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I've got a pet project that is to essentially build out an NFC access control doorlocking system for my house. I originally wanted to replicate my office keycard on my nexus s but ran into a wall after I learned that card emulation is impossible without a firmware hack on the secure element. My question is, if I were to create my own security eco-system, hardwaring my own RFID system into a pre-existing electronic lock, is there anything stopping me from using my phone as the RFID tag even without access to the secure element?

in short, can the phone itself be the tag without the info being in the secure element?

would i have to create a P2P relationship with the reader?

Kevin Panko
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JoeAranda
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1 Answers1

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You can write an application that emulates an NFC tag.

Assuming you have an Android phone

NdefRecord record = new NdefRecord(...);
NdefMessage message = new NdefMessage(new NdefRecord[] {
    textRecord
});
NfcAdapter nfcAdapter = NfcAdapter.getDefaultAdapter(getContext());

if (nfcAdapter != null) {
    nfcAdapter.setNdefPushMessage(message, activity);
}

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/nfc/NfcAdapter.html

This Android Ndef Push Example uses an older version of the API.

If you have a Blackberry, they have a similar API.

NDEFMessage message = /* create a message */;
virtualTag = new VirtualNDEFTag(message);
virtualTag.startEmulation();

http://www.blackberry.com/developers/docs/7.1.0api/net/rim/device/api/io/nfc/emulation/VirtualNDEFTag.html

doncoleman
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  • The Blackberry will act as ISO14443 tag, but the Nexus S will act as a peer-to-peer device (ISO18092). – NFC guy Jun 07 '12 at 12:39
  • @NFCguy right. so in theory, with this method, i would then have to create an RFID reader that acts like a peer-to-peer? (significantly more difficult) – JoeAranda Jun 07 '12 at 16:30
  • Examples of open source projects: http://code.google.com/p/ismb-npp-java/ https://launchpad.net/nfcpy https://github.com/grundid/nfctools – NFC guy Jun 07 '12 at 18:34
  • awesome, thank you. are the SCL3711 and the ACR122 pretty much the standard for readers with peer to peer functionality? do you recommend one over the other? – JoeAranda Jun 07 '12 at 20:34
  • They both feature an NFC IC from NXP; functionality is pretty comparable. Main difference is in size and (possibly) antenna performance. – NFC guy Jun 07 '12 at 21:42