As part of their long-running Arduino tutorial series, the people at tronixstuff have written in clear detail methods of using inexpensive RFID readers with Arduino and compatible boards. The purpose of the tutorial is to allow the reader to create their own simple RFID access systems, time-clock devices and anything else that could benefit from using an RFID card or tag as a form of user input.
Using RFID is a lot easier than most people imagine, and after running through their tutorial you'll have a better idea of how to make use of RFID. In a very short period of time you can build a simple card reader circuit that can accept or reject RFID cards, a circuit which then can be the framework for all sorts of systems.
Although it simply controls two LEDs, it's what can be done instead of the LEDs that is useful, so check out the tutorial to get started. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're looking for a fast way to interface RFID readers with your Arduino or compatible board, check out our new DLOCK RFID Door Lock Shield. It's a fantastic and simple method of interfacing a variety of RFID readers and an electric door strike to your Arduino-compatible board. The design is based on the circuit described in the "RFID Access Control System" project in the book "Practical Arduino", and the shield arrives in assembled form to save time and effort:
With the DLOCK shield you can easily interface common RFID readers such as ID12, ID20, RDM630, RDM880 and HF MultiTag readers. Furthermore there's status LEDs, power jumpers for door strike power and plenty of space for extra on-shield circuitry. For more information and to order, please visit the DLOCK page.
