Introducing Serberus - a multi headed serial hardware hacking tool

Patrick Kiley presents Serberus, a multi-port hardware hacking adapter built to reach several embedded targets at once. The talk opens with the motivation: standard USB-to-serial adapters leave a tangle of cables when a tester needs both ends of a serial link, and low-voltage parts can go unrecognised. The device packs four channels onto one board, with headers for serial, JTAG, SPI, I2C and SWD, and a switch-selected level shifter that covers target voltages from 1.65 V to 5.5 V.

The middle section covers the design process, from a breadboard proof of concept to hand-built prototypes and connector revisions. The FTDI chip's configuration memory pins were repurposed to drive per-channel status LEDs, and stable power came from following vendor reference designs. Live demonstrations showed serial boot output from a router, JTAG access to an automotive security gateway through OpenOCD, and simultaneous serial links to avionics units, with a brief explanation of inverted RS-232 signals.

The main takeaway is that every board file, from layouts to schematics, is released openly, so testers can build their own copy from the Gerbers and bill of materials. The speaker argues that formal electrical engineering is not required for a board like this, and says a low-cost version for embedded testers is planned.