Kinetis Protocol Analyzer Adapter vs. mac_fsci_black_box firmware

[ryanbryngelson]

I'm using a USB-KW41Z USB dongle to create a custom 802.15.4 sniffer application.  Initially, I started with the mac_fsci_black_box, which can be found in the KW41Z SDK at SDK_2_2_3_USB-KW41Z\boards\usbkw41z_kw41z\wireless_examples\ieee_802_15_4\mac_fsci_black_box.  I made good progress as I was able to receive 802.15.4 broadcast packets.  I put the dongle in promiscuous mode by writing a 0x01 to the macPromiscuousMode PIB using a MacSetPIBAttribute.Request request and I started receiving device to device packets as I expected.  However, I was not able to receive 802.15.4 ACK packets.  I see this code in PhyPacketProcessor.c...

        ZLL->RX_FRAME_FILTER |= (ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_FRM_VER_FILTER_MASK  |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_EXTENDED_FT_MASK     |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_MULTIPURPOSE_FT_MASK |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_LLDN_FT_MASK         |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_CMD_FT_MASK          |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_DATA_FT_MASK         |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_BEACON_FT_MASK       |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_ACK_FT_MASK          |

                                 ZLL_RX_FRAME_FILTER_NS_FT_MASK);

which leads me to believe ACK packets are to be forwarded up to the host via FSCI, but they are not.

I reprogrammed my USB-KW41Z dongle with the sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware to get it back to the state I received it in.  I pointed my sniffer application to its respective comm port and I was able to see the DATA and ACK 802.15.4 packets.

Here are my questions:

1. Why are 802.15.4 ACK packets not forwarded to the host using the mac_fsci_black_box firmware when it is configured for promiscuous mode?  Can this be enabled?  If so, how?

2. Is the source code for the sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware available?  If so, where is it located?

3. Is there a protocol specification for the sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware?  Obviously it communicates using FSCI over the serial port, that much I found out.  However, I had to first get the dongle configured by running the Kinetis Protocol Analyzer Adapter PC application before I could communicate with it using my custom application.  I suspect there are a few undocumented requests that are required to configure the dongle.

Thank you,

Ryan

[EduardoZamora]

Hello @ryanbryngelson

Hope you are doing well.

Could you please provide more details about your test procedure?

Is your current application based on mac_fsci_black_box example project from the SDK? Have you modified its source code? Which changes have you done?

What is the procedure you are following to test your FSCI Commands? By any chance, have you previously used NXP Test Tool (part of the Connectivity Tool Suite) to test FSCI Commands on your device?

Could you please confirm that you have already read the following documentation (which can be found inside KW41Z SDK docs folder > docs > wireless > IEEE 802.15.4)?

• IEEE 802.15.4 FSCI Reference Manual
• IEEE 802.15.4 MAC Demo Applications User's Guide
• IEEE 802.15.4 MACPHY Application Developer's Guide

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, source code for sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware is not available.

Regards,
Eduardo.

[ryanbryngelson]

The test procedure consists of having two USB-KW41 dongles, one running the unmodified mac_fsci_black_box example firmware and the other running the sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware.  I can see ACK packets in Wireshark, but I do not receive them with the mac_fsci_black_box firmware in promiscuous mode.

I have not modified the mac_fsci_black_box firmware.

I've read all the documentation.

Is there at least a protocol specification for the sniffer_usbkw41z_kw41z.bin firmware?

Thanks,

Ryan

[EduardoZamora]

Hi,

Have you previously used NXP Test Tool (part of the Connectivity Tool Suite) to test FSCI Commands on your device?

Just to confirm, are you trying to capture the packets with the mac_fsci_black_box firmware and Wireshark?

I truly apologize, this information may not be publicly available.

Regards,
Eduardo.