NFC Keyboard

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dks209
 
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NFC Keyboard

Post by dks209 »

Hey guys, so I want to get started on making my own NFC keyboard, but am wondering about some of the implementation for doing so. I've got an Arduino Uno and an Adafruit PN532 NFC Shield. I'm sure there's a couple ways to go about it, and i'm open to suggestions.

One of the ways that I was thinking i'd do it is to take a PS2 keyboard and plug it into the Arduino with an NFC shield so that the Arduino can interpret and forward what keys have been pressed via NFC. Here's where my first concern is.
What should I send those NFC signals to?

I want to make the keyboard completely unconnected to the PC (running windows). The setup would look like this: PS2 keyboard connected to Arduino with NFC shield, the desk where the computer is would also have an Arduino and NFC shield that is connected to the PC, and the two Arduinos would communicate via the NFC.

I have no experience with the NFC shields (or arduinos for that matter), but if I had two could they communicate to each other? Or what about if I stuck an NFC tag to the Arduino in the keyboard and had that one writing while the Arduino in the desk would just be reading when the tag gets close enough? Just throwing some ideas around, any advice would be great, i'm really wanting to to start this ASAP.
Thanks so much!!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: NFC Keyboard

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

There are some problems with that idea:

The first is that the PN532 is a reader, not an emitter. It can't transmit anything. The second is that NFC has a maximum range of about 10cm. If you had a transmitter, you'd pretty much have to set it directly on top of a reader wired to the computer. Beyond that, NFC isn't a very fast protocol. I'm not sure it would be able to keep up with typing.

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dks209
 
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Re: NFC Keyboard

Post by dks209 »

Ok, thank you for your reply! That's unfortunate to hear, I thought it would be a pretty neat project

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: NFC Keyboard

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

You can send information wirelessly using Bluetooth.. it has a higher data rate and works to about 10m.

We have a couple of Bluetooth modules in the shop, but they're designed for two-way communication. BT devices emit what are called 'advertising' signals which tell computers what the module does and how to connect to it. Wireless keyboards and mice identify themselves as Human Interface Devices (HID), while our modules advertise as wireless UARTs. You'd need a microcontroller on the computer end of the connection to read the data and translate it to a form the computer will recognize as a keyboard.

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