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Magnetic Card Reader

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Block Diagram
Design Considerations
Application Notes
Development Kits/Boards
Code Examples
IP Elements
Reference Designs
Training On-Demand
Technical Articles
Product
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Software and Drivers

Block Diagram - Magnetic Card Reader
PSoC programmable analog and digital resources integrate everything shown in the light blue block below. Click on the colored blocks to view or sample the recommended PSoC Components.

 

The flexibility of PSoC allows you to customize each colored block, or PSoC Component, to meet your design requirements through the easy-to-use PSoC Creator Software IDE.  These Components are available as pre-built, pre-characterized IP elements in PSoC Creator.


Design Considerations
Magnetic Card Readers (also known as Magnetic Stripe Readers or MSRs) read data from a 3-track magnetic stripe via a peak detection circuit and process that data for downstream users. After extracting data from the magnetic stripe, it is converted to binary data and formatted for encryption.

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 allow a scalable solution that enables 3-channel peak detection, data conversion and formatting, and encryption on a single chip. Integration into a single chip allows small form factor designs that can be put into the reader head assembly to improve security. PSoC's scalability also allows for optional capsense button pads and/or LCD displays.

Application Notes

AN57821- PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP Mixed Signal Circuit Board Layout Considerations
AN57821 introduces basic PCB layout practices to achieve 16 to 20 bit performance for the PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP family of devices. The design practices covered in this application note are good rules to use in any mixed signal design for any accuracy.

AN58304 - PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP - Pin Selection for Analog Designs
AN58304 assists the designer in making the best pin selection for both performance and resource utilization for the PSoC 3 and PSoC 5LP families.

AN58827 - PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP Internal Analog Routing Considerations
AN58827 discusses how internal trace and switch resistance can affect the performance of a design and how these issues can be avoided by understanding a few basic details about the PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP architecture.

AN60321 - Peak Detection with PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP
AN60321 describes several techniques for implementing a peak detector in PSoC 3 and PSoC 5LP.

AN60594 - PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP: 1200 Baud FSK Modulation and Demodulation
AN60594 describes how to create a 1200-baud frequency shift keying (FSK) transmitter and receiver with PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP, with digital 0s represented by 2100 Hz, and digital 1s, represented by 1300 Hz. The transmitter is created using a sine table, DMA, and VDAC.

AN61102 - PSoC® 3 and PSoC 5LP - ADC Data Buffering Using DMA
AN61102 describes how to configure the direct memory access (DMA) to buffer the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) data. It discusses how to overcome some of the limitations of the DMA when buffering the ADC data.

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Development Kits/Boards

CY8CKIT-001 PSoC® Development Kit
The CY8CKIT-001 PSoC® Development Kit (DVK) provides a common development platform where you can prototype and evaluate different solutions using any one of the PSoC 1, PSoC 3, or PSoC 5 architectures.

CY8CKIT-023 PSoC® MFi (Made for iPod | iPhone | iPad) Expansion Board Kit

Note: The underlying technology of Cypress’s MFi solutions is compatible with both Apple’s 30-pin connector and their new all-digital Lightning connector for iPhone 5 and other new Apple products. Cypress is currently working to provide full support for the Lightning connector. Contact mfi@cypress.com to discuss your MFi needs.
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Technical Articles

PSoC 5 as a Magnetic Card Reader
Aug 09, 2010

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Training On-Demand

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 101: Introduction to the Architecture and Design Flow

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 102: Introduction to System Resources

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 103: Introduction to Digital Peripherals

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 104: Introduction to Analog Peripherals
This module introduces the analog peripherals of PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices that can be implemented using PSoC Creator.

PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 201: Analog Peripherals
This module builds on the previous analog modules (PSoC 3 / PSoC 5: 104) and goes into the details of the analog peripherals of the PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices which can be implemented using PSoC Creator.

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Software and Drivers

PSoC Creator
PSoC Creator is a state-of-the-art software development IDE combined with a revolutionary graphical design editor to form a uniquely powerful hardware/software co-design environment.

PSoC Designer
PSoC Designer is the revolutionary Integrated Design Environment (IDE) that you can use to customize PSoC to meet your specific application requirements. PSoC Designer software accelerates system bring-up and time-to-market.

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