A Technical Seminar Report

On
“SNIFFER FOR MOBILE DEVICES”

Submitted

In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of
Bachelor of Technology
in
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

By

SHAIK ASRAR AHAMED 174E1A0406

Submitted to

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

SIDDARTHA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

(Approved by A.I.C.T.E., New Delhi Affiliated to J.N.T.U.Anantapur, Anantapuramu,
(Accredited by NBA (EEE, Mech, ECE & CSE) & NAAC with ‘A’ Grade)
Siddharth Nagar, Narayanavanam Road, Puttur – 517 583, Chittoor District

2020-2021
SIDDARTHA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(Approved by A.I.C.T.E., New Delhi Affiliated to J.N.T.U. Anantapur, Anantapuramu,
(Accredited by NBA (EEE, Mech, ECE & CSE) & NAAC with ‘A’ Grade)
Siddharth nagar, Narayanavanam Road, Puttur-517583

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING

Certificate
This is to certify that Technical Seminar entitled “SNIFFER

FOR MOBILE DEVICES” that is being presented by SHAIK ASRAR

AHAMED bearing Reg. number 174E1A0406 is in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and

CommunicationEngineering to JNTUA, Anantapuramu.

Submitted for the Technical seminar held on

Seminar Supervisor Senior Faculty Member Head of the Department

 SNIFFER FOR MOBILE DEVICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE NO

ABSTRACT 04

INTRODUCTION 05

LITERATURE SURVEY 06

ABOUT GSM 09
MOBILE STATION 10

BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM 10

NETWORK SUBSYSTEM 11

ABOUT IMEI 12

DESIGNING OF THE SNIFFER 13

SNIFFER BASE STATION 13

DESIGN OF UNIDIRECTIONAL ANTENNA 13

SOFTWARE FOR THE TRACKING 15

CONCEPT OF CHANNEL IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION 17

BROADCAST CONTROL CHANNEL (BCCH) 17

TRAFFIC CHANNEL (TCH) 17

WORKING OF SNIFFER DEVICE 18

MERITS AND DEMIRITS 21

CONCLUSION 22

REFERENCE 22

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ABSTRACT

The main scope of this paper is to detect the lost mobiles. Each and every day thousands of
mobiles get misplaced or lost, though effective wayfor the blocking of the lost mobile to prevent
unauthorized person from making and receiving the calls has been done by the manufacturers of the
mobile with the help ofInternational Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) has been done but however
there has been no development or very little progress for the detection of the misplaced mobile phone.

For the detection of lost mobile SNIFFER plays a vital role .The sniffer
device has to be designed precisely and size should be reduced for easy mobility for the
purpose of detection .The device can be called as a mobile Base station that includes Sniffer Base
station, Unidirectional antenna , Tracking software. The sniffer is a small base station that includes
transceiver section. It should operate at a frequency which is much different from the frequency of
the current cell in which the operation of detection is being carried out. The directionalantenna is an
important device that is to be designed and used as it plays a major role.

There are certain boundary conditions that have to be qualified for the
identification of lost mobile like the power of the mobile should be good enough, the mobile
phone should not be in the shadow region but however this method usingmodern technologies
and devices.

Our paper seems to be a bit costlier for initial setup but the cost isgradually reduced
when effectively and efficiently utilized for the purpose of detection.

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INTRODUCTION

One of the most interesting things about cell phone is that it is really a radio an
extremely sophisticated radio, which uses some band of frequency that has the basic working
similar to the ordinary cordless phone. The mobile cellular communication has been appreciated
since its birth in the early 70’s and the advancement in the field of VLSI has helped in
designing less power, smaller sizebut efficient transceiver for the purpose of communication.

But however the technology has not yet answered the loss or misplacement of
the lost mobile phone which is significantly increasing. In this paper we discuss the problem
and the probable solution that could be done. The IMEI number is a unique number that is
embedded in the mobile phone the main purpose of which is the blocking of calls that is made
by unauthorized person oncethe mobile is reported as stolen but here we use it effectively for
the purpose of detection.

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LITERATURE SURVEY:

Abdelallah and Elhad (2002) concluded that sniffer combines searching for
machine in promiscuous mode and using honey pot to detect potential use of sniffed
information. Hence, Sniffer Wall covers online detection as well as after the fact or
information replay detection regardless of the platform. In addition, the detection
based on MAC addressing makes it possible to detect any machine of the network
which is in promiscuous mode for all Windows platform (9x/ME, NT/2000) or on
Linux platforms (kernel /2.0 to 2.4).

Remo and Ogun concluded that there are many available tools used to
capture network traffic, but there are limitations in some of the tools. Some tools
only capture network traffic without analysis, while some require large memory size
for installation therefore the researcher has to use other tools for analysis to get the
traffic features as required and also consider the memory size of the system in use.
Our system captures network traffic and analyzes it and allows the user to take only the
features he needs. Our system requires little memory size for installation and enables
the user to store his/her selected features in a file for later use in his/her work.
Consequently, this will reduce the memory that is used to store the data. Finally, P
Sniffer contains additional Functionalities like 3D pie chart statistics and possible
malicious IP address detection.

Patil at el. (2014) concluded that In this paper the android application for
tracking the mobile phones is created and installed in a mobile phones system. This
application basically works with the help of in built GPS in the mobile phones.
When the unknown user tries to change the SIM card in that mobile phone, the
current longitude and latitude information is sent as SMS to the specified phone
number without the knowledge of user. Using the longitude and latitude values the
exact location can be found using Google maps.

Lomet at el. (2001) gave their view that If you are currently a Sniffer
customer or are considering solutions from Sniffer Technologies,you may not have
been aware of the additional security features that can be used to compliment your
security defenses. Furthermore, the ability to leverage existing technologies in new
ways offers a powerful mans of enhancing network security performance without
impacting budgets. Portable and Distributed from Network Associates can offer
users more than just a means of maximizing network performance and uptime –
they can help secure your network infrastructure before, during and after an attack.
At Sniffer Technologies, we are proud to apply our network analysis expertise to
provide customers with solutions to all of their network management and security
needs.

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Arvind and Negi (2012) concluded that with the help of Sniffer Program a
programmer can listen computer conversation. It is the best methodof detecting lost mobile.
In general 42% of lost mobiles have no security in place to protect data • 20% of lost
devices had access to work email • 20% contained sensitive personal information such as
national insurance numbers, addresses and dates of birth • 35% had access to social
networking accounts via apps or web browser. Period 2004-2011, by focusing on high-level
attacks,such those to user applications. We group existing approaches aimed at protecting
mobile devices against these classes of attacks into different categories, based upon the
detection principles, architectures, collected data and operating systems, especially focusing
on IDS-based models and tools.
With this categorization we aim to provide an easyand concise view of theunderlying model
adopted by each approach.

Shankar and Mahesh (2013) viewed that Distributed computing involving

several computers in a network can be achieved using message passing or remote
procedure calls (RPC). The recently developed mobile agent technology. Add a new
dimension to distributed computing. Experts suggest that mobile agents will be used
in many Internet applications in the years to come. However there still exist many
technical hurdles that need to be tackled, the most important of them being security.
Only when security issues are properly addressed, will the mobile agent
Technology is widely accepted. However if intruder makes some changes in our
mobile agent platform or mobile agent, then it may fail the whole process. So in
future, some more security measures should be taken for the guaranteed security.
Mobile agent selects any node randomly and investigates that node, if it finds
excessive incoming traffic on the network interface card then report to network
administrator.So the sniffer can be detected.

Gupta (2013) concluded that Capturing, or sniffing, network traffic is

invaluable for network administrators troubleshooting network problems, security
engineers investigating network security issues, developers debugging
communication protocol implementations, or anyone trying to learn how their
networks work. Because attackers use sniffers for network reconnaissance and to
intercept transmitted credentials and data, learning about the capabilities and
limitations of packet sniffers is an important facet of understanding the security risks.

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Khan (2012) concluded that the network configuration is hidden form normal
users. Network users do not have any information about nature of network. So, users
of the network may invoke sniffer detection technique which is not effective in that
environment. This sniffer detection technique provides wrong information to user
which may be dangerous for him. Our proposed invocation module checks the
nature of environment automatically and then invokes appropriate sniffer detection
technique for that environment. If environment is broadcast then ARP cache
poisoning detection technique is invoked. If environment is not broadcast then
enhanced Switched network sniffer detection based on IP packet routing detection
technique is invoked to detect a sniffer. Both detection techniques are effective to
detect active as well as passive sniffer. With the help of this invocation module it is
possible to detect passive as well as active sniffer hosts in both environments
automatically.

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About GSM:
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the most popular
mobile phone system in the world. The Cellular Operators Association of India
(COAI) has released its GSM subscriber figures for the month of February 2013. As
per the figures, the total number of GSM subscribers at the end of February 2013
stood at 655.59 million. It notes that the number of subscribers in this segment fell
by 1.97 million in February 2013, thereby registering a drop of 0.30 percent from the
previous month. The name GSM first comes from a group called Group Special
Mobile (GSM), which was formed in 1982 by the European Conference of Post and
Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) to develop a pan-European cellular
system that would replace the many existing incompatible cellular systems already in
place in Europe. But when GSM service started in 1991, the abbreviation "GSM" was
renamed to Global System for Mobile Communications from Group Special Mobile.
The typical architecture of GSM network was shown in figure:

Fig. 1. The Architecture of GSM

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The GSM network can be divided into three parts.

The Mobile Station carries the subscriber.

The Base Station Subsystem controls the radio link with theMobile Station.

The Network Subsystem, the main part of which is the Mobile services Switching
Centre, performs the switching of calls between the mobile and other fixed or mobile
network users, as well as management of mobile services, such as authentication. Not
shown is the Operations and Maintenance centre, which oversees the proper
operation and setup of the network. The Mobile Station and the Base Station
Subsystem communicate across the air interface or radio link. The Base Station
Subsystem and the Network Subsystem are also called the fixed network.

Mobile Station

The mobile station (MS) consists of mobile equipment and a Subscriber

Identity Module (SIM) card. The most common mobile equipment is the mobile
phone. By inserting the SIM card into a cellular phone, the user is ableto receive calls
at that phone, make calls from that phone, or receive other subscribed services. The
mobile equipment uniquely identifies the International Mobile Equipment Identity
(IMEI).
The SIM card stores the sensitive information such as the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Ki (a secret key for authentication), and other user
information. All this information may be protected by personal identity number
(PIN). The SIM card itself is a smart card and is in accordance with the smart card
standard (ISO 7816-1, -2). The GSM 11.11 has the detailed specification about the
SIM card.

Base Station Subsystem

The Base Station Subsystem consists of the Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
and the Base Station Controller (BSC). The Base Transceiver Station houses the
radio transceivers that define a cell and handles the Radio link protocols with the
Mobile Station. In a large urban area, there will potentially be a large number of BTS
deployed. The Base Station Controller manages the radio resources for one or more
BTS. It handles Radio channel Setup, frequency hopping, and handovers. The BSC
is the connection between the mobile and the Mobile service Switching Centre
(MSC). The BSC also translates the 13 kbps voice channel used over the radio link to
the standard 64 kbps channel used by the Public Switched Telephone Network or
ISDN.

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Network Subsystem

The central component of the Network Subsystem is the Mobile services

Switching Centre (MSC). It acts like a normal switching node of the PSTN or ISDN,
and in addition provides all the functionality needed to handle a mobile subscriber,
such as registration, authentication, location updating, handovers, and call routing to
a roaming subscriber. These services are provided in conjunction with several
functional entities, which together form the Network Subsystem. The MSC provides
the connection to the public fixed network (PSTN or ISDN), and signalling between
functional entities uses the ITUT Signalling System Number 7 (SS7).
The Home Location Register (HLR) and Visitor Location Register (VLR), together
with the MSC, provide the Call routing and (possibly international) roaming
capabilities of GSM. The HLR contains all the administrative information of each
subscriber registered in the corresponding GSM network, along with the current
location of the mobile. There is logically one HLR per GSM network, but it may be
implemented as a distributed database. The Visitor Location Register contains
selected administrative information from the HLR, necessary for call control and
provision of the subscribed services, for each mobile currently located in the
geographical area controlled by the VLR. Although each functional entity can be
implemented as an independent unit, most manufacturers of switching equipment
implement one VLR together with one MSC, so that the geographical area controlled
by the MSC corresponds to that controlled by the VLR. The other two registers are
used for authentication and security purposes. The Equipment Identity Register
(EIR) is a database that contains a list of all valid mobile equipment on the network,
where each mobile station is identified by its International Mobile Equipment
Identity (IMEI). An IMEI is marked as invalid if it has been reported stolen or is
not type approved. The Authentication Centre is a protected database that stores a
copy of the secret key stored in each subscriber’s SIM card, which is used for
authentication and ciphering of the radio channel.

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ABOUT IMEI :
The GSM MoU’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbering
system is a 15 digit unique code that is used to identify the GSM/DCS/PCS phone. When a
phone is switched on, this unique IMEI number istransmitted and checked against a data base of
black listed or grey listed phones in
the network’s EIR (Equipment ID Register). This EIR determines whether the phonecan log on to
the network to make and receive calls. To know the IMEI number the
*#06# has to be pressed, the number will be displayed in the LCD screen; it is uniqueto a mobile
phone. If the EIR and IMEI number match, the networks can do a number of things.

For example grey list or blacklist a phone:

1. Grey listing will allow the phone to be used, but it can be tracked to see who has it(via the SIM
information).
2. Black listing the phone from being used on any network where there is an EIRmatch.

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DESIGNING FOR THE SNIFFER

As stated this proposal is about the detection of lost mobilephone and
for this purpose we are designing a new device called the Sniffer. The sniffer device has to be
designed precisely and size should be reduced for easy mobility for the purpose of detection.

The device can be called as a mobile base station that includes the followingimportant
components:

1. Sniffer base station

2 .Unidirectional antenna
3 .Tracking software

SNIFFER BASE STATION:

The sniffer is a small base station, it includes transceiver section. It should operate at a
frequency that is much different from the frequency ofthe current cell in which the operation of
detection is being carried out.

Some of the main important things are the frequency that has tobe generated by the transceiver
section is around 900MHz range which is a VHF range and it is necessarily to design the oscillator
circuit for that frequency range. Another important is the cooling that has to be provided to the circuit
whiledesigning the circuit that is to be operated at 900MHz range of frequency.

Hence proper design of base station is an important thing in the design of the sniffer. Mobile
phones as well as the base station has low power transmitter is also transmitting at low power. The
transmitter of the sniffer has to be alow power transmitter. This helps in the process of reducing the
interference of the device with the devices that are in the other cells.

DESIGN OF UNIDIRECTIONAL ANTENNA :

Though the transceiver in a sniffer plays an important role in the detection of the
mobile phone but however it is the directional antenna that has a major role in the design of the
transmitter. The directional antenna acts as the eyes for the sniffer for the purpose of the detecting the
lost mobile phones.Hence the proper design of the directional antenna is required. Antenna is a
device which works at specified frequencies range for transmitting or receiving the data signal. In
general, antennas transmit power depending on lobe pattern which varies from one antenna to the
other. The lobe pattern is a two dimensional diagrams that isused to show radiation pattern.
Radiation pattern of directional antenna.

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In addition to this it is necessary that the transmitter should be a low

power transmitter. The Gain and directivity are intimately related in antennas. The directivity of an
antenna is a statement of how the RF energy is focused in one ortwo directions. Because the
amount of RF energy remains the same, but is distributed over less area, the apparent signal strength
is higher. This apparent increase in signal strength is the antenna gain. The gain is measured in
decibels over either a dipole (dBd) or a theoretical construct called an Isotropic radiator (dBi). The
isotropic radiator is a spherical signal source that radiates equally well in all directions. One way to
view the omni directional pattern is that it is a slice taken horizontally throughthe three dimensional
sphere.

The graphical representation of Radiation pattern of the unidirectional antennais shown in

figure. The spherical co-ordination system has three main components for the pattern representation
and they are (R, θ , Ф ) .The shape of the radiation system is independent of R, as long R is chosen to
be sufficiently large and much greater than the wavelength as the largest dimension of the antenna.
The magnitude of the field strength in any direction varies inversely with R. A complete radiation
pattern requires the three dimensional representation. The other factors that are to be taken into
account during the development of the antenna for the sniffer should be the gain and the directivity
.As these features have a greater effect while designing the antenna. The gain of the antenna is
defined as the ability of the antenna to radiatethe power in a particular direction. The power radiated
per unit area in any direction is given by the pointing vector and is equivalent to

E2/η2 W/m2

Total of the power that is being radiated by the antenna is given as

W=∫ΦdΩ

The average power that gets radiated is given as

Φ(avg)=W/4π (watts per steradian)

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The Directivity of the antenna is the direction in which there is maximum

gain for the radiation that is being radiated, the gain of the antenna is given as a function of the
angles. The directivity value is constant for a particular direction. In addition to the directivity and
the gain of the antenna the other importantthing that has to be taken into account is the power that
is being radiated by the antenna. The total power is given as W and is the summation of the
radiated power and the ohmic loss of the antenna. Here the Wl represents the ohmic losses of the
antenna.

Wt=Wr+Wl

The power gain of the antenna is given as

gp=4πΦ/wt

The ratio of power to the directivity is referred as a measure of efficiency ofthe antenna
gp/gd=Wr/(Wr+Wl)

The power radiated by the antenna should be properly designed as this causes more penetration of
the electromagnetic radiation and thus it might have some effect in thenear by cells.

The effective area of the antenna is another important factor that is mainly required
in the receiving antenna and it may be referred as the effective aperture or capture area and is related
to the directive gain of the antenna through therelation.

A=gdλ2/4

Since the sniffer device that is constructed is a device that has both the transmitting and the
receiving antenna. Effective gain has to be taken into account and this showsthe ability of the
antenna to capture the signal that the lost mobile is transmitting.

SOFTWARE FOR THE TRACKING :

The software part plays a major role in the tracking of the lost mobile phone It is the base
for the antenna to track the lost mobile the main feature of this software is that it helps in the
process of creation of the data base and this is mainly done using a Random Access Memory. The
mobile phone that is lost has certain IMEI number that is embedded in the chip. This RAM of the
sniffer device stores the IMEI number of the lost mobile phone. Thus this actsas a data base or the
directory of the lost mobile phone number/The software that is to be designed in such a way that the
software has the input as the IMEI number of the lost mobile phone from the RAM and this ID
done using the SQL query that fetches the IMEI number. After getting the input of the lost mobile
phones IMEI number it checks the comport for getting the information whether it obtains any
signaling information from the lost device that might respond to the signal sent by the sniffer.

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The programming is done with C or Java. However the C is most preferred as it is easily
embedded with the chips. With VB the front end is designed. The oracle SQL is the back end as it
helps in retrieving the input data fromthe RAM using the query. But however the sample program
that we have designed does not use the oracle it takes the input directly from the keyboard and this
is an example and a dummy program that has been created that helps in the understanding of how
the device would work.

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CONCEPT OF CHANNEL IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION:

The channel in the mobile communication refers to the frequency that is being used
for the purpose of communication. Generally there are two types of channel in mobile
communication. One of the channels is the traffic channel (physical channel) and the
control channel. The physical channel is used for transmission of the voice data and the
signalling information. The physical channel carries different massages to be sent. These
are called as the logical channel.

Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH):

The BCCH is transmitted by a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) to provide the

signalling information required by the MS (Mobile Station) to access and identify the
network. The BCCH will include information such as the LAC (Location Area Code).
When the MS are switched on the MS searches for the BTS, it scans the entire channel. It
scans the list of entire frequency that is allotted to the service provider.It finds a
strongest carrier it checks if it is a control channel. It does so by searching a particular
logical channel called as broadcast control channel (BCCH). The frequency carrying
BCCH contains important information like LA identity, synchronization information and
network identity. Without such information the MS cannot work in the network. The
information is broadcast at regular interval leading to broadcast control channel
(BCCH) When the MS finishes analyzing the information in BCCH; it then has the
information to work with the network. However the MS roams to another cell, it must
repeat the process of reading FCCH, BCCH in the new cell. If the mobile subscriber
then wishes to make or receive a call, the common control channel (CCCH) must be
used.

TRAFFIC CHANNEL (TCH):

Ones the call set up procedure has been done or completed on the control physical channel,
the MS tunes totraffic physical channel. It uses the trafficchannel (TCH).
There are two types of traffic channel (TCH)

The full rate TCH: It transmits full rate speech (13 kbit/ sec). A full rate TCH
occupies one physical channel.

Half rate TCH: It transmits half rate speech (6.5 kbits/sec). Two half rate TCH
can share one physicalchannel, thus doubling the capacity of thechannel.

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WORKING OF THE SNIFFER DEVICE

The sniffer is basically a transceiver that works in the frequency which is in the
special unused range that is operated by the service provided or it can designed to operate at a
frequency that is of much different frequency than the one that is being used by the nearby cells as
there may be possibility of interference by the device with the devices in the nearby cells. The
working for the device is as follows. The fig 2 &3 shows the working of the sniffer ;as given in the
fig2 it gives the normal operation of the mobile with the base station and there is a BTS that acts as
a middle man in the process of communication between the mobile and the MTSO which is
popularly known as MSC or Mobile Switching Centre .There is always a two way communication
between devices and before the establishment of the communication the authentication of the SIM
card that has the IMSI or the International Mobile Subscriber Identifier .This IMSI number helps in
the authorization of the user. The second authentication is the authentication of the handset, which
is done in EIR or the Equipment Identifier Register. This register is located at the MSC and it
contains the IMEI number of the lost handset and if the signal is obtained from the normal one then
the two way communication is established.
The IMEI of the lost mobile phone number once has been reported to the service provider,
who keeps in track of the record of lost mobile phones. The MTSO or the MSC which keeps in track
of all the mobile phones with IMEI number and theIMSI number has the information of the lost
mobile phones location which means thelocation of the cell where the lost device is because of the
two way communication with the device the BTS of the lost device is known to MSC. From this
information regarding the cell in which the device is located the sniffer device is introduced.

Fig: 2 .The initial connection between the cellular network and lost mobile phone

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The next figure or the fig 2 shows the sniffer that gets into work in mobile communication
for the purpose of detection of the lost device. After the information regarding the IMEI number of
the lost device is provided by the MTSO or MSC .This is then fed into the sniffers main memory
the sniffer’s located in particular cell gets into action of detecting the lost device. The sniffer uses a
frequency that is different from the onethat is being used by the base station and the located nearby
cells .The base station disconnects the connection with the lost mobile phone, as there is a request
regarding this action from the EIR part of the MSC. This causes the lost device to search the BTS
to get locked with since each base station does not have authorization capability the lost device
send appropriate connection request signal. Now when the sniffer device is being deployed and
this device has in built authorization capability the lost device finds the sniffer to get itself locked
to the frequency of the sniffer .While the connection between the sniffer and the mobile phone is
established; the IMEI of the lost mobile is validated with the stored IMEI and after successful
authorization the communication between the sniffer and the lost device is established. If the other
devices in the same try to communicate with the sniffer the access is denied and this is done at the
validation done based on the IME. Once the communication starts it is mainly with the antenna
and the signal strength of the lost device the location can be tracked. However the process to
searching can also be aided with the GPS system formore accurate and fast detection.

The main requirement is that the sniffer is operated in a frequency that isdifferent
from the frequency adopted by the cell and nearby ones. Hence the interference from the nearby
cell can be avoided. The directional antenna is used in finding the location of the mobile phone.

Fig 3. The connection of the sniffer device with the lost mobile phone.

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Here the signal strength of the received signal is obtain antenna pattern is plotted once the signal of
the mobile is obtained. The no. of antenna pattern for different position of same mobile phone is
used to find the exact location. But however in thismethod the directional antenna used much be of
a very small beam width this helps in more accurate process of detection.

Fig4 The sniffer shown in fig tries to communicate with the lost mobile.

After getting connected with the mobile it creates a virtual cell pattern and thus helpsin the detection
of lost mobile phones.

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MERITS AND DEMIRITS:

Each and every technology has its own merits and demerits, at times the
merits overcome the demerits and at other it is vice versa. Though the sniffer device for
the mobile phones has it’s own merits in terms for the of using the IMEI number for the
detection of lost mobile, the frequency that it uses is high frequency in the range of 850-
950 MHZ where there is a slight effect of the reflection of the signal from the ground,
but however the effect is less pronounced and the other demerit here is that even though
the directivity of the antenna is less the distance of the propagation should be restricted
and the device is handheld and automated one. But however this new technique that
provides a light for the detection of the lost mobile phones.

Because network sniffers are able to monitor all traffic passing through a
connection, they are very useful for monitoring and analysis of a specific network.
Networks are becoming more and more complicated as they expand, and it’s a very time
consuming and tiresome task to pin point a problem. New technology for network
sniffers now allows network administrators to capture, decode, and analyze packets in
real time.

With this technology, a system captures packets off the network, decodes them into
human-readable format, runs the packet through an expert system for analysis, and
finally displays the information to the administrator. Today a network administrator
might be alerted to a network issue before users experience any significant problems.

In Ether Peek NX, for example, packets can be grouped together by source address,
destination address, port, conversation, and protocol tokens. With this feature, analyzing
specific network communications no longer requires poring over logs and having hard
time searching in a log file, but is as easy as a click of the mouse.

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CONCLUSION:
Since the boom of the mobile phone for the purpose of thecommunication there has
been a large no. of complaints regarding the mobile phone that is being lost and there has been no
effective method developed for detecting the lost device. The given paper dealt about the idea of
development “Sniffer for the detection of lost Mobile phones” paves a way by means of which the
lost mobile phones can be recovered. But the process of detection is yet to be developed throughthe
software and demo has been developed and is with the authors. The demo has been written in VB
that gives the over view of how the lost mobile is being detectedand the software has been written
in C. The SQL has to be used for the purpose of querying and the internal architecture is of lesser
complexity compared to the base station as this mainly involves the control signal and there is no
need for the voice process.

The design involved the following:

Design of the sniffer base station design of unidirectional l antenna, development ofsoftware for
tracking. Though this method appears to be a little bit complex involving the design of the sniffer
but however for large scale detection the overall effective cost of the design and the detection scales
down.
There are certain boundary conditions or criteria that have to be qualified for the identification of
the lost mobile like the power of the mobile should be good enough ,the mobile phone should not be
in the shadow region etc., but however this method can be improved by using modern technologies
and devices.

REFERENCES
 Schiller , “Mobile Communication”, Pearson Education 1 Edition, 7 th reprint -2003.
 John D Kraus, “Electromagnetics”, TMH,
 Jordan et al, “Electromagnetic waves and radiation system” , Printice Hall
 www.gsmworld.com
 http://ericsson.com
 http://iec.org

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