Silver Spring mesh: a second on-air variant (fixed-AMI Aclara/NIC 511) not handled by silver_spring_mesh
Author: bash-tildeCreated Aug 31, 2026Updated Aug 31, 2026
silver_spring_mesh.c decodes a Silver Spring variant with an 8-bit scrambler,
SFD 0xF3A0 and a 3-byte PHR. Reverse-engineering the radio on an Aclara
I-210+c (NIC 511, fixed-AMI network, passive RX), I get frames that don't match
that framing or scrambler — it looks like a second on-air variant.
silver_spring_mesh |
these frames | |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoint | Badger water, drive-by | Aclara electric, fixed AMI |
| Framing | SFD 0xF3A0 · PHR(3) · PSDU · FCS(4) |
0C 5F <ch> FF · PHR(2, inverted) · PSDU · 1-byte trailer |
| Scrambler | 8-bit x⁸+x⁴+x³+x²+1 |
degree-9 x⁹+x⁸+x⁵+x²+1 |
| CRC | CRC-32/MPEG-2, init 0xFFFFFFFF | CRC-32 init 0, top byte XOR per-length constant |
| Addressing | EUI-64, OUI 00:13:50 / 00:07:81 |
serial 00:13:50:05:00:xx…; APs 00:13:50:FF:FE:60:xx… |
Verification that it's a distinct scrambler, not a mis-parse on my end:
- The 8-bit scrambler descrambles none of these frames under any of its 255 seeds (no CRC match, OUI never appears).
- The degree-9 LFSR recovers the
00 13 50 05 00prefix on all of them, CRC-32 valid on 386/392 captured frames. - Berlekamp–Massey gives linear complexity 9; an 8-bit LFSR can't produce that.
Transport is fully decoded (whitening, CRC-32, framing grammar, 87-channel plan, 83-slot beacon hop sequence): https://github.com/bash-tilde/silverspring-ami-rf. Payload is AES-CCM* encrypted; not attempted. I can share sample IQ.
Questions:
- Is this fixed-AMI framing a known second variant?
- Separate decoder, or extend
silver_spring_meshto detect both SFDs/scramblers? - My captures are 2.4 Msps and read as OOK under the default demod — any FSK front-end pointers for this variant?
Source: merbanan/rtl_433