RFID Reader for Mobile Devices

Question

I've been asked to develop an app with the core functionality of reading RFID chips in pets and checking those identification numbers against a database through some web service.

I was first directed towards iCarte, supposed maker of an NFC/RFID Reader accessory for iPhone. I sent them an email that was immediately returned due to them exceeding their mailbox quota, so I suppose they are out of business?

Other solutions come in the form of Bluetooth ready readers, like those from Serialio. Demos show data being read into iOS's Notes app or some grid app. I haven't developed iPhone apps in a while... is the Bluetooth API available? How about for Android? Could I read from the Bluetooth reader straight into an app?

What other options are there?

Solution 1

Before you start any work please familiarize yourself with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_11784_%26_11785

and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_14223

RFIDs for animals are completely different protocol than NFC. It is more like UNIQUE tags (125kHz) . Anyway above ISO standards will be a good starting point for you.

Solution 2

Android have native support for NFC, you don't need any bluetooth adapter or anything else:

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/nfc/index.html

Not all devices have it, but the major ones do have (e.g. galaxy nexus, nexus 4, galaxy S3, HTC One) and it works nice.

Comments

[Budius]

I forgot to show you examples so you can see for yourself play.google.com/store/apps/… I have this app and it reads fine my London public transport pass aka: Oyster Card (It's a Mifare 1K NFC tag).

[Loknar]

These 125Khz RFIDs are frequently called LF RFID (low frequency) while the NFC standard uses 13.5Mhz RFIDs frequently called HF RFID (high frequency). Smartphones today often support HF RFID like the NFC, but rarely or never support LF RFID, so you'll need some middleman device that reads/writes LF RFID and communicates the information to your smartphone. You could try checking out something like this one: grabba.com/technologies/low-frequency