Blog
pcmofo writes:
I wanted to make an easy and secure way to enter my garage. RFID was the best way to unlock my door, even with my hands full I can unlock the door and push it open! I built a simple circuit with a basic ATMega 168 arduino chip and a ID-20 RFID reader to control an electronic door lock.
The circuit consists of 3 separate parts, a Reader to read RFID tags, a Controller to accept data from the reader and control the output of the RGB LED and the Electric door lock. The door lock is first installed in a door and tested with a 9v battery to ensure correct installation. In most cases you want a Normally Open circuit on the door lock, or Fail Secure. This means the door stays locked when no current passes through it. When 12vDC is passed through the electromagnet in the door lock, a plate in the lock gives way and allows the door to be pushed open freely.
Arduino RFID Door Lock - [Link]
Read and write 13.56 MHz RFID cards with OpenPCD:
OpenPCD is a free hardware design for Proximity Coupling Devices (PCD) based on 13,56MHz communication. This device is able to screen informations from Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards (PICC) conforming to vendor-independent standards such as ISO 14443, ISO 15693 as well as proprietary protocols such as Mifare Classic. Contactless cards like these are for example used in the new electronic passports.
Read and write 13.56 MHz RFID cards - [Links]
RFID antennas are traditionally produced by etching, but a new process developed by Walki, a manufacturer of technical laminates, aims to displace etching by laser cutting. The process uses paper as the substrate and eliminates the need for liquid chemicals, making process residue easily recyclable. Laser cutting also accelerates the design to production cycle and allows extremely precise fabrication of circuit board patterns. The finished antenna, consisting of just paper and aluminium, is fully recyclable.
The new technology is dubbed Walki-4E where 4E stands for efficient, exact, ecological and economical and is based on a laminate of aluminium on a paper substrate, with the aluminium foil cut in patterns using a laser. It can be used to produce any type of flexible circuit, ranging from RFID antennas to radiators and flexible displays. The first product to be launched using this technology is Walki-Pantenna, a UHF RFID antenna. [via]
Laser cutting makes antennas greener - [Link]
ID 12 and ID 20 are miniature modules of RFID readers with operating frequency 125KHz. Their operating distance is from 12 to 16cm and depends on transponder type and size. ID tags type EM4001 and other types compatible with them (64 bit Manchester and Modulus coding)can be used with mentioned RFID readers.
Readers need only 5V power supply for their operation, without any other external components. To indicate their functionality there is a possibility to add LED and buzzer. Both readers are compatible with ASCII, Wiegand26 and Magnetic ABA data formats.
Compact RFID readers - [Link]
RiderScan – Manage horses with Adafruit gear! RFID barn management system made for Misty Brae Farm of Virginia…
This is a demo of the RiderScan system; an RFID barn management system made for Misty Brae Farm of Virginia. The system is comprised mostly (~85%) of electronic goodies from Adafruit Industries (http://www.adafruit.com/) and cobbled together using an Arduino Mega Protoshield and lots of Acrylic.
RiderScan – Manage horses with Adafruit gear! RFID barn management system - [Link]
Beth has a nack for make her own RFID cards. This time she has made one on a duct tape substrate, she says is indistinguishable for a manufactured RFID card distance wise. [via]
Duct tape RFID tag – [Link]
Using an AVR as an RFID tag, Beth writes… [via]
Last time, I posted an ultra-simple “from scratch” RFID reader, which uses no application-specific components: just a Propeller microcontroller and a few passive components. This time, I tried the opposite: building an RFID tag using no application-specific parts.
Well, my solution is full of dirty tricks, but the results aren’t half bad. I used an Atmel AVR microcontroller (the ATtiny85) and a coil. That’s it. You can optionally add a couple of capacitors to improve performance with some types of coils, but with this method it’s possible to build a working RFID tag just by soldering a small inductor to an AVR chip
Using an AVR as an RFID tag - [Link]
Paul Asselin says:
I wanted to know how much time I was spending under the shower each day, especially in these environmentally conscious times. The benefits of that are that I can perhaps save some money on the water bills and also study the effect of temperature on my showering time.
So Paul designed this Arduino shower timer analyzer. He considered using a water flow meter, but opted instead for using an RFID reader and a Real Time Clock (RTC). He waives his RFID card before the reader upon entering the shower which starts the timer. When he leaves the RFID reader again detects the card and stops the time. The duration is then uploaded to the Thingspeak website’s API section via an ethernet shield. [via]
This was Paul’s entry into the Thingspeak contest.
Arduino shower time analyzer – [Link]
andrew_h writes:
Ok, so there are heaps of immobilisers out there but with most of them, if someone has your keys, they have you car. What good is a car alarm with 3+ point immobilisation if someone manages to get the keys and of course the alarm remote.
This is a simple immobiliser based on a PIC12F629 and an ID-12 chip from innovations. This can be built for about $50.
RFID Car immobiliser with PIC12629 - [Link]
makeprojects.com writes:
If you’ve ever wanted the ability to use some form of hardware-based authentication in your projects then this is the board to do it with. The Parallax RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader is super easy to configure. It only takes four wires! It uses the serial protocol to transfer information from RFID cards to the Arduino. This project is a quick introduction on using this RFID reader with the Arduino system.
Using the Parallax RFID Reader with an Arduino – [Link]
