Tagged: 5G

CellScope: LTE Sniffing on Windows

Over on YouTube, Sarah from the SignalsEverywhere YouTube channel has uploaded a new video showing a new open-source program she's developed called CellScope, which is used for LTE sniffing. She notes that CellScope is essentially LTE Sniffer, but ported for Windows. CellScope needs a wideband SDR, and it currently supports LibreSDR B210 Clone, HackRF and the Airspy R2/Mini

LTE (aka 4G) is a modern mobile wireless standard used by cellphones for data. While it is encrypted, there is still some data transmitted in the clear, such as the devices connected to the cell site and how much data they are pulling down, if there is an active call on the cell site, and of course the data activity can be useful to monitor too. 

In the video Sarah shows CellScope in action, demonstrating it detecting a call from her phone and visualizing the data transfer activity from her device when pulling down data.

CellScope is open-source and available on GitHub. If you don't want to compile it yourself, the Windows executable can be purchased from her site for a minimum $0.00 donation.

CellScope: LTE Sniffing on Windows

Seeve: A 95% Smaller RFNM Board

If you were unaware, RFNM is a relatively new affordable $299 software defined radio. It is based on the 12-bit LA9310 baseband processor chip, and together with either a 'Granita' or 'Lime' daughter board it is capable of tuning from 10 - 7200 MHz or 5 - 3500 MHz respectively. It is also capable of wide bandwidth - up to 153.6 MHz on a host device like a PC. Recently we gave an initial thoughts review here.

Recently RFNM announced 'Seeve', a version of their RFNM SDR which is 95% smaller, and comes with an MT3812 daughter board and 1W power amplifier built in. Seeve appears to be designed for industrial and commercial customers, via integration into an existing design. Some potential applications they mention include an HD FPV transmitter and as a building block for 5G user equipment.

Pricing is $199 each at 1k quantities or $2k for a devkit.

RFNM Seeve Board
RFNM Seeve Board
RFNM Seeve Devboard
RFNM Seeve Devboard

 

QCSuper: Capture 2G/3G/4G/5G Radio Frames with Qualcomm Phones

In the past, we've shown how it's possible to use RTL-SDRs or other SDR devices together with the Airprobe software to analyze data from 2G GSM mobile phones and towers. (Note that it's not possible to listen in on conversations or read SMS data unless you have the encryption code for the recipient phone. This is only capable of showing cell tower basestation telemetry for example).

While not directly related to SDR, readers might be interested to know that a new piece of software called QCSuper has been released which enables similar analysis capabilities for 2G/3G/4G/5G signals through the use of Qualcomm-based phones and modem hardware. To use it you will need a rooted Android phone. The software accesses a diagnostics mode available in Qualcomm devices and makes the data available for view on Wireshark.

[Also seen on Hackaday]

QCSuper Screenshot
QCSuper Screenshot