Spying on USB

JonnyMac

I have a friend with a machine (uP driven) that uses an Android tablet for control. They are connected via USB. I am working under the assumption that the Android tablet is the master in this situation.

Once coms is established, the tablet presents a UI for activating the machine. My friend has a custom accessory that he wants to attach. Ideally, he'd like to inject one of the button control signals into the machine without having to touch the Android tablet.

What I'm hoping for is a bit of guidance on how we might spy on the coms between the two devices. For the moment, I'm connecting either to my PC to see if I can get a response out of it.

As ever, you thoughts and input is appreciated.

JonnyMac

apcountryman

Adafruit sells a low/full speed USB protocol analyzer but it is rather pricy, especially if it is just going to be used for this one project. I don't have one so I can't say how well these work or how easy they are to use.

If you have a logic analyzer with USB protocol analysis capability you could insert a cable breakout inline and tap the data signals.

If you prefer a software based approach, you could see if any USB sniffer software is available for the Android tablet. There are definitely options available for Linux and Windows, but I wouldn't be surprised if Android comes up dry.

msrobots

look at the machine to locate the usb-serial converter on the machine itself, tap rx/tx there and attach a propeller to read both of the signals.

Enjoy!

Mike

yeti

https://opentechlab.org.uk/videos:011:notes#usb_debugging_with_sigrok may be a source for further ideas.

Cluso99

Jon,
I did some tracing with the the P1 a couple of years back.
I will see if I can find it in my archives if you like? Won't be able to do this till Wednesday though.

rosco_pc

Wireshark might help: https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/USB

rosco_pc

Wireshark might help: https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/USB
or Micrisoft message analyzer: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/usbcon/capture-and-view-ing-usb-traces-with-microsoft-message-analyzer-

But that is more for analyzing between device and pc

Aah, I knew I seen it somewhere: https://hackaday.com/2011/03/16/usb-man-in-the-middle-adapter/

[EDIT: add link to passive USB tap and remove it again]

iseries

So, my understanding here is that this machine must present a serial interface to the tablet and that there is a custom application that presents a number of functions that he can preform on this machine.

He would like to be able to control this machine without using his tablet each time.

This is not a simple process. The table interface is simple enough but the commands that are exchanged between the tablet and the machine could be very complicated. It may even have a heartbeat being send back and forth to make sure the tablet hasn't gone to sleep and is no longer in control.

We need to know what the machine interface is doing. Either by getting the source to the application or specs for the machine. Trial and error here may break the machine.

Mike

JonnyMac

Turns out that my customer had the APK for the display/control device. I am going to stick that onto a cheap Android table and connect the other end to a Propeller to see if -- through trial and error -- I can determine the query sequence. When I plugged my computer into the micro that actually runs the machine, it did respond as a USB slave. This makes me assume that the Android is the master hence my idea about using the Propeller to capture the query sequence from the Android.

DigitalBob

You might want to try Labview by National Instruments. I use this with the Prop and Bs2 all the time. It will allow to have a control panel in windows to turn on switches, read I/O, analog signals etc.. The function in Labview for the USB is Visa, Visa open, Visa write, read. etc. They also have an Android toolkit.

RS_Jim

Jon,
Did you ever get this working?
Jim