Category Archives: eHouse RFID

eHouse RFID

eHouse RFID – Access Control

eHouse PRO/BMS Building Automation System allows you to connect and support an access control system (proximity magnetic cards) – eHouse RFID.

Access control is managed from the eHouse.PRO server based on Linux along with the eHouse.PRO management software. Access control is divided into segments (floors) if the total number of readers is greater than 30 or there is such a need.

A single segment for the floor has:

  • Ethernet / RS-485 gateway
  • up to 64 proximity card readers connected in series on the RS-485 bus

Such infrastructure gives the possibility of handling very large objects: hotels, guest houses, offices with a total number of segments (floors) up to 250. This gives a natural division into separate floors/segments.

Server eHouse.PRO communicates with “eHouse RFID” segments via Ethernet (LAN) network with indirect access to all readers via Ethernet / RS-485 gateways.

Main features:

  • Central management from the eHouse.PRO server level. Authorization is checked when the card is used (online) so changes in the access system work immediately
  • Division of cards into functions (master / service, parental, room access)
  • Unlimited number of cards (master/service, room, parent)
  • Master cards (administrative/service) – any number of cards:
    * access for a single floor or all floors
    * access to all rooms or even or odd rooms
  • Alarm when forbidden cards is used (eg. stolen) – it is possible to immediately locate the thief using cameras or protection system
  • automatic addition of all cards and configuration by simply copying files
  • creating card usage logs (HTML)
  • Each floor can have up to 64 eHouseRFID card readers plus Ethernet-RS-485 gateway
  • Maximum (theoretical) number of floors/segments) 250 allowing the use of up to 250*64 = 16000 RFID readers in one building (building / building complex, etc.) without any restrictions on the number of cards used and their configuration.
  • The ability to create logs inside the readers and download them via the “eHouse.PRO” server

Configuration “eHouse RFID”.
all eHouse.PRO configuration files are located in the application directory “/usr/local/ehouse/”.
The file “eHouseServerC.cfg” contains the main configuration settings of the eHouse.PRO server. From the point of view of “eHouse RFID”, the settings described in the comments are important as:
1) 95 // Initial IP Address eHouse RFID gateway (LSB Ethernet-RS-485 gateway)
2) 1 // eHouse RFID Floor / Segments Count – Number of segments / access control floors
3) 0 // eHouse RFID Log Type (Log type 1 single file access.log / 0 files created daily)
4) 1 // eHouse RFID Reader Card Log Enable (creating logs in the card reader)

AD 1) Set the LSB IP address (for the lowest floor 0) in the ip class 192.168.ADRH.ADRL.
You should also remember to fit in the free IP range in consideration of the eHouse LAN (201..254), WiFi (100..199), Pro (200), gateway (1) and other fixed addresses and DHCP addresses.

Then close and re-open the eHouse.PRO application (or restart the eHouse.PRO server.
The eHouse RFID configuration is created in the “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID” directory. Due to the complicated configuration of RFID card readers and Ethernet/RS-485 gateways, we provide preconfigured RFID devices in accordance with the specification and demand.

  • number of floors / segments (No. 0..250) (IP addresses, IP gateway, IP mask). Configuration: “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/floors/GW-x.cfg”
  • reader configuration (1..64) for each floor

File: for the first (no. 0) Ethernet/rs-485 gateway “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/floors/GW-0.cfg” has the form:
192.168.0.95 // eHouse RFID Eth/RS-485 Gateway – IP Address (ip address)
192.168.0.1 // eHouse RFID Eth/RS-485 Gateway – IP Gateway (gateway)
255.255.255.0 // eHouse RFID/RS-485 Gateway – IP MASK (mask)
eHouseRFID-1 // eHouse RFID Host Name – the host name of netbios
5000 // eHouse RFID Port NR – tcp port for connecting a TCP client
passwd // eHouse RFID PASS – password for changing the configuration for the gateway and readers
192.168.0.200 // eHouse RFID Accepted Host for RFID Configuration GW – eHouse PRO SERVER
192.168.0.50 // eHouse RFID Accepted Host for Configuration RFID GW – other authorized addresses
192.168.0.10 // eHouse RFID Accepted Host for Configuration RFID GW – other authorized addresses
192.168.0.2 // eHouse RFID Accepted Host for Configuration RFID GW – other authorized addresses
00:04:a3:00:00:00 // eHouse RFID MAC Address
9600 // eHouse RFID UART SPEED (RS-485 speed)

Settings for RFID card readers are also taken from these files.

For every floor/segment created, a directory is created “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/readers/x/” where x is the number of the storey/segment (0..250).
In these directories, x.cfg files are created – for x = (1..64) for initiated readers (connected to the current Ethernet/RS-485 gateway).

The readers are initiated in the following way:

  • MASTER card creation:
    • apply the card to one connected reader (several times)
    • the file for the card will appear in the directory “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/notused/” with the name”%CardNo%.txt “
    • it should be copied to the directory”/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/masters/”- from that moment the card becomes an administrative card
    • in the file for the card “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/masters/xxx.txt” the permissions should be edited: the first field contains the floor number or:
      * – all,
      e – even,
      o – odd;
      the second field contains the room number or analogous global settings as above. For the convenience of card initialization, set parameters (* *)
  • Initialize all connected card readers with the card, checking if their number will appear in the directory “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/readers/x/”- where x is the gateway number (Ethernet/RS-485)

Create cards for rooms / readers:

  • put the selected card on the reader to which we intend to assign permissions and remember its number
  • move the file named card number “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/notused/x.txt” to the directory “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/cards/”

Creating “parental” cards:

  • Follow the steps for the standard card reader/room
  • edit the card file by entering the combination in the following lines
    ” No. floors’ “room number” + ENTER (separated by tabs)

Blocking cards in several ways:

  • To deactivate a card permanently you can remove it from the directory “/usr/local/ehouse/ RFID/cards/”
  • Set an alarm for the card by copying the file with the card number to the directory “/usr/local/ehouse/RFID/alarm/”

Logs for access control eHouse RFID are located under:
http://192.168.0.200/log/rfid/2016-06-11.html (the file name contains the date). The logs downloaded from the readers can be found at http://192.168.0.200/log/rfid/logs/0-1.html (where 0 is the number of the first floor and 1 room number), if the logging of the logs by the reader is enabled.