Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Using fingerprints to unlock doors . . . BioLock No keys, no cards, no pins . . . but it’s very secure! H ave you ever fumbled for keys in the dark to open the front door? Ever lost your keys and had to scramble around finding “the spare”, getting a new one cut, etc etc? Ever locked your keys inside the house? Ever had your keys stolen and thought the worst? None of these need ever happen again if you fit a Biolock – because you won’t even have a key to fumble, lose, have stolen or locked inside! “So what’s gonna keep the bad guys out,” you’re thinking. No key means no lock, right? No lock means no security, right? Actually, wrong on both counts! The siliconchip.com.au idea is to get rid of that old-fashioned (and in many cases low security) lock and replace it with something that will let you (or anyone else you allow) in and keep everyone else out – with excellent security, A potted history of locks The oldest known lock, estimated to be 4,000 years old, was found by archeologists in the Khorsabad palace ruins near Nineveh. It was a forerunner to a pin tumbler type of lock and a common Egyptian lock for the time. by Ross Tester This lock worked using a large wooden bolt to secure a door, which had a slot with several holes in its upper surface. The holes were filled with wooden pegs that prevented the bolt from being opened. The first serious attempt to improve the security of the lock was made in 1778 in England, when Robert Barron patented a double-acting tumbler lock. Then in 1784, Joseph Bramah patented the safety lock. Bramah’s lock was considered unpickable. A name almost synonymous with locks, Linus Yale Sr, invented a pintumbler lock in 1848. His son, Linus Yale Jr, improved January 2007  11 Here’s what you get in the Biolock kit: the Biolock scanner (bottom right, with its mounting plate below); the electric strike immediately above that and plugpack power supply above that again; secure I/O board in the centre with its surface-mounting case at left, the cabling you will need at the top of the picture, rawl plugs and screws and finally, the mounting and setting-up instructions. The whole lot retails for less than $800. upon his lock using a smaller, flat key with serrated edges that is the basis of modern pin-tumbler locks and also patented a cylinder pin-tumbler lock (the basic lock as we know it today) in 1861. Yale further invented the modern combination lock in 1862. (From “The History of Locks” [http:// inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllock.htm]) As you can see, locks as we know them have been around for quite a while. And for just as long, crooks have been trying to defe at them – they pick them, they force them, they jemmy them, they cut them out of the door (according to the movies, almost always with a sub-machine gun!), they steal keys, they force people with keys to open them . . . Hence the adage, “locks are only to 12  Silicon Chip keep honest people out”. Don’t you think it’s about time things changed a little, putting the odds back in the honest people’s favour? If, at the same time, we were able to dramatically increase convenience and flexibility, that would be a real bonus. which is separate to “the lock” itself and is fitted to the door jamb or post. We specifically mention these two components because they are essential to the operation of this electronic system. There are other parts, of course but are not important to this story. Parts of a lock Enter the Biolock When we think of “a lock” we generally think of a lot more than what is actually the lock. In fact, the lock is only a small part of “the lock” – albeit a very important part. It’s the bit which prevents or allows (depending on how it is set) the device as a whole from operating. Other parts of “the lock” to note are the bolt – the bit that moves in and out of the door, engaging the strike (sometimes known as a latch plate), Back in our January 2001 issue , we introduced the subject of biorecognition – checking to see if you really is you. At the end of the article, author Jon Reid said “Finger scanning equipment can be purchased commercially for approximately $2000 to $3000 . . .” We are very pleased to say that five years on, finger scanning equipment can be purchased for way less. In fact, Jon Reid’s company, Bisiliconchip.com.au Here’s the electric strike which replaces the strike currently fitted into the door jamb. Inset top left is the actual “strike” – at rest, (ie, unpowered), the vertical blade (arrowed) is locked in position so it can capture the bolt in the lock, thereby locking the door. When power is applied, this blade is free to move so a pull on the door will allow the bolt to push the blade out of the way, thus opening the door. orecognition Systems, has available a complete finger scanning kit to install in any home, office, factory, club . . . and electronically control who can come in and who can’t . . . for less than $800. It’s called the Biolock, and that’s the system we are looking at in detail here. For a business with access control problems, $800 is chicken feed, especially when you consider what you get and the control it gives (they’d probably spend that much in keys!). However, $800 is still significant for the average homeowner. But have you priced having a decent lock installation recently? We have: SILICON CHIP moved offices last year! The bill was over $400 for a single door, quality double deadlatch and ten keys – so all of a sudden a Biolock kit, with all of its advantages, isn’t exactly over-the-top! The best part of all is that the Biolock kit is very easy to install because it uses the existing lock – the only change you have to make is to install is the electric “strike” in place of the current one. Eh? Use the existing lock? Wait a minute! Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose? Why install a Biolock and leave the existing lock in place? The answer actually highlights some of the features of the Biolock. First, the system is failsafe. In an emergency, instant egress is possible by using the existing handle. And in the event of a computer or hardware failure, or blackout (which would disable the electric strike), a key can be used to siliconchip.com.au open the door. Second, in the event of an injury which precludes someone placing their finger on the scanner (a broken hand/ arm in full plaster, perhaps?), they can still be given keys to enter/exit in the traditional way. Third, if you happen to have a building owned by someone else and it has a master key system, there is often a condition of the lease or occupancy that the top-level keyholder has access via a grand master key, which may be used for inspection, maintenance, etc. Clearly it is difficult, if not impossible, to arrange scanning each person who may at some time require access – so their master key will still work. We’re sure you’ll think of other reasons why you would still want traditional (keyed) access – the Biolock gives you the best of both worlds. Keyless/cardless/pinless operation Having said all that, the Biolock is intended for virtually keyless operation. Automatically, that eliminates the problems of lost keys (and security keys, as used by a company, cost a lot more to replace than your average house key!). It also stops key and/or card-swapping between keyholders and/or those who you do not want to have a right to enter. Even in a “secure” system such as a building with RFID, swipe cards, keypads/pins, etc, swapping can be a major problem for building management – especially in an access-controlled system with various keys, cards etc controlling which doors can be entered. Because the Biolock system doesn’t have a keypad, card reader, RFID reader, etc, this simply cannot happen. The only way an intruder can enter is to “tailgate” a legitimate user – and that’s a problem with every controlled entry system except those with singleperson turnstiles or airlocks (or armed guards!). As you might have guessed from the above, Biolocks can be installed on every external door and on any internal door requiring access control and are (or can be) all linked to a common computer system. Reading the fingerprint It’s the stuff of spy movies and thriller TV series; a crook manages to capture a fingerprint of a legitimate user and then makes a (usually latex) “cast” of it, either using that in fingerprint recognition systems or leaving “prints” around to drop the unfortunate right in it. Maybe, one day, that will be possible but the Biolock goes a long, long way to ensure it won’t be today (or tomorrow). The fingerprint is not actually read on the surface of the skin but deep down in the epedermis. That means that surface cuts and scratches won’t lock you out of the system; by the same token it also means that attempts to The old and the new: the original “strike” at left (just a hole cut in the steel frame!) with the new strike position marked out and the electric strike installed in the door jamb, along with the old strike it replaced. It is significantly larger and being fitted into a steel-frame door, required a fair bit of “surgery” to the jamb. Fortunately, it’s hidden once the door closes (and I fully intend to fix up the rough edges. One day. Manana. Maybe). January 2007  13 beat it using copies or fakes will be unsuccessful. That other, rather more gruesome thriller movie “method” – cutting off someone’s finger so you have the “real thing” – is also highly unlikely to succeed, given the fact that there would be no blood flow in the finger concerned. Knowing that, I’m sure you can sleep a lot easier at night! Note that the Biolock system does not store fingerprints per se – at least not in any retreivable format. That would contravene privacy laws. Instead, the system compares the digital information of a known fingerprint scan with that obtained at the time entry is required. The system in detail The Biolock system has three major components: (1) The Biolock scanner This small (75 x 105 x 27mm) waterproof (IP65) unit is designed to fix on a wall or jamb close to the entry point. As far as the user is concerned, it has just two parts – a scanner “window” about 10mm square and three LEDs to show system status. A blue LED indicates the sensor is ready to read a fingerprint, a green LED shows identity acceptance while a red LED shows identity rejection. Inside the scanner, there is of course the electronics to make it all happen. (2) The door strike The strike is the part of the lock which mounts on the door jamb and “catches” the bolt, locking the door. Every door with any sort of lock or catch has a strike – in most cases it has an angled plate which the springloaded bolt rides up as the door closes and a recess which catches the bolt as it springs back out, holding the door closed. The closed door might be automatically locked if it has that type of lock mechanism; it might require manual locking (eg, with a snib) or it may not have a lock at all but can be opened by simply turning a handle (which pulls the bolt back into the lock/door). The electric door strike in the Biolock system is, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same as a bogstandard strike in its normal (unpowered) state -hence the ability for the system to use the existing door lock in the normal way. But when it is powered, a solenoid pulls in releasing the door strike so it 14  Silicon Chip The Biolock unit can be installed in any convenient location, as long as the surface is pretty flat (or packed out to be flat). Naturally, it should be close to the door being controlled. The cable goes through the wall so security of the system is maintained. can move out of the way – it’s actually pushed out of the way by the bolt. So if the strike is energised and the door is pulled, it will open, even if the bolt itself is locked closed. (3) The computer and secure I/O interface A computer is required to run the Biolock – it stores the information on legitimate users and also, with the software included in the system, enables a vast amount of information to be stored about entry and egress, by whom, and so on. It does this over a standard TCP/IP network and you can set the address anywhere between 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.254 (excluding .210). So if you already have a computer network set up, even a very big one, you can find an address for the Biolock. The interface is a small PC board which is used to control secure opening and closing of electric strikes and access control for doors. It includes a relay to handle the fairly heavy (~800mA) current demand of the strike. Included in the kit is a small (65 x 37 x 25mm) wall-mounting ABS case which the interface board fits into perfectly, along with the required interface cables. Installation Arguably the hardest part of installation will be the electric strike, because it is significantly larger than any “ordinary” strike you are likely to see. With a traditional wooden door jamb, though, it’s only a matter of marking out and cutting to the depth required, as you would for the traditional type you’re replacing. The main thing to watch is that the strike blade lines up with the edge of the current strike recess, both in the vertical and horizontal planes. Of course, if your door currently rattles in the wind or has to be slammed to close, you could use this opportunity to slightly adjust the strike position for a better fit. If your is outward-opening, the strike will have to be installed upside down – but that’s not a big deal. Steel-frame doors, as are much more commonly used in industrial/commercial buildings and flats/units, are a bit more of a dilemma. The chances are very high that you will need an angle grinder and a selection of tools to perform surgery on the door frame to fit the strike. Indeed, many steel-frames are also filled with concrete so you may even need to cold-chisel some of that away and perhaps fit the strike into the concrete with rawl plugs. Don’t forget that you need to run the “speaker wire” figure-8 cable to the strike. The wires are polarised so you can work out which is positive and negative at the other end (red is +!). The wires connect to the strike via a pair of screw terminals. Don’t take the pre-fitted diode out – it protects the circuitry from the spike generated as the solenoid is released. The Scanner This obviously needs to go close to the door in question but doesn’t have to be right up on it. Choose a location that is preferably out of the weather (even though the Biolock scanner is IP65 rated, so it will stand direct rain and even a low-pressure hose). For security, the wiring should go siliconchip.com.au straight through the wall or surface to which it is attached so you will also need to take that into account. The wall or surface also needs to be flat – if you must, you can pack out so the bracket which holds the scanner is flat. The bracket is mounted first, then the scanner attaches to the bracket. If it seems we are glossing over this section, we are: the instructions with the Biolock are much more detailed (even though they start with the scanner then fit the strike!). The Secure I/O This is a small PC board which comes with a surface-mounting ABS box, designed to mount in any convenient position inside the building. Installation here is as simple as connecting the mounting the box, connecting the various (supplied) cables to the PC board and placing it inside the box. Finally, it is all screwed together and hardware installation is virtually complete. Connecting it all up We mentioned before that the system requires a computer (and a TCP/ IP computer network) to operate. That network can be as simple as the Biolock, computer (with network card – and they are dirt cheap these days) and connecting cat5 cable - or it can operate over an already-installed network. If you have an existing network with a convenient RJ45 socket, you’re laughing. Just plug in the cable from the secure I/O board. We mentioned before that it must be configured to an IP address in the range 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254, excepting 192.168.0.210 (which is the Biolock’s own IP address). Once again, the instructions contain all the information you’re going to need to get the Biolock up and running on your system. BioKey software Included with the kit is a CD-ROM containing BioKey software. This is not only the “driving” software for the system, it’s also the way you “enrol” legitimate users and set up the access rules for them and the building. The system tells you when you have an acceptable reading as new users are “enrolled”; otherwise an error will be flagged and a new reading taken. In a multiple Biolock system, as each Biolock has its own IP address it can be set up individually, allowing or denying access as required for that particular door. You can also set up times that certain individuals can access areas (eg, deny access after hours or at weekends). The software also allows you set the level of security from very weak (where it will give a false acceptance 1 time in 5, through to very strong – 1 time in 100,000. There are trade-offs in taking too high a level are that legitimate users may experience too many rejections. Default level (normal) is 1 in 500. You have wireless? Because each Biolock is an IP device, you can add wireless to it and avoid running cables (just as you would in any wireless network). This of course applies to home use just as much as business. Other software Biorecognition Systems have a range of other add-on software products to expand the Biolock’s capabilities. Of particular note is the BioTime Time and Attendance software which can eliminate time cards or clocks. They also have more powerful access control software for higher security applications. More info? Visit the Biorecognition website at www.brsgrp.com Radio, Television & Hobbies: the COMPLETE archive on DVD YES! NA MORE THA URY ENT QUARTER C NICS O OF ELECTR ! Y R O T IS H This remarkable collection of PDFs covers every issue of R & H, as it was known from the beginning (April 1939 – price sixpence!) right through to the final edition of R, TV & H in March 1965, before it disappeared forever with the change of name to EA. For the first time ever, complete and in one handy DVD, every article and every issue is covered. If you’re an old timer (or even young timer!) into vintage radio, it doesn’t get much more vintage than this. If you’re a student of history, this archive gives an extraordinary insight into the amazing breakthroughs made in radio and electronics technology following the war years. And speaking of the war years, R & H had some of the best propaganda imaginable! Even if you’re just an electronics dabbler, there’s something here to interest you. • Every issue individually archived, by month and year • Complete with index for each year • A must-have for everyone interested in electronics Please note: this archive is in PDF format on DVD for PC. Your computer will need a DVD-ROM or DVD-recorder (not a CD!) and Acrobat Reader V6 (free download) to enable you to view this archive. This DVD is NOT playable through a standard A/V-type DVD player. Exclusive to SILICON CHIP $ ONLY 62 + $ 00 7 P&P HERE’S HOW TO ORDER YOUR COPY: BY PHONE:* (02) 9939 3295 9-4 Mon-Fri * Please have your credit card handy! siliconchip.com.au BY FAX:# (02) 9939 2648 24 Hours 7 Days <at> BY EMAIL:# silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au 24 Hours 7 Days BY MAIL:# PO Box 139, Collaroy NSW 2097 # Don’t forget to include your name, address, phone no and credit card details. BY INTERNET:^ siliconchip.com.au 24 Hours 7 Days ^ You will be prompted for required information SC January 2007  15