Beginning NFC: Near Field Communication with Arduino, Android, and PhoneGap

by Tom Igoe, Don Coleman, Brian Jepson

Overview

Jump into the world of Near Field Communications (NFC), the fast-growing technology that lets devices in close proximity exchange data, using radio signals. With lots of examples, sample code, exercises, and step-by-step projects, this hands-on guide shows you how to build NFC applications for Android, the Arduino microcontroller, and embedded Linux devices.

You’ll learn how to write apps using the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) in PhoneGap, Arduino, and node.js that help devices read messages from passive NFC tags and exchange data with other NFC-enabled devices. If you know HTML and JavaScript, you’re ready to start with NFC.

• Dig into NFC’s architecture, and learn how it’s related to RFID
• Write sample apps for Android with PhoneGap and its NFC plugin
• Dive into NDEF: examine existing tag-writer apps and build your own
• Listen for and filter NDEF messages, using PhoneGap event listeners
• Build a full Android app to control lights and music in your home
• Create a hotel registration app with Arduino, from check-in to door lock
• Write peer-to-peer NFC messages between two Android devices
• Explore embedded Linux applications, using examples on Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449324117
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	246
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Tom Igoe teaches courses in physical computing and networking at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. In his teaching and research, he explores ways to allow digital technologies to sense and respond to a wider range of human physical expression. He is the author of Making Things Talk and Getting Started with RFID, and he co-authored Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers with Dan O’Sullivan. He is a contributor to MAKE magazine and a co-founder of the Arduino open source micro-controller project. He hopes someday to visit Svalbard and Antarctica.

Don Coleman is a lifelong engineer who has come full circle; from mechanical to software and now to hardware, bridging the gap between all disciplines. Along the way he has created systems varying from environmental monitoring mesh networks to wearable tech. Don is a seasoned PhoneGap developer embracing it since inception and has spoken across the country about the benefits and advantages of using PhoneGap. A true maker at heart - everything in this book, is running somewhere in his home. As the Director of Consulting for Chariot Solutions, a software consulting company near Philadelphia, PA, he works with teams and clients to reinvent their existing technology and lay the groundwork for the future.

Brian Jepson is a book editor with MAKE, a hacker, and co-organizer of Providence Geeks and the Rhode Island Mini Maker Faire. He’s also a geek-at-large for AS220, a nonprofit arts center in Providence, Rhode Island. AS220 gives Rhode Island artists uncensored and unjuried forums for their work and also provides galleries, performance space, fabrication facilities, and live/work space.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

Who This Book Is For 2

Recommended Reading 2

What's Covered in This Book 3

What You'll Need 4

Hardware 4

Software 6

Other Useful NFC Apps 7

Conventions Used in This Book 8

Using Code Examples 8

Safari Books Online 9

How to Contact Us 9

Acknowledgments 10

2 NFC and RFID 11

What's RFID? 11

What's NFC? 12

How RFID Operates 13

RFID Standards 13

How NFC Operates 14

NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) 14

The Architecture of NFC 15

NFC Tag Types 17

Where to Get Tags 18

Device-to-Tag Type Matching 19

What You Can Do with NFC 20

Conclusion 21

3 Getting Started with PhoneGap and the PhoneGap-NFC Library 23

Why Android? 23

Hello, World! Your First PhoneGap App 24

Setting Up the Development Environment 24

Creating a PhoneGap Project 29

The Important Files 33

A Simple Locator App 34

PhoneGap Meets NFC: NFC Reader 40

Installing the NFC Plug-In 41

Writing the NFC Reader App 42

Troubleshooting 46

Conclusion 46

4 Introducing NDEF 49

NDEF Structure 49

Type Name Format 51

Payload Type 51

Payload Identifier 53

Payload 53

Record Layout 53

Record Header 54

How Big Can an NDEF Message Be? 55

Record Chunking 56

Additional Info 56

NDEF in Practice 56

A Tag Writer Application: Foursquare Check-In 61

Writing an NDEF Record to a Tag 62

Writing Different Record Types 66

PhoneGap-NFC NDEF Helper Functions, Summarized 72

Conclusion 73

5 Listening for NDEF Messages 75

PhoneGap-NFC's Event Listeners 75

An NDEF Reader Application 77

Listening for Multiple Events 78

Reading the NDEF Messages 81

Filtering Tags Using Record Types 84

Filtering Using MIME-Types 86

Android's Tag Dispatch System 89

Types of Intents 89

Android Application Records 93

Conclusion 93

6 An NFC Application in Practice 95

The User Interaction 97

Getting to Know Hue, Getting to Know All About Hue 98

The Hue Data Format 101

The Hue's REST API 104

The Android Shell 104

The PhoneGap Media API 105

The User Interface 106

The Application Code 109

Housekeeping Functions 110

Global Event Handlers 112

Hub Communication Functions 114

Lighting User Interface Event Handlers 118

Music User Interface Event Handlers 121

NFC Event Handlers 126

Enabling Background Dispatch 129

Conclusion 129

7 Introduction to Arduino and NFC 131

Digital Meets Physical: Arduino 131

The Hardware Heart of NFC 133

The Arduino Development Environment 133

Serial Communication 137

Installing Arduino Libraries 138

The Arduino NDEF Library 141

Reading NDEF in Arduino 142

Writing NDEF in Arduino 145

A Microcontroller NFC Application: Hotel Key Cards 146

The Interaction and Data Format 148

The Arduino NDEF Writer Device 150

The Arduino NDEF Reader and Door Lock Device 157

A Browser Interface for the Arduino NDEF Writer Device 165

Node.js Application Specification: package.json 165

The Client-Side Code 166

The Server-Side Code 167

Conclusion 172

8 Peer-to-Peer Exchange 173

Sending Peer-to-Peer Messages in PhoneGap 175

Receiving Peer-to-Peer Messages in PhoneGap 183

Handover 185

Static Handover 186

Sending Handover Messages in PhoneGap 186

Peer-to-Peer Using Arduino 192

Card Emulation 193

Conclusion 194

9 NFC on Embedded Systems 195

Introduction to Embedded Linux Devices and Package Managers 196

Network, USB, and NFC 196

NFC on Embedded Linux: The Overview 199

Housekeeping Details 200

Get Comfortable with Your Editing Workflow 200

Know Your Package Manager 200

Set the Date and Time 201

Make a Downloads Directory 202

BeagleBone Peculiarities 202

Raspberry Pi Peculiarities 202

Installing the Tools for NFC 203

Installing the Libusb Compatibility Library 204

Installing libnfc 204

Testing the Installation on Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone 205

Installing libfreefare 205

Libnfc and Libfreefare Command Line Tools 206

NDEF Reading and Writing in Node.js 208

Web Interface for Tag Writer 212

Tags Controlling Physical Output 214

BeagleBone Version 214

Raspberry Pi Version 217

Conclusion 221

A NFC Specification Codes 223

Index 227