Search code examples
bluetoothnfc

NFC Readers with Bluetooth


Not sure if this is a Stack Overflow question (if anyone knows a more apropiate section of StackExchange I'll be happy) but all questions on NFC Readers seamed to be here so, here I go:

I want to use NFC-Tags for a project and need a reader. While more and more phones are capable of reading such tags, any older phone is not. These phones do however usually have Bluetooth. So what I am looking for is a NFC Reader that can connect to a phone via Bluetooth.

I thought this would be a common device but to my surprise I did not find much. Readers usually connect via usb (as these do). There is at least one device that does use Bluetooth, the Blueberry UHF, but I could not find any retailer that sells it.

So, my question would be this: Is there a reason that there are almost no such devices or am I just looking at the wrong places?


Solution

  • The type of device you refer to is available here: https://serialio.com//store/index.php?cPath=89&osCsid=nep7av4i0431r39eqdl23oh2i7.

    The reason you struggle to find a Bluetooth enabled device is because the peripheral market for NFC/RFID readers are targeted at the desktop embedded market where USB/RS232 cable options are cheaper/easier/stable offerings people are familiar with. The driver stack provided with a cabled device can also do a lot of the hard work in dealing with the incoming data. There are however a few companies on the market producing RS232 to Bluetooth bridges which means you can try and port peripherals across to this using Bluetooth. Although you'll be able to pair the devices, you'll then need to write the software that can interrupt in the incoming payload over the Bluetooth serial port connection so it'll be a lot more work to get a platform like this up and running - especially with older devices. However it is possible if required.