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ESP32 WiFi Recon Cluster

What this is

A distributed WiFi reconnaissance system using ESP32-S3 nodes and an Orange Pi as coordinator.

Each ESP32 node scans the WiFi environment, builds structured events (not raw data), and ships them over UDP to a coordinator. The coordinator stores events to SQLite. A separate web dashboard reads the database and displays everything in real time via SSE.

This is a learning/research project covering distributed systems, event-driven architecture, sensor fusion, and detection engineering concepts.

Hardware

  • Nodes: ESP32-S3 N16R8 (2 active, scaling later)
  • Coordinator: Orange Pi at 192.168.1.133, runs 24/7 as systemd services
  • Dev machine: This PC at 192.168.1.101 — coding and flashing only
  • Flashing: Arduino CLI on this PC

Active nodes

node_id MAC Port
F68D6E30 44:1b:f6:8d:6e:30 /dev/ttyACM0
A1D6F190 e0:72:a1:d6:f1:90 /dev/ttyACM1
A1D658D4 e0:72:a1:d6:58:d4 /dev/ttyACM2

Network

  • ESP32 nodes connect to: WiFi SSID sandbox
  • Coordinator IP: 192.168.1.133 (Orange Pi, production)
  • UDP port: 5005
  • Dashboard port: 8080

Architecture

[ESP32 nodes] --UDP 5005--> [udp_ingest.py] --write--> [events.db (SQLite)]
                                                               |
[Browser] <--HTTP/SSE 8080-- [dashboard.py] ------read--------+

The two coordinator processes are intentionally separate. The ingestor has one job: receive UDP, write to DB. The dashboard has one job: read DB, serve UI. They communicate only through the database. Each is independently restartable without affecting the other.

Development workflow

All coding is done on this PC. The Orange Pi only runs the deployed files — never edit directly on it.

[This PC] → edit code → rsync → [Orange Pi] → restart services

Sync to Orange Pi

bash /home/sandbox/Documents/projects/esp32_cluster/deploy.sh

This rsyncs coordinator/ to /opt/esp32_cluster/coordinator/ on the Orange Pi, excluding events.db (the Pi keeps its own database).

Restart services after deploy

ssh root@192.168.1.133 'systemctl restart udp_ingest dashboard'

View live logs on Orange Pi

# Ingestor (UDP events coming in)
ssh root@192.168.1.133 'journalctl -u udp_ingest -f'

# Dashboard
ssh root@192.168.1.133 'journalctl -u dashboard -f'

Project structure

esp32_cluster/
├── firmware/
│   └── node/
│       ├── node.ino              # ESP32 node firmware
│       └── config.h              # WiFi creds, coordinator IP, scan/probe config
├── coordinator/
│   ├── udp_ingest.py             # UDP listener — receives packets, validates, writes to SQLite
│   ├── dashboard.py              # FastAPI app — reads SQLite, serves UI + SSE stream
│   ├── templates/
│   │   └── dashboard.html        # Dashboard skeleton HTML
│   ├── static/
│   │   ├── dashboard.css         # All dashboard styles
│   │   └── dashboard.js          # All dashboard logic (vanilla JS)
│   ├── oui.txt                   # IEEE OUI database for vendor lookup (39k entries)
│   ├── udp_ingest.service        # systemd service file for ingestor
│   ├── dashboard.service         # systemd service file for dashboard
│   └── events.db                 # SQLite database — on Orange Pi only, not synced
├── deploy.sh                     # rsync script: this PC → Orange Pi
├── starting_plan.md              # Original architecture design doc
└── README.md                     # This file

Firmware

Each node:

  • Connects to WiFi sandbox
  • Scans for nearby APs every 15 seconds (active scan, includes hidden SSIDs)
  • Captures probe request frames passively (promiscuous mode) between scans
  • Sends a heartbeat packet every 10 seconds (uptime, free heap, WiFi RSSI to router)
  • Sends beacon, probe, and heartbeat events as UDP JSON packets to the coordinator
  • node_id is derived from bytes 2–5 of the ESP32's base MAC address

Event formats

Beacon event (AP discovered):

{
  "node_id": "F68D6E30",
  "ts":      12345,
  "type":    "beacon",
  "conf":    "high",
  "imp":     "normal",
  "ssid":    "NetworkName",
  "bssid":   "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
  "rssi":    -65,
  "ch":      6,
  "enc":     "WPA2"
}

Probe event (client device searching for a network):

{
  "node_id": "F68D6E30",
  "ts":      12345,
  "type":    "probe",
  "conf":    "high",
  "imp":     "normal",
  "src_mac": "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
  "ssid":    "HomeNetwork",
  "rssi":    -55
}

Heartbeat event (node health, sent every 10 seconds):

{
  "node_id":   "F68D6E30",
  "ts":        12345,
  "type":      "heartbeat",
  "uptime_ms": 123456,
  "free_heap": 245000,
  "wifi_rssi": -62
}
  • imp: high if RSSI >= -50, low if <= -80, else normal
  • ssid in probe events is the network the device is searching for — empty means wildcard (any network)
  • Probe dedup: same MAC+SSID suppressed for 30 seconds to avoid flooding
  • wifi_rssi in heartbeat is the node's own signal to the sandbox AP (not a scanned network)
  • A node is considered online if a heartbeat arrived within the last 30 seconds; falls back to beacon within 60 seconds if no heartbeat has been received yet

Flashing a node

Requirements: Arduino CLI v1.4.1, ESP32 core v3.3.7, FQBN esp32:esp32:esp32s3, user in dialout group.

# Compile
arduino-cli compile --fqbn esp32:esp32:esp32s3 /home/sandbox/Documents/projects/esp32_cluster/firmware/node/

# Flash — adjust port as needed (check with: ls /dev/ttyACM*)
arduino-cli upload --fqbn esp32:esp32:esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
  /home/sandbox/Documents/projects/esp32_cluster/firmware/node/

The same binary works on every node — node_id is auto-derived from the MAC, no per-node config needed.

Check group membership with groups. You should see dialout.

config.h reference

Constant Default Purpose
WIFI_SSID sandbox WiFi network to connect to
COORDINATOR_IP 192.168.1.133 Orange Pi address
COORDINATOR_PORT 5005 UDP port
SCAN_INTERVAL_MS 15000 How often to run a beacon scan (ms)
PROBE_SNIFF 1 Enable/disable probe sniffing (1/0)
PROBE_DEDUP_SECS 30 Suppress duplicate probe MAC+SSID (secs)
PROBE_QUEUE_SIZE 32 Max probe events buffered between scans

Orange Pi — running services

Services are managed by systemd and start automatically on boot.

# Status
ssh root@192.168.1.133 'systemctl status udp_ingest dashboard'

# Restart both
ssh root@192.168.1.133 'systemctl restart udp_ingest dashboard'

# Stop
ssh root@192.168.1.133 'systemctl stop udp_ingest dashboard'

Service files are in coordinator/ and deployed to /etc/systemd/system/ on the Orange Pi. The coordinator files live at /opt/esp32_cluster/coordinator/ on the Orange Pi.

Dashboard

Open http://192.168.1.133:8080 in your browser.

Views

  • Feed — live beacon event stream across all nodes, capped at 100 rows, newest on top
  • Networks — deduplicated AP table (by BSSID): times seen, best/avg RSSI, channel, encryption, node count. Sortable by any column. Each row has a ▶ button to open the RSSI history chart for that network.
  • RSSI history chart — opens from any Networks row. Shows signal strength over time per node (1h / 2h / 6h / 24h selectable). Each node gets its own coloured line. Useful for spotting interference patterns, seeing how signal fluctuates by time of day, and comparing which node consistently hears a given AP better. Updates live as new scans arrive.
  • Cross-node — side-by-side per-node RSSI for every AP. Shows which node is physically closer to each network. Filter to multi-node only to focus on confirmed cross-node observations.
  • Clients — probe request data: unique MACs, vendor (OUI lookup), what SSIDs they're searching for, signal, which nodes saw them.
  • Presence — three sections driven entirely by probe data:
    • Present Now — real (non-randomized) MACs seen 2+ times in the last hour. Filters out the city-center noise of transient devices.
    • New Arrivals — devices and networks first seen in the last 24 hours, split into two side-by-side tables.
    • Regulars — devices and networks seen on 2 or more distinct calendar days. Takes at least two days of data to populate.
  • Node detail — click a node in the sidebar for stats: total events, unique SSIDs/BSSIDs, RSSI range, first/last seen, uptime, free heap, AP signal, last 100 events.

Sidebar

Always visible: node list with online/offline status dot, last seen time, event count, and a compact heartbeat line (uptime · free heap · AP signal). A node is considered online if a heartbeat was received within the last 30 seconds. Falls back to beacon timestamp (60s threshold) if no heartbeat has been received yet.

Live updates

SSE stream pushes new beacon events as they arrive. The feed updates immediately. All other views (sidebar, networks, chart, cross-node, presence) refresh on a 2-second debounce so a single scan burst doesn't flood the server with requests.

Observations and notes

Hidden networks

Networks with a blank SSID but valid BSSID, signal, and channel are hidden networks — APs configured not to broadcast their name. They are not hidden from passive scanners. The encryption showing as OPEN is a firmware parsing artifact; the network itself may be encrypted. The BSSID OUI still identifies the manufacturer.

Probe requests and MAC randomization

Modern phones and laptops (iOS since ~2020, Android since ~2021) randomize their MAC address for probe requests. A randomized MAC has bit 1 of the first byte set — the dashboard detects this and labels it "Randomized MAC" instead of doing a meaningless OUI lookup.

What probe data tells you:

  • Directed probes (with SSID): the device has connected to that network in the past
  • Wildcard probes (empty SSID): the device is searching for any available network
  • Probe data maps client devices, not infrastructure — complementary to beacon scan data

OUI lookup

The oui.txt file is the IEEE public OUI database (39,171 entries as of download). It maps the first 3 bytes of a real MAC to a manufacturer name. Used in the Clients tab. Refresh it occasionally by re-running deploy.sh after downloading a fresh copy from https://standards-oui.ieee.org/oui/oui.txt.

Current status

  • Arduino CLI installed, ESP32 core configured
  • Node firmware: beacon scan + probe sniffing
  • Three ESP32-S3 nodes flashed and running
  • UDP ingestor (udp_ingest.py) — beacon + probe routing with field validation
  • Web dashboard: Feed, Networks, Cross-node, Clients, Node detail views
  • OUI vendor lookup in Clients view
  • Dashboard split into HTML / CSS / JS (no monolithic file)
  • Deployed to Orange Pi as systemd services (runs 24/7)
  • All three nodes sending to Orange Pi, confirmed live
  • Node heartbeat every 10s — uptime, free heap, AP signal, drives online/offline status
  • RSSI history chart per network (canvas, per-node coloured lines, 1h/2h/6h/24h range)
  • Presence tab — Present Now, New Arrivals, Regulars
  • Scan interval control from dashboard
  • DB pruning / retention policy (events.db grows indefinitely)

Python dependencies

fastapi
uvicorn

pip install fastapi uvicorn
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