Allow access to the space via HMS if a member forgets their RFID card

[roberthunt]

This is just a thought I had when I was in the city centre recently and wanted to pop into the hackspace but I had left my RFID card at home but it is equally valid if a member loses or damages their RFID card. We could implement a feature in HMS which generates a one time passcode that allow a member to unlock the door via the gatekeeper keypad.

This feature would require changes to the gatekeeper code which I know is a vital system and would need to be thoroughly tested to allow this to work.

Considerations

• The passcode would need to consist of digits only due the fact that the gatekeeper keypad only has digits.
• The passcode should probably be at least 4 digits long, maybe up to 12.
• The passcode should only be valid for a single use.
• The passcode should expire after a short duration (5 minutes?).
• Possibly only allow generation of the passcode in HMS whilst the member is connected to the HSNOTTS wifi (a physical location based restriction).
• The member must be 'active' in terms of membership.

Alternative Approach

If we can rely on the fact that the member has a smart phone or other device connected to the HSNOTTS wifi do we even need to bother with the passcode? We could allow the member to unlock the door directly from HMS as long as they are connected to the HSNOTTS wifi. This would probably mean fewer (if any) changes to the gatekeeper code and saves the need to generate a passcode.

These are just some thoughts, I'm not expecting "yes lets go ahead an implement this" but I thought I'd get my ideas documented for future reference.

[dpslwk]

Everything we need to implement this is already in gatekeeper firmware and the DB tables. It would just need the HMS front need to generate the correct DB record and show the pin to the user.

More important thing we need to look at is any security issues around this.

'RepRap' Matt
Sent from my iPhone 5

On 4 May 2014, at 19:38, roberthunt [email protected] wrote:

This is just a thought I had when I was in the city centre recently and wanted to pop into the hackspace but I had left my RFID card at home but it is equally valid if a member loses or damages their RFID card. We could implement a feature in HMS which generates a one time passcode that allow a member to unlock the door via the gatekeeper keypad.

This feature would require changes to the gatekeeper code which I know is a vital system and would need to be thoroughly tested to allow this to work.

Considerations

The passcode would need to consist of digits only due the fact that the gatekeeper keypad only has digits.
The passcode should probably be at least 4 digits long, maybe up to 12.
The passcode should only be valid for a single use.
The passcode should expire after a short duration (5 minutes?).
Possibly only allow generation of the passcode in HMS whilst the member is connected to the HSNOTTS wifi (a physical location based restriction).
The member must be 'active' in terms of membership.
Alternative Approach

If we can rely on the fact that the member has a smart phone or other device connected to the HSNOTTS wifi do we even need to bother with the passcode? We could allow the member to unlock the door directly from HMS as long as they are connected to the HSNOTTS wifi. This would probably mean fewer (if any) changes to the gatekeeper code and saves the need to generate a passcode.

These are just some thoughts, I'm not expecting "yes lets go ahead an implement this" but I thought I'd get my ideas documented for future reference.

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[daniel1111]

Seems a pretty reasonable feature to add to me.

However, I think James is/was working on a feature that would allow members to register new RFID cards themselves on Gatekeeper - which would involve giving them a PIN which can be used to register a card.
However, as it stands at the moment, enroll/registration PINs can also be used to open the door - the PIN only gets cancelled once it's been used to register a card (this functionality has been present since day 1).
Basically I’m pretty sure that James's changes will (largely as a side affect) achieve what you're after; but that's certainly not to say a dedicated function for this purpose wouldn't be a good addition.

As for your second plan, that's trickier and a lot more interesting. I think for that to work, HMS would need to be able to send MQTT messages, which at present it can't. However, James has written some MQTT/PHP stuff before (e.g. MQTT twitter bot), so it's definitely doable, and may find uses elsewhere.

Daniel

[roberthunt]

Possibly restrict to members who have activated at least 1 RFID card (this ensures that they have visited the space and talked to a member admin at least once).