MAX79356 G3-PLC Sniffer Kit General Description Benefits and Features The MAX79356 G3-PLC sniffer dongle is a lightweight Low Power, Lightweight, and Portable, Operating on test and monitoring device for G3-PLC powerline com- Cold Wire, DC, or 110240VAC, 50Hz/60Hz munication networks. Accompanied by a user-friendly Single FW Supports G3-PLC Standard CENELEC-A, Windows application, this portable sniffer enables cap - CENELEC-B, FCC, and ARIB Frequency Bands as turing and analysis of data and command packets on Well as Proprietary FCC-High Band powerline. A multifunction button allows the user to con- Captures and Displays Packets on PC with a veniently change the frequency band to CENELEC-A, Windows Graphic Application CENELEC-B, FCC, or ARIB. The sniffer dongle is pow - ered by a standard mini-USB port that can be connected Demonstrates Color Coded and Time-Stamped G3-PLC PHY and MAC Frames Including Beacons, to a power bank and used as a handheld test device in the field to check the signal phase and quality. Bootstrapping, Routing, Tonemap Response, ACK/NACK and Data Packets Sniffer Kit Content Configurable Decryption Keys Enable Real-Time One G3-PLC sniffer dongle with power cord Display of Decrypted Packets One mini-USB cable Channel Analyzer Function Graphically Visualizes the Channel Quality of Each OFDM Tone Safety Notes One-Click Report Generation for Statistical Analysis of WARNING: Exercise extreme caution once connecting Network Stability, Topology, and Communication Quality the device to the AC line. Ignoring the safety requirements Programmable for Frequency Notching Support can lead to shock, injury, and damage of the hardware. Integrated Firmware Update Utility for Future Upgrades Ordering Information appears at end of data sheet. A Must-Have Stand-Alone Tool in the Field for PLC Installers and Professionals That Significantly Reduces the Installation Troubleshooting by Providing Signal Quality and Phase Information and Enabling Site Surveys Sniffer Dongle Photo Windows is a registered trademark and registered service mark of Microsoft Corporation. 319-100014 Rev 1 6/18MAX79356 G3-PLC Sniffer Kit G3-PLC Sniffer Application Detailed Description The application communicates with the sniffer dongle Powered by Maxims pioneer multiband G3-PLC chipset, through the installed COM port. Figure 1 shows the cap- the MAX79356 sniffer dongle works both as a sniffer ture of packets. The upper window shows the packets in device for monitoring and analyzing packets in powerline tabular format with highlight of most frequently used infor- networks and as a handy portable test tool in the field mation. The lower window shows the content of the select- to verify installations and diagnose the communica- ed packet with main fields dissected. The channel analyzer tion problems. The sniffer is preloaded with a universal provides a measure of signal quality for different tones. band FW that supports G3-PLC standard CENELEC-A, Figure 2 shows an example of channel quality in presence CENELEC-B, FCC and ARIB bands as well as the pro- of a strong 350kHz interference. To display the content of prietary FCC-high band (320kHz487kHz). The band encrypted packets, the decryption function is chosen and selection is done using a multifunction pushbutton on the appropriate network keys are updated in the sniffer. dongle. A mini-USB cable (provided) is used to connect it to a PC. All necessary Windows drivers are installed The application is also capable of generating graphical automatically and it is identified as a COM port. reports for a live sniffing session. The report displays the statistics of packet modulation. LQI distribution, Tonemap Operation response analysis, percentage of usage of each subband, The isolated power cord attached to the dongle is con- distribution of types of packets and number of discovered nected directly to AC, DC, or cold-wire line. If it is used neighbors. Figure 3 displays an example of the report. as a sniffer, the mini-USB port is connected to a PC and sniffer application (G3-PLC Sniffer Application section) is Sniffer as a Standalone Test Tool launched. In case it is used as a stand-alone tester, the Sniffer dongle can be powered through a 5VDC USB mini-USB should be connected to a standard 5VDC USB power bank (not included) and used as a test tool. supply port such as a power bank (recommended). Channel Quality: Upon receiving a packet, one of the colored LEDs blinks to show the quality of the channel Changing Frequency Band for that packet with green/yellow/red indicating good/ By pressing the multifunction pushbutton, the frequency medium/bad quality, respectively. band is switched to the next band and red LED blinks to the number associated with each band: Phase Difference: To monitor the phase difference of the transmitter of the packet with the sniffer, press and hold 1) CENELEC-A (default) the multifunction button for 2s. The phase difference is 2) FCC represented by color of 3 LEDs as shown in Table 1 (see 3) ARIB the polarity in schematics). 4) FCC-High Firmware Upgrade 5) CENELEC-B If a new release of firmware is available, the integrated flash update utility in the Program menu of G3-PLC Sniffer GUI can be conveniently used to upgrade the firmware. Maxim Integrated 2 www.maximintegrated.com