In this episode of XPressEntry Fast Features we demonstrate how you can read HID’s mobile credentials via BLE or NFC to validate employee badges, and/or grant entry to a secure facility. In the XPressEntry Fast Features video series, our engineering team showcases the latest updates and improvements built into XPressEntry. These videos provide a hands-on look into features used for:
Handheld Badge Verification ◇ Emergency Mustering ◇ HealthCheck: COVID-19 Screening
Click below to see the video:
Video Transcript
David: Welcome to Fast Features! This week we’re going to talk about a customer who recently transitioned the way he was using traditional badges to HID’s new mobile access control credentials, which are one their employee cell phones. Now this customer wanted to use our XPressEntry handheld verifier to validate their employees. So we had to figure this out and Donny Kleinhen, who is here with us today got to solve this problem. Hi Donny!
Donny: Hi Dave!
Dave: So what’s different between using a badge to verify your user and using their cell phone?
Donny: So a big difference is the technology. We had to deploy a version of our XPID reader that could read both NFC and bluetooth from the phones. NFC works similarly to a badge, but bluetooth, or BLE, can be read from 40 feet away or more.
Donny: So first we have the Android phone, this is a Galaxy S7. It vibrates as soon as it sends the command and beeps when it is received on the other side. Next is an iPhone. It also vibrates when it sends and beeps once it’s received.
Dave: Doesn’t radiancy and being so far away cause problems?
Donny: It can. Fortunately, we were able to set up a filter that limits the badge range based on how strong the signal is. The other tricky thing we encountered was setting up the reader to be registered with the correct security keys from HID. HID really takes their security quite seriously.
Dave: You’re tellin’ me… And do the mobile credentials work with all phones?
Donny: So the BLE works with both iPhone and Androids. NFC works only with select Android phones. HID actually prefers to use NFC on the Android when it supports it.
Dave: I bet you had a lot of fun and a lot of heartache trying to figure this out.
Donny: It was incredibly fun… and I will leave it at that.
Dave: Alright, thanks!
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