Creating own Mifare reader

[tomshafron]

I have been looking at the PN532 chip to create my own reader and have been playing around with Mifare Classic cards. I am wanting to move onto something which does not have the security issues that are present in Mifare Classic. I have read the Mifare DESFire and Mifare Plus are more secure alternatives but are not protocols supported by the PN532 chip. What is a good way to go about developing a reader for these protocols? Does there exist a chip like the PN532 for these?

[Jorge_Gonzalez]

Hello Tom Shafron,

The PN532 would support the protocol and contactless interface to MIFARE Plus and MIFARE DESFire cards, but to leverage the improved security features (e.g. AES encryption) you would need to have either a host MCU with dedicated cryptoprocessor unit or use a MIFARE SAM AV2 crypto controller:

P5DF081|NXP 

You might also consider going for one of the latest NFC Reader solutions, see below:

PN5180: The latest Full NFC compliant frontend. Requires an external host MCU. In comparison with PN512 and CLRC663 this IC has new features such as Dynamic Power Control (DPC) and Adaptive Waveform Control (AWC).

Evaluation board: OM25180 |PN5180 NFC Development Kit for POS Readers|NXP 

PN7120 / PN7150: Plug-and-play Full NFC controllers with integrated firmware. Also requiring a host MCU connected via I2C interface, but several parts of NFC protocols are processed internally to simplify integration.

Evaluation boards:

OM5577 | NFC Development Kits for Arduino and more|NXP 

NFC Development Kits for Arduino and more|NXP 

PN746x_736x: The all-in-one NFC solution. It integrates an ARM Cortex M0 MCU together with an NFC frontend and optional ISO7816 contact interface. This device would not forcibly require an external MCU, as the application itself can be programmed in the internal flash.

Evaluation board:

OM27462 | NFC Development Kit for Access Control|NXP 

And you can watch the next webinars covering the topic of NXP's NFC Readers product portfolio:

NXP’s NFC product portfolio|NXP 

Design and Implement NFC applications 1: Product su|NXP 

Best Regards!,
Jorge Gonzalez

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[deborah_linzi]

Hello Jorge,

have you any hint or example on how to read a Mifare Plus using the PN7150 on a bare metal host MCU?

Regards