sniffer for nRF52, trying to work with BLE 4.2 data length extensions, or even recent versions of Wireshark just isn't supported. It's just frustrating as they are normally really good at supporting developers, but I feel they've really dropped the ball on this.

However, I've been searching for a solution that doesn't cost the same as a small car and came across the USB-KW41Z from NXP. NXP support tell me that it will sniff BLE4.2 with long packets (community.nxp.com/.../453948) complete with wireshark screen capture. It's a relatively cheap device at around £70.

However, It's only fair to say, that so far I can't even follow BLE 4.1 unencrypted connections with it. Other people seem to be having some success (see NXP screenshot) but I'm not, so I can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but if you feel lucky, it might be worth a try.

Sorry Nordic, I wouldn't normally highlight competitor's offerings, but while you were developing the glowing thingy on my desk in front of me, others were developing tools that people in the devloper zone are actually asking for.

[endnode]

Well ideally Nordic sniffer should be able to follow connection of two Nordic nRF52840 PDKs using whatever config you have in throughput demo (PDU extension, ATT MTU extension, connection interval extension, long range and 2MBps air speeds, extended broadcasting once it is supported by your stack etc.) I totally understand that it's extensive work and that some features might be easier to do then others. I guess it's more strategic decision if Nordic invests to nRF sniffer at all (because correct me if I'm wrong but there was really minimal effort put into it in last 3 years, it hardly changed since 2014). It's unbelievably useful tool for all BLE developers on the budget today and as more and more will migrate to new 4.2/5.0 features it has potential to be either forgotten in few years or conquer this space;) It's up to you guys.