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micromuseum.cc - Building the RFID base

Introduction

The bill of materials is a first iteration based on off the shelf hardware.

This is much more expensive than needed, meaning a cheaper alternative can be built over time, possibly in a single board that can be self and mass produced easily. Also another BOM with cheaper unbranded components will be developed in the next phase of the project.

At this level the only integration needed is soldering few wires and uploading a firmware, which suits well the requirements for the project to be able to be easily replicated in any educational context.

Bill of materials - Adafruit version.

Adafruit Feather ESP32 Board $19.95
Adafruit FeatherWing VS1053 board (the one with the Amplifier and pins for speakers) (*) $24.95
Adafruit NFC/RFID Breakout board $39.95
A set of Mifare-Classic 13.56Mhz RFID Tags $2.50 each
2 4 Ohm 3 watt Speakers (*) $7.50
A Micro-SD Card and reader

(*) Instead of buying speakers you can get the VS1023 board that comes with an audiojack port, but no amplifier, 5$ cheaper, and use active speakers or headphones.

Bill of materials - Aliexpress version

Assembly

Connect the ESP32 and FeatherWing, stacking them on top of each other
Solder female headers on top of the FeatherWing, so that you can run wires from the NFC Breakout and the Feather.
Wire the RFID breakout according to the following pins:
- RFID MOSI -> ESP32 MOSI
- RFID MISO -> ESP32 MISO
- RFID SCK -> ESP32 SCK
- RFID SS -> ESP32 21
- RFID 3.3V -> ESP32 3.3V (*)
- RFID GND -> ESP32 GND

(*) You will need to solder a wire to the ESP32 3.3V pin, since the feather header doesn't include an additional header for the pin.

Wire the Speakers to the Feather Wing or connect the powerjack to a pair of speakers

Enclosure and power supply

Users can easily build a 3D Printed case, we will soon provide STL models for them, and power the base using a USB power supply or any USB 5V 2 Amp (aka. fast-charge) power-bank.