Patent ID: 8873460

Claim:
A sniffer for an ad-hoc network, comprising: an RF transceiver for receiving network packets from an ad-hoc network, the RF transceiver being operable to receive the network packets without the sniffer being connected to the ad-hoc network; a microprocessor connected to the RF transceiver for processing the network packets to create associated FIFO packets, said microprocessor determining if the network packets are from a specific ad hoc network and then determining if the network packets are E-packets containing status information of a network node from the specific ad hoc network before creating the FIFO packets; a memory connected to the microprocessor for storing the associated FIFO packets; a communications interface for receiving the associated FIFO packets from the memory and for transmitting the associated FIFO packets to a computer; and wherein at least one of the FIFO packets includes status information of the network node of ad-hoc network that transmitted the E-packet to the sniffer; wherein said status information includes a received signal strength indicator measured for the received packet at a network node, the identification of the network node of the ad-hoc network to receive the packet, an identifier of the hierarchal level of the network node that transmitted the E-packet, and the identification of the network node that transmitted the E-packet.