LEGIC Security Platform receives major Bluetooth upgrade

LEGIC is pleased to announce the addition of two new complementary, intelligent and power-saving features for the LEGIC 6000 series Security Modules: Bluetooth wake-up from sleep-mode via OS50 firmware update, and Bluetooth Central Role for smartphone apps via an upgraded LEGIC Mobile SDK for iOS and Android.

Intelligent device discovery and selection via smartphone app

LEGIC, via its upgraded mobile SDK, now enables smartphone apps (or LEGIC Security Modules and third-party Bluetooth devices) to implement the Central Role in Bluetooth Low Energy communications.

This can, for example, enable mobile devices to automatically search for, discover, filter, wake-up and connect to a specific Bluetooth-enabled peripheral device such as electronic door, locker, shared vehicle, etc. This effectively gives the mobile app the power of decision, whereas earlier only the reader had this capability.

To facilitate this new discovery feature, the firmware upgrade enables LEGIC 6000 series Security Modules embedded in readers, IoT devices and infrastructure to continuously broadcast a customer-defined designator and status via Bluetooth Low Energy even while in sleep-mode.

Once discovered, woken up and connection established to the mobile device, the selected LEGIC Security Module will allow the mobile app to explore and interact with the features and data that the peripheral device has to offer. This can, for example, allow a specific e-Scooter parked amongst many to automatically wake-up from sleep-mode, flash lights and beep when the owner is within Bluetooth distance. This concept can be extended to hotel/residential doors, rental cars, lockers, industrial sensors, or any other system where automated low-power discoverability and mobile (access) control via Bluetooth is desired.

Even lower power consumption for Bluetooth-based systems

A key USP of the LEGIC Security Platform is the support for battery-powered readers. To facilitate this, LEGIC 6000 series Security Modules come with a sleep-mode that can be activated by the host controller over the host command interface or via Custom Code, allowing a reader to power down its electronics. With this new upgrade, the Security Module continues to periodically advertise its presence including reader designator ID even while in sleep-mode. This signal can be read by other devices within Bluetooth range, for example a smartphone app.

Once the desired reader is discovered, the app can initiate the wake-up so that the reader can establish a connection via Bluetooth to the app. The app can then communicate with the peripheral based on its designator ID. This new Bluetooth wake-up feature is in addition to the previously available wake-up triggers Inductive or Capacitive Sensing, External I/O, and Internal Timer.

Application Areas These major Bluetooth connectivity upgrades deliver added value to customer applications having the following characteristics:

  • Environments with multiple Bluetooth reader devices in range: the absence of Bluetooth wake-up leads to a poor user experience – the user cannot be properly guided to the desired device.
  • Battery-powered Bluetooth reader devices that cannot rely on short-range, near-field sensing (capacitive / inductive) for wake-up in order to interact with mobile users or other devices (device2device interactions).
  • One device for many applications: with this upgrade, LEGIC 6000 series Security Modules support virtually all possible wake-up mechanisms as well as Bluetooth Central and/or Peripheral Roles. This allows the same module to be used in many different use cases. This simplifies design and logistics while providing high flexibility for a variety of applications.
  • High security: each reader designator is customer-defined and encrypted so that it cannot be read by unauthorised devices. This results in an enhanced user experience since customers can program their app to only see the peripheral for which the user is authorised to interact with (the peripheral’s designator info can be compared with the customer’s backend management system via the SDK and only applications specific to that peripheral invoked). Reader Designators can also be randomised for increased security.

With the new release, these features are available to all customers for the following updated components of the LEGIC Security Platform:

  • Mobile SDK for iOS v3 / mobile SDK for Android v3
  • OS50 v2.0.0.0 or higher for 6000 series
  • Evaluation Kit DKS-6000 v1.9.1.0
  • Latest Evaluation Kit App (EKA) for iOS and Android
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