Readers, tags and cameras

USB keypads and QR scanners

Readers that type like a keyboard need no setup beyond plugging them in: set Controller:Hardware:ConsoleLaneId to the lane they serve, and each line typed is checked as a code or QR at that lane.

Wiegand card readers and keypads

Most access-control card readers and keypads speak Wiegand. Wire each reader’s DATA0 and DATA1 to two GPIO pins through a 5 V to 3.3 V level shifter — the Pi’s pins are not 5 V tolerant — and list it:

"Readers": [{ "LaneId": "…", "Direction": "In", "D0Pin": 5, "D1Pin": 6, "CardFormat": "Number" }]

• 26- and 34-bit cards are read (with parity checked) and acted on at once.
• On a Wiegand keypad, digits are collected until #; * clears.
• CardFormat is Number (the card’s whole number) or FacilityCard (the facility code, then a five-digit card number, as many stickers print it).

Resident tags

Residents register their cars in the app; the estate office approves each one and types the tag number printed on the sticker or card. An approved tag read at a lane lets the car in or out as its owner — offline too — for as long as the owner lives in the estate. Tag numbers and plates are compared by letters and digits only, so T-0042 and T0042 are the same.

Number-plate cameras

Point each camera’s HTTP push at the controller on the estate’s network:

http://<controller>:<LanPort>/camera/<Token>/plates

with a long random Token per camera, listed in the controller’s settings:

"Cameras": [{ "Name": "Main in", "Token": "…", "LaneId": "…", "Direction": "In", "MinConfidence": 0.8 }]

The camera sends {"plate": "LSR 123 AB", "confidence": 0.94} (or the same as ?plate=…&confidence=… in the URL).

• An approved resident car opens for its owner, coming or going.
• A visitor pass booked with that plate is checked like its code: dates, hours, entries, watchlist, emergencies.
• Reads below the camera’s MinConfidence are ignored, and the same plate at the same camera within 30 seconds is acted on once.
• A plate that matches nothing does nothing and is not recorded: the visitor uses their code, or a guard decides.

Caution

Keep LanPort on the estate’s own network. It answers only cameras and other controllers, but it is not meant to face the internet.

The estate hub

With more than one controller, give them all the same Controller:LanPort and list the others in each one’s Controller:Peers:Addresses, for example ["http://10.0.0.12:5091"]. Messages between them are signed with a key every controller already has; there is nothing else to configure.