I need help with a project, currently we are using Arduino to automate the card reader in our project. So basically the arduino soldered to the card reader and is connected to the desktop using the USB port.
So whenever our test website needs authentication, the arduino intercepts the request and inputs the pin or password (usually a 6 digit number) of the card to authenticate.
Now the plan is to take this a step forward, we want to have multiple such Arduinos connected to the machine via USB hub and at runtime based on a parameter i.e. a specific card to be used, the corresponding Arduino should be used to input the pin.
So if we have Card A, B and C we will have one USB hub connected to the machine and the arduinos will be connected to its USB ports and so would the card reader be and at run-time if I pass "A" it should input the pin for "A" and so on on for other Cards.
Is it possible and if yes, could you please help me with some pointers please?
What card reader?
What pin code?
Why does the Arduino have to "enter" the pin code?
What web site?
Where's the code running on that Arduino?
Just some questions that popped up reading your rather unintelligible rambling. Remember that you may know "everything" about your project, we know absolutely nothing about it. So without explanation what you're saying there is just gobbledygook.
of course it is possible but I cant think of any reason why you would want do this.
first of all if you are only holding a bunch of 6 digit numbers you pry dont need SD cards at all.
arduino boards com with on board EEPROM that should be sufficient storage.
is there some reason why you would need more than one board?
is there some reason you need more than one card?
if so, another alternative would be letting the arduinos talk to each other and only having one connection to the PC.
if you really want to set this up how you are describing then the answer is "yes". just plug all your boards into your usb jacks and a PC will automatically recognize them. the program on the PC just needs to know what port name was assigned to each board to make the serial communication.
taterking:
if you really want to set this up how you are describing then the answer is "yes". just plug all your boards into your usb jacks and a PC will automatically recognize them. the program on the PC just needs to know what port name was assigned to each board to make the serial communication.
Hi,
Thanks for the replies guys! I really appreciate it.
I want to use multiple cards and card readers with with aurdino attached to it and the code to input the pin uploaded of it on a machine.
I also understand that if I connect them to a USB hub they would have different port numbers which would differentiate them from one another.
However my question is how do I write a program which would identify which aurdino or which com port to use? Basically how do I automate it?
Probably the first question is why do you need multiple card readers? You haven’t answered that and it’s confusing to me. How should it choose which card reader to check? Is it based on which website or what?
prash_21:
However my question is how do I write a program which would identify which aurdino or which com port to use? Basically how do I automate it?
That is a question on how to program the computer, not how to write code for an arduino. You could have the arduino send an identifying code to let the computer know which port it was on, but you would also need to be able to tell the card readers apart and associate each of those with the appropriate arduino.
[edit]If you are going to use a separate card reader for each card, then I don't really see why you even need the arduino, the computer itself should be able to send the correct PIN code once it sees which card reader is being used.
Probably the first question is why do you need multiple card readers?
If the arduino can intercept the data from the card reader, then it should be able to look up the PIN code for the card that was swiped, unless there is some encryption being used that removes any identifying characteristics from the data stream.
if you are writing a program for windows then C# already has a .net library for serial communication. it's actually rather simple. with basic commands just like arduino's library. by default a windows machine is going to assign a string name to each arduino. should be "COM1","COM2","COM3".. and so on. C# should easily be able to page through each string name and see if there is a connection that exists for that name.
To distiguish the difference between the arduinos. you would need to have the arduino tell the pc which one it is through the serial connection after it is established.
taterking:
if you are writing a program for windows then C# already has a .net library for serial communication. it's actually rather simple. with basic commands just like arduino's library. by default a windows machine is going to assign a string name to each arduino. should be "COM1","COM2","COM3".. and so on. C# should easily be able to page through each string name and see if there is a connection that exists for that name.
To distiguish the difference between the arduinos. you would need to have the arduino tell the pc which one it is through the serial connection after it is established.
How many card readers can one Arduino board support? Do you ~need~ a usb hub?
You could code it so that whatever reader has a card reads the card and signals having data ready to the rest of the sketch by setting a flag variable. Some code sees the flag and sends the PIN#. If more than one card is swiped, call it an error.
prash_21:
So whenever our test website needs authentication, the arduino intercepts the request and inputs the pin or password (usually a 6 digit number) of the card to authenticate.
How can we be sure this is not a project that is trying to do something illegal?
And multiple Arduinos are being considered to speed up the trials of different combinations in order to find the one that gives access to someone's bank account?
Robin2:
How can we be sure this is not a project that is trying to do something illegal?
And multiple Arduinos are being considered to speed up the trials of different combinations in order to find the one that gives access to someone's bank account?
...R
hi Robin,
This is not any credit card or debit card reader that we are talking about. Apologies for not making it clear earlier. The cards install a certificate on our machine which is then used to authenticate a user to log in on the website. And requirement is that we sometimes need two levels of authorization which means two separate users need to login and authorize and as we currently have only one arduino setup for a single card we are unable to automate those scenarios.
So the objective is to connect two arduinos to two ports on a USB Hub and depending on which user logs in the respective card reader is triggered and the arduino inputs the default pin to simulate two users login.
@prash_21
Why not one arduino plus one reader. Tap first card, send data to PC. Tap second card, send data to PC.
Hi Shannon,
I am a part of the Test Automation Team where we execute multiple test cases throughout the day without any manual intervention.
In order to test the scenario where there are multiple users we need two arduinos connected to the machine and each one will play its part i.e. A "Maker" with less rights can create a request and a "Checker" will check and authorize it. All this should happen without any manual intervention.
To be precise not manually inserting the card in the card reader and then validating it arduino would automatically input the pin for us.
I still don't understand why you think that requires multiple card readers. Are they physically very far apart? Like in different buildings or something?