DesFire Project(s) & call for ideas šŸ’”

a related but, different question. I was looking for a page that listed out interesting use case projects people have done with xDF2 - that demonstrates capabilities and of course to seed inspiration for newcomers such as me. I am not looking for installation videos or how-to, but, rather hereā€™s the ā€œart of the possibleā€ from solution and use cases. Does this exist, am I asking for too much.

thanks everyone for taking the time to nurturing this conversation.

(admins - please feel free to peel off this question to another thread as you see fit. I donā€™t want to get random off rails here on this subject. Thanks).

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As Amal said in this post, no one seems to look beyond the 8k storage.

I recommend you make a project post asking for idea. Iā€™m sure plenty of people will chime in. Do a bit of reading on NXPs site (the maker of the desfire ev2 in the DF2s) then you might pick up something useful.

Personally I intend to find some test cards to play with themā€¦ I would love to explore the features, but my project list is long and my time is limited.

I SUMMON @Pilgrimsmaster :stuck_out_tongue:

tenor-14

Heā€™s not quite an admin, but reshuffling posts is kinda his thing it seems :sweat_smile:

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Done

I can / or others can change the title if you want to be less generic.
You asked specifically about xDF2 but same would go for FlexDF2 and I guess even the xDF.

Feel free to post your journey here with your how to guide, It will 100% be of interest and will most likely help others out

Iā€™m sure you would have already seen the data sheets
DESFire EV2
DESFire EV1

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@Pilgrimsmaster - I somehow overlooked your links from your post earlier - sorry. Thanks for sharing these. I deleted my dup post with these links.

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He edit his post, and added them at about the same time you posted :rofl: something somethingā€¦ great minds

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:slight_smile: - NP

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Sorry, I try to limit my posts and squeeze stuff in if I think of it afterwards within the 5min ā€œfreeā€ edit time frame
I do this alotā€¦ My bad!

I found this DesFire EV1 UID Modifiable card the other day, ( 4 or 7 byte options ) I found very interesting. I wish that was the chip that was used in the FlexDF, It would be the solution for mine and Iā€™m sure many other peoples Transit :bus: :train: :ferry: ( assuming the transit system is onlylooking for UID )
it also states

Please note, this card does not emulate any other MIFARE DESFireĀ® features.

I am assuming it keeps its DesFire feature, just not emulated other than the UID

@ ā‚¬34.99 It is pretty expensive for just a test card though. That is a lot of actual travel !
( I actually find LAB401 quite expensive for most things, A quick look and you can normally find it elsewhere for significantly cheaper )

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The datasheets should give inspirationā€¦ specifically the ā€œfileā€ types and what those file types can do on their ownā€¦ like stored value increment/decrement capabilitiesā€¦ or automatic cyclical data storageā€¦

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quick 2 questions:

  • how are xDF2 owners managing, overwriting and customizing their factory default PICC and App level keys.
  • does anyone here use the TapLinx SDK by NXP ? I am having trouble even to have their sdk sample app load up. Does any one have a simple app they built that they are willing to share ?

thanks

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I doubt they are. I think pretty much everyone is just using NFC tools or tagwriter to set up the ndef aid and let that be thatā€¦ so probably still default keys. Youā€™re one of a very rare club of people who have ever asked or talked about the actual features of the desfire beyond NFC type 4.

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I think this is because anybody can easily deploy NDEF functionality, but it takes more skill to fully utilize the capabilities of the DesFire implants.
However, if there was a readily available ā€œlibraryā€ :open_book: of options and a how to guide, I think there would be a larger uptake.

This is so enticing
( IF you know what you are doing )

a MIFARE DESFire EV1 card can hold up to 28 different applications and 32 files per application.

I am looking forward to some of our more capable forum members putting together some options, I for one will be jumping on those bandwagons

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One of the issues is that the Desfire is still under NDA afaik :roll_eyes: , I actually have sent an email requesting information on the NDA process so Iā€™ll see how that goes as I do plan on messing around with it but itā€™s quite low on my project list atm. If you want to do more work on the NXP stuff it may be worth going through the NDA process yourself.

In the meantime have you looked at any other forums / GitHub? This community is fantastic but as @amal pointed out no one has done much with them in this community yet but I am sure there are projects that use them in existence.

EDIT:

GitHub Search

DESFire python library

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I am just now sinking my teeth into the Java Android TapLinx SDK and think I am making some progress understanding the creds based file / app architecture. I was able to finally run their SDK sample on my phone this evening and think I shall ā€œmilk that cowā€ till I get some more grounding on the inner workings of the SDK.

It is my hope that I will have a ā€œxDF2ā€ specific generic purpose utility that will allow me to manage appsā€™ CRUD operations based on custom Master PICC key and also allow me to update the default Master PICC key w/ custom keys. Perhaps that should be my initial milestone.

I believe the NXPā€™s Java TapLinx SDK is free now and have opened it up for running offline.

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Yeah the TapLinx SDK seems like a good starting point. I personally want to see the communication protocol for the DESFire ev2 :slight_smile: should have access soon.

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yes, that would indeed be a good one to have access to.

Hi Amal,
Is there a easy way to program a file to my flex df2?
I use acces control systems that require a file id and encryption (personal generated key) i hope i translated it correct
I already ordered a ACS1252u reader (writer)

Best regards, Erik

You can literally use the datasheet to get the commands necessary to create files etc. and the NFC tools Java package can be run on the desktop to send the commandsā€¦ or NFC tools or NFC shell on your android phone

Hi Amal,
Thank you for the quick response.
With the ā€œnfc toolsā€ app i can only set hex data commands but the datasheet only says normal commands such as ā€œreadrecordsā€ how can i translate that in to hex commands
Greatings Erik

Can you give a quick example of write the first file 0x01 application name and encryption key

If i use the example code write 4 bites block 0x04
A2:04:FF:FF:FF:FF i get error:I/o failure