Desk work · Remote Protocol Decode
You capture it. We decode it. Nobody gets on a plane.
The decode half of a Protocol Decode Sprint, without the site visit. We specify a capture rig, you run the stimulus matrix on your own machine, and we turn the resulting logs into a written specification and a working parser.
Remote Protocol Decode
- Typical length
- 1–2 weeks
- What you get
- 5 written deliverables, listed below
- What decides the number
- How complete your captures are. A full stimulus matrix run to our instructions decodes quickly; a single log of idle traffic often cannot be decoded at all, and we will tell you that before you pay.
- Scoping
- One call, then a written scope. We say no when it is not ours.
Contact salesGet a quote
01 The terms
Quoted per project, after a call. We do not publish a band for this, because a number without a scope is a guess and you would have to unpick it later anyway.
Tell us what the work has to do and when it has to be done, and you get the scope and the number in writing — or a straight answer that this is not ours.
03 The problem
The reason protocol work is expensive is usually travel. The machine is on a forecourt in one country and the person who can read it is in another, and half the fee is aeroplanes and hotel rooms.
But the capture phase does not need us. It needs a cheap logic analyser, a precise list of what to vary, and somebody on site willing to follow it.
04 What you get
- A capture protocol: exactly what hardware to buy, where to clip it, what to vary and in what order
- A free feasibility check on your first sample capture before you commit
- Written protocol specification — framing, delimiters, field map, encoding, checksums
- Validated parser in C/C++ or Python against your captures
- Everything you need to re-derive it yourself
05 How it runs
- Before we start
- Written authorisation that you may interface with the equipment. Then we send the capture protocol and a parts list — typically under $150 of kit.
- Day 1–3
- You capture. Send us the first sample and we tell you free whether it is decodable before you go further.
- Week 1–2
- Decode, parser, written specification, handover call.
06 Whether this is for you
This is for you if
- A machine anywhere in the world with somebody on site who can clip on a probe
- Budgets that will not carry international travel
- A first step before committing to the full on-site sprint
- Anyone who has captures already and needs them read
This is not for you if
- Any equipment you do not own or have written authorisation from the owner to interface with. We ask for that authorisation in writing before we send the capture protocol, every time, and we will decline without it.
- Encrypted or cryptographically authenticated protocols. We will not attempt to defeat an authentication scheme, and we would decline if asked.
- Situations where nobody on site can safely attach a probe — take the full sprint instead
07 Proof
The eFuelPro decode came out of captures and a controlled stimulus matrix: nozzle up and down, 1 to 400 litres, both pump sides, every dip-switch variant. The matrix is the method, and it travels.
08 Questions
What if my captures turn out to be useless?
We check your first sample free and tell you before you commit. That check is the whole reason this offer exists.
How is this different from the full sprint?
We are not in the room. You do the capture work to our instructions, which is most of the cost and none of the skill.
What happens to our captures?
NDA before you send anything. Captures are held encrypted, never shared outside the engagement, and deleted 30 days after handover unless you ask otherwise.
Who owns the specification and the parser?
You do — specification, parser and captures, the same as the full sprint. We keep no claim over the protocol or anything you build on it.
Next 1–2 weeks
Remote Protocol Decode
Tell us what the work has to do and when it has to be done. You will get a person who has read it, not a sequence.