MATLAB/Octave - NFC/RFID Bricklet

This is the description of the MATLAB/Octave API bindings for the NFC/RFID Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the NFC/RFID Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.

An installation guide for the MATLAB/Octave API bindings is part of their general description.

Examples

The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).

Write Read Type2 (MATLAB)

Download (matlab_example_write_read_type2.m)

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function matlab_example_write_read_type2()
    global nfc;
    import com.tinkerforge.IPConnection;
    import com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID;

    HOST = 'localhost';
    PORT = 4223;
    UID = 'hjw'; % Change to your UID
    
    ipcon = IPConnection(); % Create IP connection
    nfc = BrickletNFCRFID(UID, ipcon); % Create device object

    ipcon.connect(HOST, PORT); % Connect to brickd
    % Don't use device before ipcon is connected

    % Register state changed callback to function cb_state_changed
    set(nfc, 'StateChangedCallback', @(h, e) cb_state_changed(e));
    
    % Select NFC Forum Type 2 tag
    nfc.requestTagID(nfc.TAG_TYPE_TYPE2);

    input('Press any key to exit...\n', 's');
    ipcon.disconnect();
end

% Callback function for state changed
function cb_state_changed(e)
    global nfc
    
    if e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY
        fprintf('Tag found\n');
        
        % Write 16 byte to pages 5-8
        data_write = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15];
        nfc.writePage(5, data_write);
        fprintf('Writing data...\n');
    elseif e.state == nfc.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_READY
        % Request pages 5-8
        nfc.requestPage(5);
        fprintf('Requesting data...\n');
    elseif e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_READY
        % Get and print pages
        data = nfc.getPage();
        fprintf('Read data: [%d]\n', data);
    elseif (bitand(e.state, 64) == 64)
        % All errors have bit 6 set
        fprintf('Error: %d\n', e.state);
    end
end

Scan For Tags (MATLAB)

Download (matlab_example_scan_for_tags.m)

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function matlab_example_scan_for_tags()
    global nfc;
    global tag_type;
    import com.tinkerforge.IPConnection;
    import com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID;

    HOST = 'localhost';
    PORT = 4223;
    UID = 'hjw'; % Change to your UID
    
    ipcon = IPConnection(); % Create IP connection
    nfc = BrickletNFCRFID(UID, ipcon); % Create device object
    tag_type = 0;

    ipcon.connect(HOST, PORT); % Connect to brickd
    % Don't use device before ipcon is connected

    % Register state changed callback to function cb_state_changed
    set(nfc, 'StateChangedCallback', @(h, e) cb_state_changed(e));
    
    nfc.requestTagID(nfc.TAG_TYPE_MIFARE_CLASSIC);

    input('Press any key to exit...\n', 's');
    ipcon.disconnect();
end

% Callback function for state changed
function cb_state_changed(e)
    global tag_type
    global nfc
    
    % Cycle through all types
    if e.idle
        tag_type = mod((tag_type + 1), 3);
        nfc.requestTagID(tag_type);
    end
    
    if e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY
        ret = nfc.getTagID();

        if ret.tidLength == 4
            fprintf('Found tag of type %d with ID [%x %x %x %x]\n', ...
                    ret.tagType, ret.tid(1), ret.tid(2), ret.tid(3), ret.tid(4));
        else
            fprintf('Found tag of type %d with ID [%x %x %x %x %x %x %x]\n', ...
                    ret.tagType, ret.tid(1), ret.tid(2), ret.tid(3), ret.tid(4), ...
                    ret.tid(5), ret.tid(6), ret.tid(7));
        end
    end
end

Scan For Tags (Octave)

Download (octave_example_scan_for_tags.m)

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function octave_example_scan_for_tags()
    more off;

    global nfc;
    global tag_type;

    HOST = 'localhost';
    PORT = 4223;
    UID = 'hjw'; % Change to your UID
    
    ipcon = java_new("com.tinkerforge.IPConnection"); % Create IP connection
    nfc = java_new("com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID", UID, ipcon); % Create device object
    tag_type = 0;

    ipcon.connect(HOST, PORT); % Connect to brickd
    % Don't use device before ipcon is connected

    % Register state changed callback to function cb_state_changed
    nfc.addStateChangedCallback(@cb_state_changed);
    
    nfc.requestTagID(nfc.TAG_TYPE_MIFARE_CLASSIC);

    input('Press any key to exit...\n', 's');
    ipcon.disconnect();
end

% Callback function for state changed
function cb_state_changed(e)
    global tag_type
    global nfc
    
    % Cycle through all types
    if e.idle
        tag_type = mod((tag_type + 1), 3);
        nfc.requestTagID(tag_type);
    end
    
    if e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY
        ret = nfc.getTagID();

        if ret.tidLength == 4
            fprintf('Found tag of type %d with ID [%x %x %x %x]\n', ...
                    ret.tagType, ret.tid(1), ret.tid(2), ret.tid(3), ret.tid(4));
        else
            fprintf('Found tag of type %d with ID [%x %x %x %x %x %x %x]\n', ...
                    ret.tagType, ret.tid(1), ret.tid(2), ret.tid(3), ret.tid(4), ...
                    ret.tid(5), ret.tid(6), ret.tid(7));
        end
    end
end

Write Read Type2 (Octave)

Download (octave_example_write_read_type2.m)

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function matlab_example_write_read_type2()
    more off;

    global nfc;

    HOST = 'localhost';
    PORT = 4223;
    UID = 'hjw'; % Change to your UID
    
    ipcon = java_new("com.tinkerforge.IPConnection"); % Create IP connection
    nfc = java_new("com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID", UID, ipcon); % Create device object
    
    ipcon = IPConnection(); % Create IP connection
    nfc = BrickletNFCRFID(UID, ipcon); % Create device object

    ipcon.connect(HOST, PORT); % Connect to brickd
    % Don't use device before ipcon is connected

    % Register state changed callback to function cb_state_changed
    nfc.addStateChangedCallback(@cb_state_changed);
    
    % Select NFC Forum Type 2 tag
    nfc.requestTagID(nfc.TAG_TYPE_TYPE2);

    input('Press any key to exit...\n', 's');
    ipcon.disconnect();
end

% Callback function for state changed
function cb_state_changed(e)
    global nfc
    
    if e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY
        fprintf('Tag found\n');
        
        % Write 16 byte to pages 5-8
        data_write = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15];
        nfc.writePage(5, data_write);
        fprintf('Writing data...\n');
    elseif e.state == nfc.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_READY
        % Request pages 5-8
        nfc.requestPage(5);
        fprintf('Requesting data...\n');
    elseif e.state == nfc.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_READY
        % Get and print pages
        data = nfc.getPage();
        fprintf('Read data: [%d]\n', data);
    elseif (bitand(e.state, 64) == 64)
        % All errors have bit 6 set
        fprintf('Error: %d\n', e.state);
    end
end

API

Generally, every method of the MATLAB bindings that returns a value can throw a TimeoutException. This exception gets thrown if the device did not respond. If a cable based connection is used, it is unlikely that this exception gets thrown (assuming nobody unplugs the device). However, if a wireless connection is used, timeouts will occur if the distance to the device gets too big.

Beside the TimeoutException there is also a NotConnectedException that is thrown if a method needs to communicate with the device while the IP Connection is not connected.

Since the MATLAB bindings are based on Java and Java does not support multiple return values and return by reference is not possible for primitive types, we use small classes that only consist of member variables. The member variables of the returned objects are described in the corresponding method descriptions.

The package for all Brick/Bricklet bindings and the IP Connection is com.tinkerforge.*

All methods listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions

public class BrickletNFCRFID(String uid, IPConnection ipcon)

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid.

In MATLAB:

import com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID;

nfcRFID = BrickletNFCRFID('YOUR_DEVICE_UID', ipcon);

In Octave:

nfcRFID = java_new("com.tinkerforge.BrickletNFCRFID", "YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon);

This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected (see examples above).

public void requestTagID(short tagType)

To read or write a tag that is in proximity of the NFC/RFID Bricklet you first have to call this function with the expected tag type as parameter. It is no problem if you don't know the tag type. You can cycle through the available tag types until the tag gives an answer to the request.

Current the following tag types are supported:

  • Mifare Classic (tag_type = 0)
  • NFC Forum Type 1 (tag_type = 1)
  • NFC Forum Type 2 (tag_type = 2)

After you call requestTagID() the NFC/RFID Bricklet will try to read the tag ID from the tag. After this process is done the state will change. You can either register the StateChangedCallback callback or you can poll getState() to find out about the state change.

If the state changes to RequestTagIDError it means that either there was no tag present or that the tag is of an incompatible type. If the state changes to RequestTagIDReady it means that a compatible tag was found and that the tag ID could be read out. You can now get the tag ID by calling getTagID().

If two tags are in the proximity of the NFC/RFID Bricklet, this function will cycle through the tags. To select a specific tag you have to call requestTagID() until the correct tag id is found.

In case of any Error state the selection is lost and you have to start again by calling requestTagID().

The following constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_MIFARE_CLASSIC = 0
  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_TYPE1 = 1
  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_TYPE2 = 2
public BrickletNFCRFID.TagID getTagID()

Returns the tag type, tag ID and the length of the tag ID (4 or 7 bytes are possible length). This function can only be called if the NFC/RFID is currently in one of the Ready states. The returned ID is the ID that was saved through the last call of requestTagID().

To get the tag ID of a tag the approach is as follows:

  1. Call requestTagID()
  2. Wait for state to change to RequestTagIDReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  3. Call getTagID()

The following constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_MIFARE_CLASSIC = 0
  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_TYPE1 = 1
  • BrickletNFCRFID.TAG_TYPE_TYPE2 = 2

The returned object has the public member variables short tagType, short tidLength and short[] tid.

public BrickletNFCRFID.State getState()

Returns the current state of the NFC/RFID Bricklet.

On startup the Bricklet will be in the Initialization state. The initialization will only take about 20ms. After that it changes to Idle.

The functions of this Bricklet can be called in the Idle state and all of the Ready and Error states.

Example: If you call requestPage(), the state will change to RequestPage until the reading of the page is finished. Then it will change to either RequestPageReady if it worked or to RequestPageError if it didn't. If the request worked you can get the page by calling getPage().

The same approach is used analogously for the other API functions.

Possible states are:

  • Initialization = 0
  • Idle = 128
  • Error = 192
  • RequestTagID = 2
  • RequestTagIDReady = 130
  • RequestTagIDError = 194
  • AuthenticatingMifareClassicPage = 3
  • AuthenticatingMifareClassicPageReady = 131
  • AuthenticatingMifareClassicPageError = 195
  • WritePage = 4
  • WritePageReady = 132
  • WritePageError = 196
  • RequestPage = 5
  • RequestPageReady = 133
  • RequestPageError = 197

The following constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_INITIALIZATION = 0
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_IDLE = 128
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_ERROR = 192
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID = 2
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY = 130
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_ERROR = 194
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE = 3
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE_READY = 131
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE_ERROR = 195
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE = 4
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_READY = 132
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_ERROR = 196
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE = 5
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_READY = 133
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_ERROR = 197

The returned object has the public member variables short state and boolean idle.

public void authenticateMifareClassicPage(int page, short keyNumber, short[] key)

Mifare Classic tags use authentication. If you want to read from or write to a Mifare Classic page you have to authenticate it beforehand. Each page can be authenticated with two keys: A (key_number = 0) and B (key_number = 1). A new Mifare Classic tag that has not yet been written to can can be accessed with key A and the default key [0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF].

The approach to read or write a Mifare Classic page is as follows:

  1. Call requestTagID()
  2. Wait for state to change to RequestTagIDReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  3. If looking for a specific tag then call getTagID() and check if the expected tag was found, if it was not found got back to step 1
  4. Call authenticateMifareClassicPage() with page and key for the page
  5. Wait for state to change to AuthenticatingMifareClassicPageReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  6. Call requestPage() or writePage() to read/write page

The following constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.KEY_A = 0
  • BrickletNFCRFID.KEY_B = 1
public void writePage(int page, short[] data)

Writes 16 bytes starting from the given page. How many pages are written depends on the tag type. The page sizes are as follows:

  • Mifare Classic page size: 16 byte (one page is written)
  • NFC Forum Type 1 page size: 8 byte (two pages are written)
  • NFC Forum Type 2 page size: 4 byte (four pages are written)

The general approach for writing to a tag is as follows:

  1. Call requestTagID()
  2. Wait for state to change to RequestTagIDReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  3. If looking for a specific tag then call getTagID() and check if the expected tag was found, if it was not found got back to step 1
  4. Call writePage() with page number and data
  5. Wait for state to change to WritePageReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)

If you use a Mifare Classic tag you have to authenticate a page before you can write to it. See authenticateMifareClassicPage().

public void requestPage(int page)

Reads 16 bytes starting from the given page and stores them into a buffer. The buffer can then be read out with getPage(). How many pages are read depends on the tag type. The page sizes are as follows:

  • Mifare Classic page size: 16 byte (one page is read)
  • NFC Forum Type 1 page size: 8 byte (two pages are read)
  • NFC Forum Type 2 page size: 4 byte (four pages are read)

The general approach for reading a tag is as follows:

  1. Call requestTagID()
  2. Wait for state to change to RequestTagIDReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  3. If looking for a specific tag then call getTagID() and check if the expected tag was found, if it was not found got back to step 1
  4. Call requestPage() with page number
  5. Wait for state to change to RequestPageReady (see getState() or StateChangedCallback)
  6. Call getPage() to retrieve the page from the buffer

If you use a Mifare Classic tag you have to authenticate a page before you can read it. See authenticateMifareClassicPage().

public short[] getPage()

Returns 16 bytes of data from an internal buffer. To fill the buffer with specific pages you have to call requestPage() beforehand.

Advanced Functions

public short[] getAPIVersion()

Returns the version of the API definition (major, minor, revision) implemented by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.

public boolean getResponseExpected(short functionId)

Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function ID parameter. It is true if the function is expected to send a response, false otherwise.

For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled, because those functions will always send a response. For callback configuration functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by setResponseExpected(). For setter functions it is disabled by default and can be enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is send and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

See setResponseExpected() for the list of function ID constants available for this function.

public void setResponseExpected(short functionId, boolean responseExpected)

Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value: false) and callback configuration functions (default value: true). For getter functions it is always enabled and callbacks it is always disabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is send and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following function ID constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.FUNCTION_REQUEST_TAG_ID = 1
  • BrickletNFCRFID.FUNCTION_AUTHENTICATE_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE = 4
  • BrickletNFCRFID.FUNCTION_WRITE_PAGE = 5
  • BrickletNFCRFID.FUNCTION_REQUEST_PAGE = 6
public void setResponseExpectedAll(boolean responseExpected)

Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.

public BrickletNFCRFID.Identity getIdentity()

Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the device identifier.

The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c' or 'd'.

The device identifier numbers can be found here. There is also a constant for the device identifier of this Bricklet.

The returned object has the public member variables String uid, String connectedUid, char position, short[] hardwareVersion, short[] firmwareVersion and int deviceIdentifier.

Callbacks

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done with "set" function of MATLAB. The parameters consist of the IP Connection object, the callback name and the callback function. For example, it looks like this in MATLAB:

function cb_example(e)
    fprintf('Parameter: %s\n', e.param);
end

set(device, 'ExampleCallback', @(h, e) cb_example(e));

Due to a difference in the Octave Java support the "set" function cannot be used in Octave. The registration is done with "add*Callback" functions of the device object. It looks like this in Octave:

function cb_example(e)
    fprintf("Parameter: %s\n", e.param);
end

device.addExampleCallback(@cb_example);

It is possible to add several callbacks and to remove them with the corresponding "remove*Callback" function.

The parameters of the callback are passed to the callback function as fields of the structure e, which is derived from the java.util.EventObject class. The available callback names with corresponding structure fields are described below.

Note

Using callbacks for recurring events is always preferred compared to using getters. It will use less USB bandwidth and the latency will be a lot better, since there is no round trip time.

public callback BrickletNFCRFID.StateChangedCallback
Parameters:
  • state -- short
  • idle -- boolean

This callback is called if the state of the NFC/RFID Bricklet changes. See getState() for more information about the possible states.

The following constants are available for this function:

  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_INITIALIZATION = 0
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_IDLE = 128
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_ERROR = 192
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID = 2
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_READY = 130
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_TAG_ID_ERROR = 194
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE = 3
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE_READY = 131
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_AUTHENTICATING_MIFARE_CLASSIC_PAGE_ERROR = 195
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE = 4
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_READY = 132
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_WRITE_PAGE_ERROR = 196
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE = 5
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_READY = 133
  • BrickletNFCRFID.STATE_REQUEST_PAGE_ERROR = 197

In MATLAB the set() function can be used to register a callback function to this callback.

In Octave a callback function can be added to this callback using the addStateChangedCallback() function. An added callback function can be removed with the removeStateChangedCallback() function.

Constants

public static final int BrickletNFCRFID.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

This constant is used to identify a NFC/RFID Bricklet.

The getIdentity() function and the EnumerateCallback callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier parameter to specify the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

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