Provided by:
wavemon_0.7.4-1_i386 
NAME
wavemon - a wireless network monitor
SYNOPSIS
wavemon [-h] [-i ifname ] [-l] [-r] [-v]
DESCRIPTION
wavemon is a ncurses-based monitoring application for wireless network
devices. It plots levels in real-time as well as showing wireless and
network related device information. Currently, wavemon is still based
on the wireless extensions by Jean Tourrilhes <jt@hpl.hp.com>.
The wavemon interface splits into different "screens". Each screen
presents information in a specific manner. For example, the "info"
screen shows current levels as bargraphs, whereas the "level" screen
represents the same levels as a moving histogram.
On startup, you'll see (depending on configuration) one of the
different monitor screens. At the bottom, you'll find a menu-bar
listing the screens and their function key names. The following
screens can be selected:
Info (F1)
This is the most comprehensive screen. It displays a condensed
overview of wireless-specific parameters and network statistics,
as well as bar graphs. The layout is arranged into several sub-
sections.
The Interface section at the top shows information about the
monitoring interface, including interface name, type, ESSID, and
available encryption formats.
Below, in the Levels section, you can see up to four bargraphs
showing (1) relative signal quality and (2) signal level in dBm.
If the wireless driver also supports noise level information,
additionally (3) noise level in dBm and (4) Signal-Noise-Ratio
(SNR) in dB are shown. The colour of the signal level bargraph
changes from red to yellow and green at fixed levels. If
thresholds have been set, two arrows on the signal level graph
will show the positions of the current thresholds.
The Statistics section displays packet and byte counters and a
few other packet-related statistics.
The subsequent Info subsection lists the current operational
mode and configuration of the wireless interface. What
parameters are actually shown depends on the capabilities and
selected mode of your network device.
Lastly, the Network section shows network-level parameters. The
MAC-address is resolved from ethers(5). The IPv4 address is
shown in CIDR notation (RFC 4632 address/prefix_len format).
Since often those two values also determine the broadcast
address (last 32 - prefix_len bits set to 1), that address is
shown only if it does not derive from the interface address and
prefix length. Likewise, the interface MTU is shown only if it
differs from the default Ethernet MTU of 1500 bytes.
Another keyboard shortcut for this screen is 'i'.
Level histogram (F2)
This is a full-screen histogram plot showing the evolution of
levels with time. The screen is partitioned into a grid, with
dBm levels shown in green at the right hand side (depending on
configuration). At the very minimum, the evolution of the
signal-level is shown. If the wireless driver also supports
noise-level information, additionally a noise graph and
associated SNR graph appear.
Scan window (F3)
A periodically updated network scan, showing access points and
other wireless clients, ordered by frequency and then descending
order of signal quality. Each entry starts with the ESSID,
followed by the colour-coded MAC address and the signal/channel
information. A green/red MAC address indicates an (un-)encrypted
access point, the colour changes to yellow for non-access points
(in this case the mode is shown at the end of the line). The
uncoloured information following the MAC address lists relative
and absolute signal strengths, channel, frequency, and the mode
if the node is not an access point.
Please note that gathering meaningful scan data can take several
seconds. Partly for this reason, the Scan window is the only
screen that can not be suspended (CTRL-Z).
Preferences (F7)
This screen allows you to change all program options such as
interface and level scale parameters, and to save the new
settings to the configuration file. Select a parameter with <up>
and <down>, then change the value with <left> and <right>.
Please refer to wavemonrc(5) for an in-depth description of
applicable settings.
Help (F8)
This page might show an online-help.
About (F9)
Release information and contact URLs.
Quit (F10)
Exit wavemon. An alternative shortcut for quitting is 'q'.
Note: some operations, such as displaying encryption information or
performing scans, require CAP_NET_ADMIN privileges (see
capabilities(7)). For non-root users, these can be enabled by
installing wavemon setuid-root.
OPTIONS
-i interface
override autodetection and use the specified interface.
-d dump interface parameters to stdout and exit.
-g check screen geometry: a minimum size is required for proper
display; this flag adds a check to ensure it is sufficiently
large. Enable this if window does not display properly.
-r generate random levels (for testing purposes).
-h print help and exit.
-v print version information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
LC_NUMERIC
Influences the grouping of numbers if set. See also locale(1).
FILES
$HOME/.wavemonrc
The local per-user configuration file.
AUTHOR
Written by Jan Morgenstern <jan@jm-music.de>.
REPORTING BUGS
Send bug reports and/or suggestions to Gerrit Renker
<gerrit@erg.abdn.ac.uk>.
COPYRIGHT
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. See file COPYING for
details.
SEE ALSO
wavemonrc(5), wireless(7), ethers(5), locale(1), capabilities(7)