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Drivers

WildPackets Distributed Solutions Wireless Drivers

For wireless network analysis, OmniPeek requires the installation of special drivers to capture wireless management, control, and data packets. In addition to providing support for wireless network analysis, these drivers provide complete support for network services when OmniPeek is not being used.

WildPackets supports wireless network adapters from many different manufacturers, based on the underlying wireless chipset used in the device. Supported features may vary based on the underlying chipset. Please refer to the following descriptions to find supported wireless adapters and to identify and download the appropriate drivers for the hardware. Click here for a list of best practices for usage of these drivers.

To aggregate packets on different channels, from any set of wireless adapters, and perform roaming latency analysis, use our Wireless Channel Aggregator and Roaming Latency Analysis plug-ins.

The following drivers are either available as part of your product installation or on the MyPeek Community Portal. These drivers are only authorized for use with WildPackets products.

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Compatible Wireless Adapters and Drivers

Ralink wireless adapters

Ralink, a wireless chipset manufacturer who supplies chipsets to many name-brand OEMs, has developed a driver that works with OmniPeek products and provides full support for all OmniPeek features. The list of commercially available wireless adapters, along with a link to the required driver, is as follows:

Model	Band	Driver	Download
Alfa AWUS051NH (Externally connected USB with external antenna connection)	a/b/g/n	ralink_usb2870 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
SparkLAN WMIR-200N (Dual-band MiniPCI)	a/b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
Belkin F5D8013 (Wireless N Notebook Card)	b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
Belkin F5D8073 (Wireless N ExpressCard)	b/g/n	ralink_cardbus2860 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek

Notes:

This list is expected to grow as more Ralink-based wireless adapters are introduced.
WildPackets has developed a Wireless Channel Aggregator adapter that aggregates packets from multiple wireless adapters on different channels into a single capture. See MyPeek for details.

Atheros-based wireless adapters

WildPackets develops its own Atheros wireless drivers to support Atheros-based wireless network adapters, and we support a broad range of hardware. These drivers are designed for use with Atheros AR5001, AR5002, AR5004, AR5005, AR5006, AR5008, AR9170, and AR9380 chipset-based adapters (except Super G and Turbo models), and support advanced functionalities such as 802.11n with 3-stream operation, WPA/PSK decryption, noise measurement and hardware time-stamping in all OmniPeek products.

WildPackets currently supports multiple versions of the Atheros driver, depending on the embedded Atheros chipset. Please use the appropriate driver as described below.

Atheros Chipset	Driver Version
AR9380 (PCIe Support)	OmniPeek Folder: /OmniPeek/Drivers/Atheros/Atheros_PCIe_9.2
AR9170 (USB Support)	OmniPeek Folder: /OmniPeek/Drivers/Atheros/Atheros_USB_3.0
AR5008	OmniPeek Folder: /OmniPeek/Drivers/Atheros/Atheros_6.0
AR5006	Download through MyPeek

Though any Atheros-based wireless adapters using the supported chipsets should work with OmniPeek, the following adapters have provided good results with OmniPeek.

Model	Band	Driver
SMC 2336A-AG	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
Cisco CB21AG	a/b/g	v4.2.2.9	Download through MyPeek
NEC Aterm WL300NC	a/b/g/n	v6.0.4.13	Available with OmniPeek
D-Link DWA-652	b/g/n	v6.0.4.13	Available with OmniPeek
D-Link DWA-160 Rev A (USB)	a/b/g/n	v3.0.0.168	Available with OmniPeek
D-Link DWA-160 Rev B (USB)	a/b/g/n	ralink_usb2870 (32 and 64-bit drivers)	Download through MyPeek
Ubiquiti SR71-USB	a/b/g/n	v3.0.0.168	Available with OmniPeek

Best Practices

Single Channel, Single Band (b/g or a) Captures

Just about any wireless adapter included on this page will do the trick. Simply determine which band (b/g or “a") and which hardware interface is available on the computer you’re using (PCcard, PCExpress Card, USB, etc.) and find a suitable card from the list.

Single Channel, Dual Band (a/b/g)

For this type of capture, a card that supports a/b/g at a minimum is required. Simply use the “band” column to locate an adapter with a minimum requirement of a/b/g. It’s worth considering an a/b/g/n wireless adapter, even if you don’t need to capture and analyze 11n today.

802.11n, Single Band, 1 or 2-Stream RX/TX

In this case you’ll need an adapter that’s either b/g/n or a/n, depending on the band in which you’re deploying 11n (2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz respectively). Simply use the "band" column to locate a suitable adapter.

802.11n, Dual Band, 1 or 2-Stream RX/TX

In this case you’ll need an adapter that’s a/b/g/n. We recommend the D-Link DWA-160 since it’s readily available and is USB – something that will fit into just about any computer.

802.11n, Dual Band, 3-Stream RX/TX

Only wireless adapters based on the AR9380 chipset currently support this mode. Commercially available wireless adapters with this chipset are just now being introduced in the market. Stay tuned for updates on specific model numbers.

Third-Party Applications

WildPackets does not authorize or support the use of our proprietary drivers in any applications other than OmniPeek.

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