RFID, how can I tell which type of system is in use ?

[ItsMike]

Hey everyone,

I have an RFID system built in in work.
It uses plasic tags in the size of credit cards and it's read from a really close range (1-3 cm or so).

How can I tell which type of RFID system is it ? From the low range I would assume it's passive.

How can I tell which standard and frequency it uses ?

 

[simonbramble]

Passive RFID does not need a battery. If it was active or semi passive RFID, you would see a battery in there somewhere. The standard door entry type cards that you see and are short range are HF RFID. They are also used for transport ticketing etc. These are based on 13.56Mhz and (sometimes) conform to the MiFare standard which is based on ISO 1443 or ISO15693 standard. They are based on magnetic transfer of data and so are 'near field'.

UHF RFID is up at 900MHz, has longer range, lower size and cost tags. These are used for applications with a range up to 10's of metres (gate openers etc) as well as tagging pallets in supermarkets.

MiFare was designed by Philips (OK, a company that Philips took over). philips is now NXP semiconductors.

 

[ItsMike]

Is there anyway of testing if the card is a 125kHz one or the 13.56Mhz one ? besides getting a reader and seeing if it works ?
Maybe getting some antenna and a scope or something ?

Also I read somewhere that some cards use encryption ?

 

[simonbramble]

normally the 125kHz ones have a large antenna wound in lots of loops. The diameter of the loop will be about 2-3". With 13.56MHz, the antenna will be very much smaller. Deos the card have any markings on it (like 14443, 15693, or MiFare?

 

[ItsMike]

The only marking is an "HID" logo and the following number: 0003D. And some serial number afterwards.

Anyways, I managed to get my hands on some specs of the cards from someone at work they are 125KHz as I thought.
I believe something about Wiegand was also mentioned there.
Can I just get any 125KHz RFID reader module to read them ?