Akshar Vastarpara develops battery-powered biometric scanner with Fingerprint Cards module

A new wireless, NFC-enabled fingerprint biometric scanner has been developed with Fingerprint Cards’ FPC BM-Lite capacitive sensor by hardware entrepreneur Akshar Vastarpara, Hackster.io reports.

The new Chhavi device is built on an Espressif ESP32 microcontroller and open source code, and features better biometric performance with lower power requirements than optical sensors, the developer says. Chhavi integrates Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity and battery power for use in a variety of applications. Vastarpara notes secure PC access control for password managers or local authentication, remote systems, physical locks and personnel management systems as possible uses for the scanner.

The open-source firmware is fully compatible with Arduino IDE, and addresses what its creator says is a lack of secure access options with NFC and ESP32-enabled controllers.

Vastarpara is planning a crowdfunding campaign to fund the manufacture of Chhavi. He previously crowdfunded the development of microSD card adapter Maypole.

The FPC BM-Lite sensor module, which delivers 99 percent biometric matching accuracy and an 8mm by 8mm active sensing area according to Chhavi’s Crowd Supply page, is now available through Mouser Electronics and Digi-key following recent distribution deals made by Fingerprint Cards.

Article Topics

access management  |  biometrics  |  crowdfunding  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  fingerprint scanners  |  fingerprint sensors  |  open source