2026-11-07 · All notes

Wardriving with Kismet and GPSD

I wanted a portable wardriving setup without installing half the universe on my laptop.

Kismet captures Wi-Fi traffic, GPSD receives coordinates from an Android phone, and Kismon provides an optional map and signal graphs. Docker Compose keeps the dependencies and configuration together.

The setup is available at kismet-gpsd-setup, with installation instructions and troubleshooting notes.

The plumbing

Android phone
    | NMEA / UDP 29998
    v
   GPSD ---- TCP 2947 ----> Kismet ---> recordings
                              |
                              +----> Kismon

Kismet uses the host’s wireless adapter in monitor mode. GPSD receives NMEA sentences from the phone, preferably over USB tethering. The Kismet web interface is available on port 2501, and Kismon connects to it separately.

The Docker image installs Kismet 2026-10-R1 from the official package repository. Capture logs survive container restarts.

Give the old phone a job

I’d recommend using a spare Android phone rather than your daily one.

Install GPSd Forwarder or gpsdRelay from F-Droid. Enable location services and send NMEA over UDP to the laptop’s tethering IP address on port 29998.

gpsdRelay also lets you set an NMEA generation interval in milliseconds. For longer sessions, try a less frequent update and check the resulting GPSD feed. The setting controls requested GPS location updates, not every raw NMEA sentence, so don’t assume it will automatically save battery.

Calls, app switching, background restrictions, and aggressive battery management are unnecessary complications during a recording session. A dedicated phone can stay connected, powered, and doing exactly one job.

Even an old Android handset is perfectly useful here, provided it can acquire a GPS fix and forward it reliably.

Not a bad retirement.

Before heading outside

Start the containers:

docker compose --profile gui up --build -d

Check the GPS feed:

docker compose exec gpsd gpsmon localhost:2947

Then open Kismet at http://127.0.0.1:2501/ and verify that the wireless adapter is capturing and the GPS source has a valid fix.

A few things worth remembering:

• USB tethering provides a direct network connection without involving the capture adapter.
• Android battery optimization can interfere with background forwarding. Check the app’s battery settings.
• If GPS updates stop, check Kismet’s logs. In my test, it detected and reported the missing GPSD updates.
• Kismon is optional. The recording should not depend on the GUI.
• Keep capture logs and location history private. They’re stored under data/kismet_logs/.

That’s the whole arrangement: a Wi-Fi adapter, an old Android phone, GPSD, and Kismet in containers. Kismon is there when I want a map.

The repository contains the configuration, setup instructions, and troubleshooting notes. Nothing particularly clever, just a working arrangement that’s easy to reproduce.