About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Vincas Dargis]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 443 bytes --]

Hi list,

I see there's "test-device", "test-tag" helpers in neard-tools package
in Debian, but it looks like it needs actual devices/tags to test
with..?

Is there a way to emulate NFC tag, to "emit" NFC tag discovery events
and NDEF mesages on Linux? Qt supports NFC on Linux via neard daemon,
so I thought it would be very useful to emulate NFC tags (with various
payloads) for development and (automated even?) testing.

Thanks!

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Krzysztof Kozlowski]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 615 bytes --]

On 22/07/2021 12:59, Vincas Dargis wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> I see there's "test-device", "test-tag" helpers in neard-tools package
> in Debian, but it looks like it needs actual devices/tags to test
> with..?
> 
> Is there a way to emulate NFC tag, to "emit" NFC tag discovery events
> and NDEF mesages on Linux? Qt supports NFC on Linux via neard daemon,
> so I thought it would be very useful to emulate NFC tags (with various
> payloads) for development and (automated even?) testing.

I think nfcsim kernel module could help you but I am not sure how much
you can emulate.

Best regards,
Krzysztof

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Vincas Dargis]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 359 bytes --]

2021-07-22 14:53, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote:
> I think nfcsim kernel module could help you but I am not sure how much
> you can emulate.

That's interesting, though I'm not sure how should I use it too, and I guess it would be too low level?. And as another 
post mentioned, Qt will not have NFC support on Linux so I just scraping the idea...

Thanks.

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Frieder Schrempf]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 889 bytes --]

On 22.07.21 12:59, Vincas Dargis wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> I see there's "test-device", "test-tag" helpers in neard-tools package
> in Debian, but it looks like it needs actual devices/tags to test
> with..?
> 
> Is there a way to emulate NFC tag, to "emit" NFC tag discovery events
> and NDEF mesages on Linux? Qt supports NFC on Linux via neard daemon,

By the way, this is only true for Qt up to version 5.15. They dropped neard support for Qt 6 (see https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-81824).

> so I thought it would be very useful to emulate NFC tags (with various
> payloads) for development and (automated even?) testing.
> 
> Thanks!
> _______________________________________________
> Linux-nfc mailing list -- linux-nfc(a)lists.01.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to linux-nfc-leave(a)lists.01.org
> %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s
> 

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Vincas Dargis]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 247 bytes --]

2021-07-22 15:34, Frieder Schrempf wrote:
> By the way, this is only true for Qt up to version 5.15. They dropped neard support for Qt 6 (see https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-81824).

Ouch... good catch, so I just scrap the idea... Thanks.

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Mark Greer]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1617 bytes --]

On Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 01:59:17PM +0300, Vincas Dargis wrote:
> Hi list,

Hi Vincas.

> I see there's "test-device", "test-tag" helpers in neard-tools package
> in Debian, but it looks like it needs actual devices/tags to test
> with..?
> 
> Is there a way to emulate NFC tag, to "emit" NFC tag discovery events
> and NDEF mesages on Linux? Qt supports NFC on Linux via neard daemon,
> so I thought it would be very useful to emulate NFC tags (with various
> payloads) for development and (automated even?) testing.

I won't repeat [much of] what others have said but I can add this:


A: Try nfcsim

Already mentioned in this thread.

B: Use real hardware

B.1: Reader/Writers

PN533 dongles are fairly inexpensive (e.g.,
https://www.mikroe.com/nfc-usb-dongle) but most other are > $50 USD
so they are a little expensive.

B.2: Tags

B.2.i: Use a dynamic tag

That is a fancy term for a programmable device that looks like a "dumb"
NFC tag from the reader/writer side but you can control it (including
the data that is read by the reader) from the other side.  NXP, ST,
and TI all have (or did have) versions.  There may be others.  These
will almost certainly require a programming effort on your part.  If
you chose the TI rf430cl33x, I may be able to help
(e.g., https://www.ti.com/tool/DLP-RF430BP).

B.2.ii: Buy some "dumb" tags

They're cheap so buy a few (e.g., https://store.gototags.com/nfc-tags).
Try different tags types.  Types 2, 3, 4A, 4B, and 5 all work.
In theory type 1 tags work too but I have no way to test them so I
cannot say for sure.

Mark
--

Re: About NFC Tag emulation on Linux

[Vincas Dargis]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 81 bytes --]

2021-07-23 09:03, Mark Greer wrote:
> ...
Thanks Mark for the very useful info!