Reverse engineering and repurposing research for an Alula/Cove Connect-FLX alarm communicator.
- ESP32-D0WD-V3 network processor
- ATSAMD51 main controller
- Telit cellular modem
- Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi, cellular, and proprietary RF hardware
- FCC ID: U5X-CFLXRF
- ESP32 MAC intentionally omitted from this public repository
- 4 MB SPI flash
- Secure Boot disabled
- Flash encryption disabled
- UART download mode enabled
- JTAG enabled
- Original ESP32 project name:
network-processor - Panel communication appears to use GPIO33 and GPIO35
- Original firmware communicates with the ATSAMD51 using a framed UART protocol with CRC
- Active application partition:
ota_1at0x210000
The firmware in this repository intentionally:
- Does not initialize Wi-Fi
- Does not initialize Bluetooth
- Does not transmit credentials or contact external services
- Leaves the suspected panel UART pins untouched
- Prints startup and reset diagnostics over UART0
The ATSAMD51 currently appears to power-cycle the ESP32 when it does not receive the expected network-processor responses.
Original firmware dumps, NVS data, Wi-Fi credentials, cellular identifiers, certificates, and packet captures are deliberately excluded from this repository.
- Full original ESP32 flash backed up privately
- Original partitions extracted and analyzed
- NVS decoded privately
- Offline replacement application successfully flashed to
ota_1 - Logic analyzer capture of GPIO33/GPIO35 is the next planned step
This project documents research performed on personally owned, decommissioned hardware. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alula, Cove, or the original manufacturer.