Install and configure Kismet with Alfa, GPS and SDR

Posted on Aug 1, 2024

Overview

Hardware

Wi-Fi - Alfa AWUS036ACH
GPS - VK-162 GPS reciever
SDR - RLT-SDR v3 (RTL2832U)

Install Kismet

Go to the official site in the Packages section: https://www.kismetwireless.net/packages/.

wget -O - https://www.kismetwireless.net/repos/kismet-release.gpg.key --quiet | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/kismet-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/kismet-archive-keyring.gpg] https://www.kismetwireless.net/repos/apt/release/bookworm bookworm main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kismet.list >/dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y kismet

Install GPS

sudo apt update
sudo install -y gpsd gpsd-clients

Plug in a GPS Receive and do the following command.

sudo dmesg -w

The device could be /dev/ttyACM0.

The following command doesn’t work for me, Debian Bookworm.

sudo gpsd -n -N -D 2 /dev/ttyACM0

Run the test GPS client.

sudo cgps -s

Kismet configuration

/etc/kismet/kismet.conf

gps=serial:device=/dev/ttyACM0,name=laptop

sudo kismet

Go to localhost:2501 in the browser. You should to see in the right top section GPS data.

After that connect Wi-Fi client, go to Kismet’s Data source and choose the correct one. Or, which is better, add the Wi-Fi interface in /etc/kismet/kismet.conf file.