johann.d One the goals of the Mono project is to make Microsoft .NET applications runnable on Unix systems. Using Mono, it is therefore now possible to maintain a single C#/.NET code base, that runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.
In this context, SpringCard’s PC/SC SDK (https://www.springcard.com/en/download/find/file/pcsc-sdk) has been updated, so that it now enables developers to write PC/SC applications in C#/.NET, that can execute on Windows, as well as on Linux and Mac OS X platforms.
You know the scene in the movie where the support guys are desperately trying to help a customer configuring a very specific product, only to discover minutes after that the customer has a totally different product in hands? Since SpringCard offers a very wide range of products, and since most products look the same (well, there’s nothing that resembles more closely an OEM NFC/RFID device than another NFC/RFID device), we experience this frequently. Our customer’s technicians sometimes face the same situation, when they come to the field and don’t know whether a colleague has already upgraded a firmware, uploaded a new configuration, or not.
To ease the job of all support teams and maintenance technicians, we’ve introduced an exciting new feature in all the “smart readers” firmware (aka all /RDR and RFID Scanner products). Starting with FW version 1.69, the reader is able to communicate with an Android application (code-name “SpringField Colorado“) and sends its identifier, version, serial number… This application runs on Android 4.4 and later, provided that the smartphone supports NFC. It takes benefit of the NFC host-card emulation (HCE) mode.
What is still possible: the Classical Access Control Architecture
SpringCard FunkyGate-IP/RDR is a network-attached wall smart reader, targetting physical Access Control and adopted by modern office buildings, airports, sensitive areas. The FunkyGate-IP+POE/RDR is the powered-by-the-network version. In a classical Access Control Architecture, the FunkyGate-IP/RDR acts as a TCP/IP server, and the Door Controller or the Access Control Central Computer connects to every reader as a client. The communication uses a custom client/server protocol, designed for reliability, security and speed.
SCardSniffer is a new tool used to spy the exchanges between Windows applications and the smart cards or NFC tags that are accessed through a PC/SC reader (or coupler).
On a Windows computer, all card-aware applications communicate with smart cards or NFC tags through the system’s PC/SC library, winscard.dll.
Many customers have noticed that the Windows’ PC/SC subsystem is not able to handle more than 10 readers (or slots in case of multi-slot readers). Actually, the SCardListReaders function -the system call to get the list of available PC/SC readers- is limited to 10 readers max. On old versions of Windows it was possible (although … Read more
In 2016, SpringCard introduces a new family of network-attached NFC/RFID couplers, providing PC/SC functionnality on top of TCP/IP. The family is built from the SpringCard E663 module, the Ethernet-world counterpart of H663 (for USB world) and K663 (for serial world). The two first products of the family are the TwistyWriter-IP PC/SC, made for OEMs, and the FunkyGate-IP PC/SC, targetting access-control applications. The second one is also available as a FunkyGate-IP+POE PC/SC, where ‘POE’ stands for ‘power-over-Ethernet’, i.e. the device takes its power from the network cable.
To support all the devices based on the E663 module, SpringCard has developed from scratch a PC/SC driver for Windows (see this page).