[HN Gopher] InstaNFC - Access Control Hardware for Developers
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InstaNFC - Access Control Hardware for Developers
Author : mmackh
Score : 64 points
Date : 2022-03-06 11:23 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (instanfc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (instanfc.com)
| adontz wrote:
| RC522 and ESP32 is something an amateur can glue together. I
| cannot see why is this project a thing. I would expect a TPM
| alike module at least.
| alexchamberlain wrote:
| If it comes with the box, then that's reason enough for me.
|
| Consider a "smart" door bell. Sure, it's easy to attach a
| camera to an RPi and a button, but I don't want to strap that
| to my front door without a nice box to put it in.
| mmackh wrote:
| Cost/performance, time to market, IDE, ability for others to
| understand
| adontz wrote:
| Cost will be lower with your own design because you'll
| integrate other components on the same board. It needs power,
| probably battery backup too. It needs to control some coil of
| electromagnetic lock. Access control is more than just
| flashing LEDs.
|
| It has IDE because ESP32 has IDE.
| chrismeller wrote:
| I see it as similar to a RPi - great for POC or smaller
| deployments, especially if you have different requirements on
| different projects because you can share the same knowledge
| base, but for a large deployment you'd probably invest the time
| and money into sourcing something more specific.
|
| I've had lots of half-baked ideas for things to do around the
| house that this would be very cool for, since I'm not 100% sure
| what functionality (and therefore hardware) I'll really need.
| adontz wrote:
| Honestly, it's not THAT hard with Raspberry PI Pico and
| CircuitPython.
|
| I have experience of programming for ARM M0 with Linaro,
| debugging over SWD. It was pain.
|
| A few weeks ago I got Tiny2040, flashed with CircuitPython. I
| believe even a teenager can now do some microcontroller
| stuff. It's so unbelievably easy.
| frenchie4111 wrote:
| Shameless plug: If this interests you, I am building similar
| technology for enterprises at Verkada, reach out to me I'm
| looking for builders
| citizenpaul wrote:
| I don't want to be hostile but your camera pricing seems
| insanely high. It looks like you are competing for the same
| market as Reolink which has what appears to be a similar
| product for a TINY fraction of the cost probably 10x or less.
|
| What is the benefit of your product vs theirs?
| frenchie4111 wrote:
| That's a great question. Hard to answer in a comment. It's
| sort of apples & oranges. The way I think about it, we are
| targeting a different customer (enterprise vs small
| business/home) and we are solving the problem in a different
| way (no nvr, cloud first, deeply integrated, extremely easy
| to install and maintain, dedicated customer support). In my
| mind, it's something like Reolink:Verkada::Self hosting:AWS
| adanto6840 wrote:
| I'd be interested in chatting. I don't see an email in your
| profile, let me know how to get in touch & I'll drop you a line
| this week. :)
| frenchie4111 wrote:
| Email sent :)
| s_dev wrote:
| This looks very cool. No mention of pricing yet -- anyone care to
| speculate? I can appreciate the request for a distributor at the
| end means they aren't commercially pumping them out yet but maybe
| a dev kit for example.
| xondono wrote:
| I wonder what kind of success this might have, because this is
| clearly something they built either internally or for a client
| and turned it into a off the shelf product.
|
| I have built stuff who could even compete with that.
| thatha7777 wrote:
| This would be much more interesting if it had Apple VAS & Google
| SmartTap support. Although, I suppose that'd require proprietary
| blobs and a enterprisey admission process.
| mmackh wrote:
| Those chips and protocols are closely guarded, alternatively
| the hardware has BLE support. I did already create a proof of
| concept offline-only Apple Watch access app.
| varamocs wrote:
| If I understand this correctly, this project seems to encourage
| developing AC systems with the authorization logic on the public
| side.
|
| If so, keep in mind that a hammer would be as effective as any
| authorized contactless device.
| mmackh wrote:
| From the website: "Read NFC tags to open doors with electric
| strikes (integrated 12V relay) or motors (toggle GND). A second
| board can be used as an antenna for enhanced security."
|
| For lower security scenarios like access to hotel rooms (where
| trust has already been established) it is sufficient. Plus
| using a case with proprietary screws, or even making it
| inaccessible from the outside can also help with security.
| xaduha wrote:
| NFC tags aka MIFARE Classic and the like? Those would be
| susceptible to cloning with something like Chameleon Tiny and to
| repeater attacks. You need actual contactless smartcard support
| if you want to use it for something serious. Otherwise be ready
| for LockPickingLawyer making an example of you of how not to do
| it, he already has similar videos about it.
|
| PC/SC compatible stuff is out there if you know where to look
| (not affiliated with them)
| https://webshop.d-logic.net/products/nfc-rfid-reader-writer/...
|
| (ignore the cards they include with the order, proper contactless
| smartcards or something like an OMNI ring
| https://store.nfcring.com/products/omni need to be purchased
| separately)
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(page generated 2022-03-06 23:01 UTC)