Group Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: colporteur
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Views 1173 views
  • Likes 10 likes
  • Comments 5 comments
Related
Recommended

What is inside an access token?

colporteur

I went on a Caribbean cruise and all I got was this lousy token!

image

The token is used to access all guest services on the ship. It was provided in a lanyard when we boarded. Entering and leaving cabins required the token. Entering a leaving the ship required to token. Purchases anywhere on the ship required the token. Ten feet from our cabin you could hear the cabin door lock disengage and the display screen next to the door indicate the door was unlocked.

This post is no where near the quality you come to expect from Electronics Inside postings. Being a tech guy I was curious what was on the inside of the token. I managed to make it off the ship before I took a pen knife to crack the case.

PCB A image (front) and B image (back) fits inside C image. D image covers seals the token. It is approximately the size of a Canadian quarter.

PCB image 1 flips and the chip orientation matches the groves in the case image 2. The ellipse on PCB  image 1 encloses the pin that connects to the case image 2 to connect the antenna. There are four magnets around case image 2. This creates a magnetic filed pulls the PCB and keeps image 1 tight to image 2. One of the magnets is pulled aside in image 2.

Four chip labels can be seen
U1 DIalog DA14697
U2 Sx6 H2313
U3 blank
U4 to small to read markings.

The DA1469x is a family of Bluetooth® Low Energy solutions feature-rich range of multi-core microcontroller units for wireless connectivity. I was unable to discover U2. The battery voltage measured 2.9VDC.

Tear down was fun. Discovering the insides and how things work was a blast

Parents

  • Interesting teardown! The dialog BLE chips are quite nice. I've only tried the bottom-of the-range chip, DA14531.  Easy, Cost-Effective Bluetooth LE (BLE) with Dialog DA14531MOD  

    That U2 is attached to the NFC antenna running around the edge of the board, so it's likely an NFC tag sort of IC. It might form part of the system for making purchase etc. 

    It might even be used for storing your details on the device (hopefully in some secure way, maybe just a hash), so that there's no need for any USB interface or anything for configuration. They can just bring it toward a phone to push data into the device, or to retrieve information.

    The whole device is quite sophisticated construction, it must have cost quite a lot to have that custom BLE antenna designed in the shell. 

    Also, I hope the cruise was a lot of fun!

  • in reply to shabaz

    Thanks Shabaz for sharing your insight. My knowledge is limited to what I discover from data sheets. Yes the antenna was embedded in the thicker plastic side of the case. I had never seen the pull of a magnetic field used to secure a device. I've never thought of a solenoid in that light but it makes sense.

    I might have to go back on a cruise. The access token was the only souvenir I took and now it is in pieces. I deliberately kept the identifying labels out of the shots.

Comment
  • in reply to shabaz

    Thanks Shabaz for sharing your insight. My knowledge is limited to what I discover from data sheets. Yes the antenna was embedded in the thicker plastic side of the case. I had never seen the pull of a magnetic field used to secure a device. I've never thought of a solenoid in that light but it makes sense.

    I might have to go back on a cruise. The access token was the only souvenir I took and now it is in pieces. I deliberately kept the identifying labels out of the shots.

Children
No Data