Project Mechatronica
Project Mechatronica: Access system using Smartcards
Welcome to our website of our mechatronics project. The goal of this project was to make a system that would read a unique number from the Smartcard chip on a bank card. Comparing this unique number to an external database would result in a message on an LCD screen, welcoming the user or denying access if the user was not found in the database.
On this site you will find out all about our project as we will shed some light on all different aspects of our project, being the programming of the PIC, controlling the LCD screen, understanding and reading of the Smartcard chip, as well as the communication between the PIC and a computer using a serial port connection, using the external database on the computer and designing the printed circuit board in Traxmaker.
We chose this project because the concept of reading a Smartcard chip sounded intriguing and was a big mystery to us. At first it looked nearly impossible because of the huge list of things needed to be done. We were inexperienced in Assembler code, Visual Basic and Traxmaker.
A lot of research on the internet and reading datasheets was the consequence.
Our first achieved success was when we were able to communicate with the LCD display. This went surprisingly
well. The Smartcard itself however was a total different story. It just didn’t work! After a while we found out that timing was extremely difficult and that a microsecond too much or too little could result in a non responding card. One can understand our happiness when we saw the bank card numbers of the card appearing on the PC screen.
Now, looking back on the project, we think it was indeed a very interesting project, but more of a challenge than we could have possibly anticipated. Persistent as we were, spending holidays and long nights, we managed to complete the task and the huge amount of work put into the project made the final result all the more rewarding and we’re very proud to present it to you on this website. Enjoy your visit!
Daan & Tim