NFC Reader

[DesmondParticipant]

My company is exploring the idea of using mobile NFC to recognize our customers. We have already developed an app for Samsung phone to use the in built NFC. However we realize that there is some constraint in operation such as not all android phone has NFC, the reading distance is too small and etc

Hence, we looking for an alternative device that can be attach to either android or iOS mobile devices. It must be able to be extends away from the mobile device and having a further/wider reading range.

Please kindly advice on which readers in store that could fit into the requirement.
• It must interact with the mobile device either android or iOS to perform decryption on the discovered tag.
• It can be extends away from mobile devices.
• further/wider reading range.

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Desmond, glad to help. Based on your requirements, I would recommend the FloBLE Plus reader. It’s an NFC reader that connects to an Android or iOS host device over Bluetooth so tags can be read remotely as far as 30ft away. The actual read range of the NFC interface is dependent on the geometry and quality of the tags you choose for your use case. Credit card sized tags achieve the best read range around 2″ and smaller tags vary under that.

Along with our Flomio SDK, we support multi-reader connect which allows as many as 3 readers to connect to one host device. With this feature you can further broaden the touch points what tags can we scanned for your use case.

best,
Richard

[DesmondParticipant]

Hi Richard, thank for the response. Other than FloBLE Plus is there other readers that carry more weight or size example ACR122U : OEM NFC Reader for PC. As i worry that FloBLE Plus is in a palm size and no cable attached, it might be easily misplace by the operation team.

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Desmond, I’m not sure I understand your issue. Please elaborate your use case further. Our products are designed to be small and lightweight to fit as many use cases as possible. The only difference between the FloBLE Plus and the ACR122U is the USB cable. The FloBLE Plus has the same USB cable but it’s removable whereas the ACR122U has it fixed.

best,
Richard

[KangJieParticipant]

Hi Richard, We have encountered another issue regarding the FloBLE Plus. Is it possible to let it stay awake for at least 2hours? Our operation usually last for quite some time so we will require the device to stay awake for 2 hours.

[ScottKeymaster]

Hi Desmond,
We have added this as a feature to the latest SDK. FloBLE SDK v2.1 beta. Please review the README to configure your app correctly.
You will need to check if your reader is updated to the latest firmware to avail of this feature as it was not possible to configure using older firmware FloBLE Plus devices. To check if your device is firmware version 1.16.03, download the sample app at https://github.com/flomio/flomio_ios/tree/master/ACR1255U. If it is not 1.16.03 you will need to send the device to us for updating as there is a potential that the new SDK can cause the device to break.

Please let me know how you get on and I will assist you further if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Scott

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by  Scott.

[KangJieParticipant]

Hi Scott, Is there an alternative to update the device firmware? We are considering to buy the devices in bulk once we have implemented the sdk into our app. However, if we have to send the devices back to you guys everytime there is a device firmware update, it will affect our operations. Please advise.

[KangJieParticipant]

Hi Scott, Do you have an Android version of firmware checker?

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi KangJie, every FloBLE Plus/ACR1255U-J1 that we shipped after July 15th, 2016 included the latest firmware, v1.16.03, and will not suffer from breaking operation like previous firmware versions. You can check the firmware version of your devices using the Sample app released with the driver software:

https://github.com/flomio/flomio_android/tree/master/ACR1255U/Sample%20Code

best,
Richard

[KangJieParticipant]

Hi Richard, We are unable to find any power management methods in FloBLE SDK v2.1 beta. Kindly advise if it is possible to lengthen the device awake time.

[RichardKeymaster]

Power management modes are currently only available in the Flomio SDK for iOS, not Android. We are working towards adding these to Android. To enable power management, you need to set the right configurations as stated in Step 6 of the Readme.md instructions:

NSDictionary *configurationDictionary = @{
  @"Scan Sound" : @1,
  @"Scan Period" : @1000,
  @"Reader State" : [NSNumber numberWithInt:kReadUuid], //kReadData for NDEF
  @"Power Operation" : [NSNumber numberWithInt:kAutoPollingControl], //kBluetoothConnectionControl low power usage
  @"Allow Multiconnect" : @0, //control whether multiple FloBLE devices can connect
};

[KangJieParticipant]

Hi Richard, Is there an alternative to update the device firmware? We are considering to buy the devices in bulk once we have integrated the sdk into our app. However, if we have to send the devices back to you guys everytime there is a device firmware update, it will affect our operations. Please advise.

[RichardKeymaster]

We have on our roadmap to incorporate a firmware update service into the Flomio SDK. This will allow for remote firmware updates to be pushed over the air. We currently have this working on some of our reader designs but not the FloBLE Plus/ACR1255U-J1. It’s unclear as to when we will be able to get that done so for now the only option is to send in corrupted readers for reflashing and repair.

It’s worth noting that the probability of corrupting readers in the field is very low. Our SDK checks for the firmware version loaded onto target readers before engaging in features that could cause problems. To date we have not had any in field failures and have only observed failures when testing in our lab. It’s for this reason that our latest SDK v2.1 has been in beta longer than our previous releases. We want to make sure that none of our customers are adversely affected when using the release on deployed readers (presumably running older firmware).

hope that addresses your concern.
Richard

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