Physical Access Control Project

Wed, May 14, 2008:

Andrew ("Q"), Ash, and Elliot have continued brainstorming.

Posted up a link on the blog [1] to discuss ways to go. Great suggestion (though it might have been a (brilliant) joke?) to make a DDR pad.

Elliot's been messing around with the Parallax RFID board, and learning what it can/can't do, but he's terribly terribly new to RF stuff.

Wed, May 21, 2008:

Last night, we started looking at the door in question, realized that it only had a handle-lock on it, and realized that we're going to need a wholly new locking mechanism to do anything useful/secure with -- so that's going to be project #1 in terms of serious implementation.

   Added by Mark W, Thu, May 22, 2008: I think this is what you're looking for: Electric Door Strike

Elliot demo'ed his knock-code routine and got some useful feedback. Things like ambient noise and a relatively-long timeout period need improvement.

Andrew suggested using a "Sonic Screwdriver" a la Doctor Who. This opens up all sorts of fun/funny code mechanisms. For instance, a keyfob with an ultrasonic speaker might be sweet. Or use LEDs and blink out a code string into a light sensor. And like the RFID scheme, we could have individual keys for individual peoples.

Thoughts: Smart cards can offer some nice crypto, but they'd require the purchase of additional hardware (a kit) and are more expensive than RFID (around $2.50)

Another idea I had, and kinda like, is to have a computer connected to the internet and a SIP provider (as noted repeatedly, you can get free inbound calls via Google GrandCentral). When a call is received, it could listen for an access code (prepend a few digits for user id if desired) --NikolasCo 09:27, 28 May 2008 (UTC)