Using an RTL-SDR and TI Chronos RF Wristwatch to Copy a Garage Door Opener

At Tel-Aviv University in Israel, two students undertook a class project where they were able to use an RTL-SDR to record a garage door opener signal and then use a Texas Instruments (TI) Chronos watch to retransmit a copy of the signal. Their report can be found here (pdf). The TI Chronos is a wrist watch with a built in programmable ISM band RF transmitter.

The students report contains an analysis of the signal which may be of use to anyone interested in decoding their own ISM band signals and they also describe a method used to automatically obtain the required parameters for programming the TI Chronos with the signal to be copied. The abstract of their report is as follows

We present a simple and affordable way of copying remote controls widely used for parking lot gates, garage doors and other simple systems. These simple remote controls usually use a fixed code (as opposed to the more secured rolling code used for car keys remote controls) and a simple On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation, over 433.92MHz in the ISM band. We suggest the use of the TI-Chronos wrist-watch platform for the emulation of the remote control, as this platform transmits in the same band, and can be programmed to emulate different modulations and to send user pre-defined signals.

In this report we show the complete process for copying a remote control into the Chronos platform. This process utilizes only a standard PC and low-cost hardware (less than $75 all together), alongside free software, and additional software developed by us. The process starts with recording the original remote control RF signal. It continues with automatic analysis of the recording, extracting the needed parameters of the signal. Finishing the process, we set the Chronos with those parameters. We demonstrate the copy process using a 4-channel remote control and its receiver board.

Flow Diagram of Copy Process
Flow Diagram of Copy Process
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Georg Campana

This is exactly what i made during a week-end in 2012. 😉

See here:

Check it out, source code is on github.
Enjoy