NFC RFID Reader Writer - µFR Classic CS OEM - 13.56MHz Contactless Smart Card Encoder + FREE SDK

It is NFC Forum & RFID compatible contactless reader/writer which successfully implements ISO14443 A & B and ISO18092 standards on HF working frequency of 13.56 MHz.
This device is genuine Digital Logic product, 100% designed, produced and programmed at company premises located in Serbia, Europe.
All models of uFR Series are using the same SDK API and are totally compatible and interoperable in common set of functions.

Hardware

Reader’s RF communication is based on NXP’s powerful, highly integrated reader IC for contactless communication at 13.56 MHz, which supports all protocol layers of the ISO/IEC 14443 A, ISO/IEC 14443 B and ISO/IEC 18092 communication standards.

All variants of the MIFARE® cards family (MIFARE Mini®, MIFARE Classic® 1K, MIFARE Classic® 4K, MIFARE Ultralight®, MIFARE Ultralight C®, MIFARE DESFire® EV1 and MIFARE Plus®) RF identification protocols are supported. Additionally, NFC Forum specification for “Type 2 Tag” is supported, which adds NTAG2xx chip family to above list.

It has built-in anti-collision mechanism for detecting multiple cards at time.
Built-in well-tuned antenna provides proximity operating distance up to 80 mm (depending on card’s antenna geometry) and contactless communication speed at higher baud rates (up to 424 kBd).

Device also has built in Crypto1® algorithm and secure non-volatile internal key memory storage for better security. Communication with host is provided by using USB 2.0 Full Speed compatible interface. Data transfer rates are limited from 9600 baud to 1 Mbaud, for integrity and security reasons. Reader can also act as a serial interface device using FTDI’s Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers.

Audible (speaker) and 2 LEDs visible indicators are built in and absolutely user controllable.

Active amplified antenna with RF booster – providing better and more homogenous card reading range. (Optional)

SAM (Secure Access Module) slot for PCM1.1 SAM cards – ideal for storing keys in the most secure manner and for performing secure cryptography operations. (Optional)

This model is also available as OEM PCB board.

Firmware

Since hardware is based on MCU platform, it runs on company developed custom firmware. Communication between host and reader is provided through high speed direct access FTDI chip features. At core communication level device uses company developed, proprietary communication protocol, which is well documented in SDK API reference.

Firmware has a lot of built-in complex functions which can be called via libraries provided in SDK API.  Most of functions are written to make “life easier”, like:

• Multiple readers on same host support
• Whole set of commands for MIFARE® card manipulation according to manufacturer’s specification
• Different addressing schemes (Block, BlockInSector)
• Key storage manipulation   (one way, write only, no reading of stored keys)
• Different key applying modes (by index or scheme)
• Value block manipulation
• Treating whole card memory structure as linear space (very convenient for MIFARE Classic® cards)
• NFC tags manipulation, NDEF format parsing in firmware
• AES128 “on fly” hardware encryption built-in, which is the most important when working with complex DESFire security keys and cards
• AES128 encryption of files and keys in DESFire cards
• MIFARE Plus support
• MIFARE Ultralight C support
• APDU command structure support where applicable (ISO14443-4 layer)
• Asynchronous sending of card UID from reader to host COM port when card is present; feature is user programmable
•  and many more…

Main point about firmware is that all firmware functions can be called via communication protocol, too.

That fact moves usage of this device into other dimension, meaning that this reader can be used on almost any platform which has serial interface, by simply using communication protocol. So it can be freely used on PC, tablet, smart phone, embedded systems, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Board, MIPS boards, PLCs, Arduino and other platforms.

Firmware is regularly updated with new versions which include new features, improvements and bug-fixes, while preserving backward compatibility with older versions. That means your code is safe, there is no need for changes when new firmware comes out. All firmware upgrades are totally FREE and can be obtained through download section of company’s website.

Software Development Kit (SDK) package 

Reader comes with fully featured SDK which consist of external libraries, software examples with source codes, documentation about API reference and communication protocol and some useful software tools.
Libraries are cross-compiled for various platforms and regularly supported are Windows x86/x64 and UWP, Linux x86/x64, Mac OSX x64, ARM/ARM HF and Arduino.
Other platforms can be supported as custom release, on customers demand, depending on existence of project or partnership relation.
Software examples are divided in three stages according to complexity, with some new additions of NFC examples.

All examples are written for all major developing platforms and languages, like:

• Java (and Java Applet example),
• JavaScript (unique feature, convenient for PHP usage),
• Lazarus,
• Borland Delphi,
• C++ Borland Builder,
• Microsoft® Visual .NET family: C++, C#, VB
• Python
• Arduino IDE examples

Other programming languages examples can be obtained on customer demand, , depending on existence of project or partnership relation.

Software package includes set of very useful applications intended for everyday use, like:

• Application for programming and manipulation of NFC compliant cards like NTAG and MIFARE Ultralight®, with source code included.
• Android NFC phone App - Android NFC phone Application for MIFARE® card reading. Write a card with uFR, read it with NFC phone!
• Card formatter - application for card/tag formatting and programming
• uFR2FileSystem - keyboard simulation, card data reading, card data parsing into several formats and sending data to MySQL database via HTTP.
• Application for NTAG and MIFARE Ultralight® card programming and manipulation.
• Application for creating and writing common NDEF messages into NFC tags and cards
• Reader Keys application – for easy manipulation of  keys stored in reader
• Application for managing of DESFire cards
• Examples of credit card use with reading of public data
• Shell like environment for easy testing and automation
• Web extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera

Documentation contains fully explained API reference and communication protocol reference with real “hands-on” byte level examples for implementing communication protocol. However, API is much more comfortable and recommended way of implementation. Where not possible, implementation of communication protocol is very good alternative.

All libraries, software examples, tools and documents are regularly updated. They are totally FREE and can be obtained through download section of company’s website.

Our support team always provides quick response, usually not more than 24 hours, which also depends of complexity and question itself. 

We can also provide custom solutions based on each customer's needs, so please free to contact us for any question or further help regarding your projects and implementation.