The PandwaRF RF Analysis Tool
Recently we heard about the PandwaRF Portable Analyzer (previously known as the GollumRF). This is not an SDR, but can probably be described as a programmable and computer controlled radio. It appears to be based on the Yardstick One design which is made by Micheal Ossmann, the creator of the HackRF. Both the Yardstick One and PandwaRF are based on the CC1111 sub-1 GHz RF transceiver chip. These types of pseudo-sdr’s can be very useful for reverse engineerin, analyzing and experimenting with simple digital signals.
For example it could be used to capture data from any ASK/OOK/MSK/2-FSK/GFSK modulation in the 300 – 928 MHz band. You can then easily analyze the data, and the restransmit the same or a modified signal. The same could be done with a TX capable SDR like the HackRF, but doing so tends to require a lot more work.
The difference between the Yardstick One and PandwaRF appears to be mainly in the connection interface. The PandwaRF is essentially the Yardstick One with a Bluetooth LE connectivity and an Android/iOS smartphone app. USB connectivity for Linux still exists. It also has an internal battery whereas the Yardstick One does not. They wrote a post comparing the RTL-SDR, Yardstick One and PandwaRF here.
The device seems to be new, as it just starting shipping in November and the first batch is still being sold. It costs 145 euros and appears to originate from the EU. There is also a ‘mini’ version in pre-order which also costs 145 euros. In comparison the Yardstick One costs about $99 – $145 USD depending on the shop you choose.
Don’t buy it yet, it’s full of bugs, hardly works out of the box.
Michael Ossmann not Scott Ossmann:)
$145 euros?
Hah edited and fixed.
the price doing me unhappy.
CC1111 transceiver with interface for 145??? R u kidding? sure it overpriced.
145$ no but more? For a complete PandwaRF you need spend 198€ with firmware and about 60€ less without firmware, so need develop something alone.
No open source but only open hardware. I will never buy it.
Situation is even worse. I bought PandwaRF when it was pretty new, with postage (inside EU) it was more than 200€. I studied it as a PandwaRF and as a Yardstick. Software was very buggy at that time, I felt somewhat cheated that all promised functions (Bruteforce, etc) were even not done yet in software side. But anyway, I waited, regulary updated the software, waited for them to achieve their goals (Bruteforce, Rolljam, OpenSesame,etc.).
The process of waiting was long so I forgot for a while for PandwaRF. But this year when I visited their website, saw that they “achieved their goals”. Finally I thought… I updated the software on my phone and firmware on PandwaRF.
And then I realized their long-promissed “BruteForce, Rolling Codes, Rolljam, OpenSesame),etc. are now claimed by them to function only on PandwaRF ROGUE PRO, not on regular PandwaRF (which isn’t even sold anymore). And I didn’t buy the “bare” model, but the regular PandwaRF. At the time when I bought it they didn’t tell us that almost all modes with function only with most expensive models (Rogue,Rogue PRO,Rogue GOV)… Than it was said that the expensive models are just FASTER and that they offer 32 bits long passwords, not just 16bits as the regular PandwaRF. But now, when they finally made a proper software for these modes, now they are telling us it is functioning only with Rogue,Rogue PRO,Rogue GOV. So as a “PandwaRF regular” I can only use it for simple code replay. For everything else I have to use it as a Yardstick with laptop and Linux. Even the already existing menus in PandwaRF software for Android, which offered first tries of Bruteforce,etc., dissapeared in new software… For the expensive models (ROGUE PRO, etc.) the software now supports coworking with a website, which is analyzing rolling codes, but the website costs xx € a month, plus the regular PandwaRF does not support this mode… Very dissapointed.