Legally Distinct Space Invaders Display WiFi Info
In the early 00s there was a tiny moment before the widespread adoption of mobile broadband, after the adoption of home WiFi, and yet before the widespread use of encryption. For this brief time a unique practice arose called wardriving — where people would drive around, document, and use these open wireless networks.
Although the pursuit has diminished with the rise of mobile broadband and WPA encryption, there are still a few use cases for the types of hardware a wardriver would have used. [arduinocelentano] recently built a Wi-Fi strength monitor in this style but with a unique theme.
The Silly Space Invaders Dashboard (SSID) uses an ESP8266 to periodically scan for WiFi networks and makes a record of all of the ones it discovers. From there it takes a look at the signal strength that it receives and groups them into a few classes. For each class it assigns a Space Invaders-themed sprite corresponding to signal strength, with the strongest ranked at the top for quick and easy viewing. There’s even a special sprite to indicate that most illusive of beasts; the open WiFi network. By the way, if you’re wondering why these Invaders don’t look like the baddies from your youth, it’s because the company that owns the rights doesn’t like other people playing with their toys.
During the heyday of wardriving we could only have wished for hardware as powerful, capable, small, and power efficient as what’s in this project. Most of us that partook in the hobby at its peak generally had bulky laptops, possibly some lead-acid batteries, and perhaps one or more wonky antennas to boot. In a way it’s almost a shame that this hobby has largely diminished, although there are still a few out there poking around unsecured networks.
player.vimeo.com/video/1024054…
hackaday.com/2025/07/30/legall…
