An NFC-Based Method for Rapid Identification of
Teaching Resources
Marllene Daneti
Applied Electronics Department
UPT
Romania
[email protected]
Abstract—To ensure effective teaching in electrical they manufactured from, how can they be tested, how to
engineering, it is essential to provide a continuous adjustment of assemble/disassemble them in a circuit, etc. In addition,
the practical support to the current requirements. A frequent students can learn about different stages in the evolution of
problem is related to the process of organizing an optimum technology; why it it important not to waste things, but rather
material base that would allow educators to quickly identify the to recover and recycle them; how can they be reused in new
appropriate items, making it possible to implement more relevant applications. In this way, from the very beginning, students
teaching aids. This paper proposes a method of organizing the learn to collaborate, are encouraged to take initiatives and
available material resources based on the Near Field finally are trained to become future leaders.
Communication (NFC) technology, by which teachers can rapidly
identify the required physical parts and approach practically in This paper proposes a method of implementing a “smart”
real time a wide range of information on the topic, leading to educational resource base which can be rapidly accessed, in
significant streamlining of his work. order to ease the design of laboratory/ projects work. This
product uses the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology
Keywords—teaching aids; wireless; radio frequency [14], which in turn operates with the Radio Frequency
identification; near field communication; Identification (RFID) standards [10], [20]. Through this
I. INTRODUCTION technique, objects having attached a specific label (called tag
or transponder) can be identified wirelessly, from a certain
In teaching electrical engineering (EE) subjects, practical distance. This service is currently used in transportation, for
work and laboratories are essential in helping students to gain access control, getting information (e.g. smart posters), secure
the required competencies. As many studies show [6]-[9], [11], transactions, healthcare, etc. A tag is called active if it has its
[21], these activities also stimulate creativity and increase own battery and passive otherwise. Evidently, the distance over
students’ motivation. For this reason, the teacher has to which the active transponders can send data is higher (i.e.
permanently adapt the content of the applications such that they typically less than 10 centimeters for the passive type, and up
may become more attractive, well suited to the students’ level, to 100 meters for the active ones). The tags used by the
but in the same time up-to-date, to meet the new demands of teaching resource base are passive[16]. They are represented by
the technology. However, the number and categories of small inexpensive objects of various shapes (e.g. cards,
material resources required for designing the necessary stickers, key fobs, etc.) that can be embedded into the articles
teaching aids is not negligible, and many times their value can about whom information is requested. A tag usually contains
easily exceed the allocated budget. In this respect, a good an antenna connected to a small memory chip, which can be
practice is to use recycled parts, along with new items as well, written with the information about that item. An RFID reader
since many useful components can be retrieved practically at brought near the tagged article powers the circuit through the
no cost from various outdated devices, appliances, useless sets, electromagnetic field and by this, the data stored in the memory
etc. Ideally, the teacher should have quick access to a wide chip can be read. The NFC technique was developed by the
range of parts from which the desired projects can be directly NFC Forum [13]. It runs in the high frequency (HF) domain at
implemented. From here derives the need for preparing a well 13.56 MHz, allowing the use of small size inexpensive tags,
organized base of material resources, allowing a rapid with a relatively high memory capacity (typically 1 to 4
identification for all the elements necessary in building the kilobytes), a minimum data transfer rate of 106 kbit/s, security
required teaching aids. Even though at the beginning collecting functions embedded, providing a communication range of
and systematization of various components seems a tedious maximum 10 centimeters and a good level of penetration of
work, which involves a considerable amount of time and materials, except metals. The tags can be configured with the
energy, it is worth doing it as best as possible, since it will save NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) standard [14] in order to
time and money later. This paper supports the idea of engaging share information with other NFC enabled devices, like smart-
the students in gathering, sorting, testing, finding the phones.
corresponding documentation, or storing every single part used
for this purpose. Through this apprenticeship work, students The next section describes a method of implementing this
will have the opportunity to better learn to recognize various concept using a mobile device. Also, section III presents an
electronic devices, how are they marked, what materials are approach based on a more complete project, enabling quick
978-1-4673-8633-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
Page 219
remote user access to a wide range of information related to the The light shaded portion in sector 0 contains manufacturer
identified items. type information, where the fist four bytes, indicating the tag
UID, can be remarked. The rest of the sectors 1,2,... contain the
II. A MOBILE APPROACH actual NDEF messages, except for the last block in each sector
Fig.1 illustrates the principle of the proposed educational (block 3, also called trailer), which stores the security features.
resource base. After the physical items are sorted and stored, an It includes two authentication keys and the access bits. The
NFC tag is attached to each class of articles. Information authentication keys can be found within bytes 0-5 (key A) and
regarding entry date, origin, place, etc. is also indicated in the 1-15 (key B), respectively. Also, the access bits, that specify
data base. The tag memory is written by an NFC enabled the memory access rights, are stored at bytes (6-9). For the
device with information about the item class, or may initiate an given example there is a principal message of 63 bytes with
application launch (e.g. links to files containing data sheets, two nested records. Table II presents details about it.
device codes, web pages, etc.). Likewise, the tag memory can
be read by the mobile device at any time, by bringing the TABLE I. TAG MEMORY ARRANGEMENT EXAMPLE
reader close to the tag. In this way, the user will be able to Bytes
quickly retrieve the desired information about that class of S B
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
articles.
0 C9 41 AA E0
The tags used in this project are NXP MIFARE ClassicTM, 1
1K passive type [20], containing an MF1 IC S50 chip [16] 0
2
which includes 1 kilobyte (1K) of Electrically Erasable 3 78 77 88 C1
Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) embedded.
0 00 00 03 3F D1 02 3A 53 70 91 01 24 55 01 72 61
The communication with the reader device is operated at 13.56
MHz, according to the ISO/IEC 14443A standard. Each tag is 1 64 69 6F 6D 75 73 65 75 6D 2E 6F 72 67 2F 64 73
1
described by a unique identifier number (UID), of four bytes 2 70 5F 73 65 61 72 63 68 74 75 62 65 73 2E 63 66
length. The 1K memory (1024 x 8 bits) is organized in 16 3 7F 07 88 40
sectors of 4 blocks. A block is in turn represented by a word of 0 6D 51 01 0E 54 02 72 6F 54 72 61 6E 73 69 73 74
16 bits. The tags used at this stage were configured as NDEF 1 6F 72 73 FE
[13], [14], allowing a hand-held device (e.g. an NFC enabled 2
2
Android based smart phone) to read / write the EEPROM. A 3 7F 07 88 40
tag usually designates a plain text, or a Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI ) such as a link to a file, a web page, etc. The
TABLE II. THE MESSAGE STRUCTURE
NDEF memory information is organized in messages
containing records. Each record is in turn composed of a S B Bytes Description
header (indicating the data type, length, identifier, etc.) and a
payload (comprising the actual data stored). 0-1 Null message, usually ignored
Table I shows an example of the memory content for a 2-3 Notify that an NDEF message of 63 bytes follows
typical, NDEF configured tag, programmed with the NFC Tag
General header, indicating a short message, well-known
Writer by NXP application [17]. The abbreviations S and B 4-8
record set of 58 bytes
0
denote the memory “sector” and “block”, respectively. In this
Sub-header for the first record: tells that it is a well-
example only the first three sectors are presented. Here all data 9 - 13 known type, (URI), with the identifier code
is expressed in hexadecimal form. “http://www” and a payload length of 36 bytes
1
14-15
Launch Includes the character string that specifies the web
Applications 1 0 - 15 address:
‘radiomuseum.org/dsp_searchtubes.cf’ …
2 1 - 15
Smart Tag Link to:
NFC Enabled -data sheets Include the access bits of the current sector: indicate that
Mobile Device -web pages 3 6-9 the memory can be accessed using the authentication
Items Class -device codes keys A or B.
-the storage data
base, etc. 0 Last character of the string … ‘m’ .
Storage Unit Sub-header for the second record: says that it is the last
0 1-4 one, a well known type, namely text (T), having a 14
Recycled or bytes payload
Data Base
new items 2
5 -15
Includes the text on the tag, here: ‘Transistors’
1 0-2
3 Terminator byte (FE): indicates the message end
Fig. 1. Smart teaching resource base principle.
978-1-4673-8633-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
Page 220
Thus, the tag memory in the above example contains a The two XBee radio devices ensure an increased
short text, indicating the transistor class of items and a link to a communication range between the storage unit and the base
web page for handy identification of possible unknown item station. Here a pair of modules from the XBee® Series 1family
codes. [7] is used. This is a low cost solution, based on the IEEE®
802.15.4 protocol, providing 1 mW transmit power, at 2.4GHz
III. A PROJECT BASED APPROACH frequency, through a wire whip type antenna, covering up to
This section presents a more complete model for 30m of indoor/urban range and a point-to-point/ multipoint
identifying the educational resources, designed to serve at the network topology. In this project the default transparent
same time as a student project (fig.2). Additional features of operation mode was chosen [7], where the data is transmitted
this system include: an increased range between the tag reader serial via the input (DI) / output (DO) XBee pins at a 9600
and the central station by using the XBee radio modules [7]; a baud (bits/second). Since these modules strictly require 3.3V
more consistent data base providing immediate connections not DC supply voltage, some adapter circuits [4] are also used, to
only with the required documentation, but also with some ensure the level shifting from the 5V based supply Arduino
complex applications (e.g. Matlab, Simulink, [12] etc.) system.
designed to ease the process of learning. On the receiver side, at the base station, an 8x8 LED
In this project both the transmitter and the receiver contain display matrix was chosen to provide a quick visual signal (e.g.
an Arduino Uno microcontroller board [5], a low cost, open symbol, initials) of the identified item category. Fig. 3b shows
source platform, easy to practice with, and to be integrated in an example of a case when a diode class of items was detected.
any typical automated system. Here it is used as a host The display is connected to the Arduino microcontroller via the
controller for the NFC reader, on the transmitter side. At the I2C interface, through an Adafruit LED Backpack [1] driver
same time, at the receiver point it serves to interpret, identify (based on a HT16K33 chip), that ensures multiplexing and
and display the information from the transmitter and to wiring issues simplification. The algorithm steps for both the
establish a serial communication with the data base on the transmitter and the receiver are synthesized in the flowchart
personal computer (PC). On the other hand, the two Arduino shown in fig.3a.
boards communicate via a pair of XBee radio modules. The open-source software component, Arduino IDE
The NFC reader consists of a PN532 RFID /NFC Shield (Integrated Development Environment) [5], is used for their
from Adafruit [2], built around a PN532 microcontroller
system [15], [18], [19], and a specific antenna for Transmitter Receiver
radiofrequency (RF) communication at 13.56 MHz. In this
case, the NFC reader uses the I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) Initialization Initialization
interface, that shares the clock and data signal lines with the
master device, here the Arduino board. The NFC reader is
therefore configured to run as a peripheral device (slave) Read tag UID and Read bytes from XBee
through this interface, allowing the addition of other I2C based convert it into an and when the string end
components (e.g. temperature-humidity sensor, LCD display, integer number is detected, convert it
into an integer number
etc.), if needed. The whole transmitter is powered by a Lithium
polymer (LiPoly) 3.7V, 1400 mAh capacity battery through an
Adafruit Powerboost Shield module [3]. This circuit provides Pass UID to the Compare with the set of
5V direct current (DC) for the Arduino environment via a built serial port to be known UIDs; if a match is
in DC/DC boost converter . It also contains a battery charger transmitted via found, display the result icon
section delivering up to 500mA/hour for recharging the battery. XBee at the LED matrix and open
the data base file; otherwise,
Transmitter Receiver display the “?” sign
Included
Arduino + Arduino
XBee XBee PC libraries
NFC +
Reader radio radio Display
Transmitter:
Wire
Adafruit_PN532
Text books SoftwareSerial
Receiver:
Storage
Data sheets Wire
Unit
Adafruit_LEDBackpack
NFC Data Web pages Adafruit_GFX
tags base
SoftwareSerial
Applications
Fig. 3. a) Algorithm steps (top) and libraries (bottom left hand corner) used
Fig. 2. Block diagram of the proposed system in the proposed project; b) Receiver: quick visual indicator example (bottom
right hand corner)
978-1-4673-8633-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
Page 221
implementation. Some dedicated libraries (fig. 3a) are also
employed to control the peripheral circuits (e.g. “Wire” for the double RT theta
I2C interface “Adafruit_PN532” with the NFC reader, Pin 0 LCD
“SoftwareSerial” with the XBee, etc.). Yet the serial Thermistor Mean Temperature
communication with the PC at the base station is performed via S-Function
the hardware interface controller UART (Universal Builder
Voltage
Asynchronous Receiver/ Transmitter). It also employs a certain double 5/1023
software program running in parallel on the PC, which carries Pin 1
out the Arduino command to open the data base file. The latter Diode Mean
is practically a simple Excel type file where basically a
worksheet is assigned to each item category from the storage
unit. Table III presents a sample of some typical information
included for the chosen case (i.e. when the diode items are
detected). Here along with data relating to the type and
quantity, some useful links are also provided. Fig.4 presents an
example of a Simulink diagram that can be used to run a basic
experiment with the item in question. This design mode
provides some ready made information, at hand to help the
educator in documenting for preparing the lessons, and thus be Fig. 4. Matlab/ Simulink application example that can be accessed directly
via the data base link
more efficient.
IV. CONCLUSIONS students can gain specific skills related to modern technologies
(e.g. microcontrollers, wireless technology, etc.). Certain
In teaching electrical engineering subjects, students must be transversal competencies can be acquired also, like learning
permanently involved in practical activities that help them to how to be organized, responsible or find creative ways for
develop new skills. On the other hand the teacher needs to repurposing and recycling some discarded /common items for
come at the right time with suitable strategies to attract and new exciting projects.
motivate students. However, it requires access to a well
organized educational base. This paper shows a way to meet REFERENCES
the needs on both sides. The concept of a “smart” teaching
base, using the NFC technology, that allows rapid [1] Adafruit LED Backpacks, May, 2015 [online] available:
identification of the available resources, has been proposed. https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-led-backpack
This can be done by reading data, usually with an NFC enabled [2] Adafruit PN532 RFID / NFC Breakout and Shield, [online] available:
hand held device, from smart tags embedded in the storage https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pn532-rfid-nfc
unit. Along with some basic information related to the detected [3] Adafruit PowerBoost 500 Shield Rechargeable 5V Power Shield,
items, instantly connections to relevant text documents, [online] available: http://www.adafruit.com/product/2078
websites or applications can be provided. [4] Adafruit, XBee radios, simple wireless communication, Feb., 2015,
[online] available: https://learn.adafruit.com/xbee-radios
Following this idea, a student project is next described, [5] Arduino Board Uno, [online] available: https://www.arduino.cc
based on some available open source components. Thereby, [6] B.M. Block, “Integration of laboratory experiments into introductory
electrical engineering courses: concept, implementation and
TABLE III. TYPICAL D ATA-BASE INFORMATION SAMPLE competence-based evaluation”, IEEE Global Engineering Education
Conference (EDUCON), April, 2014
Diode Class
[7] Digi International Inc., XBee® / XBee-PRO® RF Modules Product
I. Type manual, v1.xEx – 802.15.4 Protocol, [online] available: https://
Main characteristics www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Zigbee/XBee-Datasheet.pdf
Item Code Peak Inverse Observations [8] IEEE Real World Engineering Projects (RWEP) portal,
Material Applications
Voltage [V] http://www.realworldengineering.org
1N4148 Silicon signal 75 - [9] B. Johnson, R.Ulseth, “Proffesional competency attainment in a project
II. No. of pieces (pcs) based learning curriculum: A comparison of project based learning to
traditional engineering education”, IEEE Frontiers in Education
Entered Borrowed Returned Conference (FIE), Oct. 2014
Initial Final
[pcs] No. From Date
No.
To Date
No.
From Date [pcs] [10] H. Lehpamer, RFID Design Principles, 2 nd ed., Artech House, Feb. 2012
pcs pcs pcs
[11] L. Li, “Project-based learning in electronic technology: a case study”,
Jul- Oct- European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol.40, Issue 5, 2015
0 50 S1a 2 P1b - - - 48
15 15
[12] MathWorks, Simulation and Model-Based Design, [online] available:
III. Links www.mathworks.com/products/simulink
No. Designation Description [13] NFC Forum, [online] available: www.nfc-forum.org
[14] Nokia Forum, Introduction to NFC, Apr., 2011, [online] available:
Link to a Simulink file (Fig.4) pointing out to an
Project 1 www.adafruit.com/datasheets/Introduction_to_NFC_v1_0_en.pdf
1. experiment for studying the dependence of a diode
(P1) [15] NXP Semiconductors, AN10609_3, PN532 C106 application note, Jan.,
voltage drop versus the external temperature.
2010 [online] available: www.adafruit.com/datasheets /pn532C106
a.
Old ham radio set (S1); b.
Diode thermometer project (P1). _Application_Note_v1.2.pdf
978-1-4673-8633-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
Page 222
[16] NXP Semiconductors, MF1, IC, S50, Functional specification, Jan. [20] RFID Selection Guide, Sept. 2010, [online] available:
2007, [online] available: www.adafruit.com/datasheets/S50.pdf www.adafruit.com/datasheets/rfid
[17] NXP Semiconductors, NFC Tag Writer by NXP, Aug., 2015, [online] [21] K.H.Tseng, C.C. Chang, S.J. Lou, W.P Chen, “Attitudes towards
available: https://inspire.nxp.com/tagwriter/tag-writer-user-manual.pdf science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in a project-
[18] NXP Semiconductors, UM0701-02, PN532 User Manual, Nov., 2007, based learning (PjBL) environment, International Journal of Technology
[online] available: www.adafruit.com/datasheets/pn532um.pdf and Design Education, Vol. 23, Issue 1, pp.87-102, Feb. 2013.
[19] Philips Semiconductors, PN532/C1, NFC Controller, March 2011,
[online] available: www.adafruit.com/datasheets/pn532ds.pdf
978-1-4673-8633-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
Page 223
