barnowl-tcpdump converts ambient wireless packets collected from hardware capable of running tcpdump into standard developer-friendly JSON that is vendor/technology/application-agnostic.

barnowl-tcpdump is a lightweight Node.js package that can run on resource-constrained edge devices. It is typically run behind a barnowl instance which is included in the Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite.

Learn "owl" about the raddec JSON data output:

• reelyActive Developer's Cheatsheet

Clone this repository, install package dependencies with npm install, and then from the root folder run at any time:

npm start

barnowl-tcpdump will attempt to spawn a tcpdump and output (flattened) raddec JSON to the console.

The following code will listen to simulated hardware and output packets to the console:

const BarnowlTcpdump = require('barnowl-tcpdump');

let barnowl = new BarnowlTcpdump();

barnowl.addListener(BarnowlTcpdump.TestListener, {});

barnowl.on("raddec", function(raddec) {
  console.log(raddec);
});

barnowl.on("infrastructureMessage", function(message) {
  console.log(message);
});

The following listener interfaces are supported.

Attempts to spawn a tcpdump process, first configuring the interface in monitor mode.

let options = { exitOnClose: false };

barnowl.addListener(BarnowlTcpdump.SpawnListener, options);

The SpawnListener supports the following options:

• exitOnClose: exit the entire process should the spawned tcpdump close (default: false)

Provides a steady stream of simulated reel packets for testing purposes.

barnowl.addListener(BarnowlTcpdump.TestListener, {});

While barnowl-tcpdump may suffice standalone for simple real-time applications, its functionality can be greatly extended with the following software package:

• barnowl to combine parallel streams of RF decoding data in a technology-and-vendor-agnostic way

This package and more are bundled together as the Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite, which includes several barnowl-x listeners.

barnowl-tcpdump includes a script to forward data to a local Pareto Anywhere instance as UDP raddecs with target localhost:50001. Start this script with the command:

npm run forwarder

Install Pareto Anywhere and barnowl-tcpdump by following a step-by-step tutorial on our reelyActive Developers site:

• Run Pareto Anywhere on a PC
• Run Pareto Anywhere on a Pi

Discover how to contribute to this open source project which upholds a standard code of conduct.

Consult our security policy for best practices using this open source software and to report vulnerabilities.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2018-2024 reelyActive

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.