MicroNFCBoard: mbed API

mbed API for MicroNFCBoard

Features

NFC technologies

• SNEP client (send NDEF messages via P2P)
• SNEP server (receive NDEF messages via P2P)
• Tag writer type 2 (encode tags with NDEF messages)
• Tag reader type 2 (decode NDEF messages from tags)
• Tag emulator type 4
• ... any combination

NDEF records

• URI record
• Text record
• Smart poster record
• MIME record

License

This code is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Getting started

Flashing the firmware

Plug in a USB cable into your MicroNFCBoard. Press the Bootloader button (right) and hold it while inserting the USB cable in your computer. The board should appear as an USB mass storage device with the label CRP DISABLD. If you are upgrading the firmware, you can also hold the Bootloader button while pressing the Reset button and then releasing it.

Download the current firmware (version 1.5): http://dev.appnearme.com/static/micronfcboard/fw/firmware-MICRONFCBOARD-d4f6aecb7316.bin

Windows

Open the CRP DISABLD drive, erase the firmware.bin file and drag and drop the firmware file into the disk. Once done, press the Reset button (left) for a second and release it.

On Windows, you will need to use this file for proper installation of the serial driver: http://dev.appnearme.com/static/micronfcboard/drivers/micronfcboard_serial.inf

Mac OS X

Using the terminal, erase the firmware.bin file from the CRP DISABLD drive (usually /Volumes/CRP\ DISABLD) and copy the firmware file to the disk. Once done, press the Reset button (left) for a second and release it.

Linux

Flashing the firmware using the above methods might not work. If so, use the following command:

umount /dev/sdX
dd if=firmware-MICRONFCBOARD-*.bin of=/dev/sdX seek=4

Replace /dev/sdX with the correct drive path. Make sure to select the correct drive to avoid losing data!

Wiring it up

The MicroNFCBoard acts as a SPI slave. The MicroNFCBoard's USB cable can be unplugged now.

mbed pin	MicroNFCBoard pin
VUSB/5V	VIN
GND	GND

mbed pin	MicroNFCBoard pin
SPI SCK	SCK
SPI MISO	MISO
SPI MOSI	MOSI
Any digital pin	CS
Any digital pin	IRQ

Running the examples

We have put together a few mbed projects in the examples/ directory.

Basic

• The blink.cpp example will blink the board's LEDs a few times.

Tags

• The tag_reader.cpp example will poll for tags and display a tag's UID, decoding a NDEF message if available.
• The tag_writer.cpp example will poll for tags and display a tag's UID, and then write a NDEF message to the tag.

P2P

• The p2p_server.cpp example will poll for peers and wait for the peer to push a NDEF message (works with a NFC phone/tablet or another MicroNFCBoard).
• The p2p_client.cpp example will poll for peers and push a NDEF message to the peer (works with a NFC phone/tablet or another MicroNFCBoard).

Tag emulation

• The tag_emulator.cpp example will encode a NDEF message, poll for initiators and decode a new NDEF message if written to the emulated tag.

On the mbed website

For ease of use we have uploaded this library and examples on the mbed website.

###Library https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI/

###Examples

• Blink: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_Blink/
• Tag reader: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_Tag_Reader/
• Tag writer: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_Tag_Writer/
• P2P client: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_P2P_Client/
• P2P server: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_P2P_Server/
• Tag emulator: https://developer.mbed.org/teams/AppNearMe/code/MicroNFCBoardAPI_Tag_Emulator/

Working with multiple NFC technologies

All the examples above can be combined as you wish. It should be noted though that most NFC phones will favour handling P2P over reading a tag if you are emulating a tag and using P2P.

Typical combinations

• Tag reader/writer + P2P
• Tag reader/writer + Tag emulation
• Tag reader/writer + P2P (for phones) + Tag emulation (for "legacy" readers)

Issues, bugs and feature requests

Please use GitHub's issues platform: https://github.com/AppNearMe/micronfcboard-mbed-peripheral/issues

Work in progress

• AppNearMe mode
• Type 1, 3 and 4 reader/writer