Prototyping minimal footprint NFC-based user access control system for IoT applications

User access control systems have become a standard part of security systems in many consumer as well as industrial applications. The majority of these systems utilize tokens to gain an access into restricted areas such as buildings, garages, and workplaces. They are available in different shapes and sizes, but their communication interface often utilizes NFC technology ensuring compatibility throughout a variety of distinct tokens. Main goal of this paper is to share most important hands-on experience acquired during the development of NFC-based user access control system with minimal deployment footprint. Common handheld/wearable devices like smartphones or smartwatches have been used to eliminate the need for another item to be carried by a user. In our Android-based implementation, users are authenticated via server application and their accounts can be managed by the user interface called Locker. Further, MySQL database acts as a storage for user data and for authentication purposes as well. © 2017, Springer International Publishing AG.