FrontLine BPA LOW ENERGY, Hardware User Manual

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of at least one piconet member to allow it perform clock synchronization. A serial sniffer must know the bit
rate of the tapped circuit or be physically connected to the clock line of the circuit.
With Virtual sniffing the protocol analyzer itself does not actually tap the link and the protocol analyzer does
not require any knowledge of the physical characteristics of the link.
In computer jargon, “virtual” means “not real”. Virtual memory is memory that doesn’t actually exist. Virtual
reality is something that looks and feels real, but isn’t real. So we use the term Virtual sniffing, because there
is sniffing taking place, but not in the traditional physical sense.
A.3.5 The Convenience and Reliability of Virtual Sniffing
Virtual sniffing is the most convenient and reliable form of sniffing and should be used in preference to all
other forms of sniffing whenever practical. Virtual sniffing is convenient because it requires no setup to use
except for a very small amount of software engineering (typically between one and four hours) that is done
once and then never again. Once support for Virtual sniffing has been built into application or into a
development environment none of the traditional sniffing setup work need be done.
This means:
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NO piconet synchronization.
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NO serial connection to tap.
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NO USB connection to tap.
Virtual sniffing is reliable because there is nothing that can fail. With Virtual sniffing all data is always captured.
A.3.6 How Virtual Sniffing Works
ComProbe software Virtual sniffing works using a feature called Live Import. Any application can feed data
into ComProbe software using Live Import. A simple API provides four basic functions and a few other more
advanced functions. The four basic Live Import functions are:
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Open a connection to ComProbe software.
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Close a connection to ComProbe software.
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Send an entire packet to ComProbe software.
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Send a single byte to ComProbe software.
All applications that send data to ComProbe software via Live Import use the first two functions. Usually only
one of the two Send functions is used by a particular application. When ComProbe software receives data
from the application via Live Import, the data is treated just as if it had been captured on a Frontline
ComProbe sniffer. The entire protocol stack is fully decoded.
With Virtual sniffing the data can literally be coming from anywhere. ComProbe software does not care if the
data being analyzed is being captured on the machine where ComProbe software is running or if the data is
being captured remotely and passed into ComProbe software over an Internet connection.
A.3.7 Virtual Sniffing and Bluetooth Stack Vendors
As the complexity of the Bluetooth protocol stack increases Bluetooth stack vendors are realizing that their
customers require the use of a powerful Bluetooth protocol analyzer. Even if the stack vendor’s stack is bug
free, there are interoperability issues that must be dealt with.
The homegrown hex dumps and trace tools from the early days of Bluetooth just are not good enough
anymore. And building a good protocol analyzer is not easy. So stack vendors are partnering with Frontline.
This permits the stack vendors to concentrate of improving their stack.
Appendicies TELEDYNE LECROY
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