Android NFC Issue with APDU Commands

Question

I am working on an Application using the IsoDep Tag Tech to issue APDU commands to an NFC enabled card.

UPDATE: So the issues seen below seem related to the power requirements of the cards I am using, when I use a different card with lower power requirements the below symptoms don't occur as frequently.

I have followed the documentation explicitly and have a successful managed to implement the protocol. However with mixed success I am experiencing some issues with the NFC lower level libraries beyond the control of my code.

I have implemented the following:

• Foreground dispatching of a Pending Intent.
• The intent has a tech filter for IsoDep.class and action:
  • ACTION_TAG_DISCOVERED
• Once the I then extract the Tag from the Intent Extra Issue APDU commands and process the responses

The issue is that I have noticed a couple of things:

On the Nexus S the position of the card is dependent on a successful communication flow, if it is not in the sweet spot I will receive an IOException If I get too many IOExceptions because the card has moved or not remained in the RF field I start to see the following excpetions (see below) I was wondering if anyone else had seen these issues? In my onResume method I don't have any logic to prevent multiple calls to the NFCAdapter instance of the method: enableForegroundDispatch, should I be doing this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sample Exception 1

06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661): NFC service dead - attempting to recover
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661): android.os.DeadObjectException
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.os.BinderProxy.transact(Native     Method)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.nfc.INfcAdapter$Stub$Proxy.enableForegroundDispatch(INfcAdapter.java:528)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.nfc.NfcAdapter.enableForegroundDispatch(NfcAdapter.java:494)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at myClass.onResume(MyClass.java:406)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnResume(Instrumentation.java:1150)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.Activity.performResume(Activity.java:3832)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2110)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2135)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1668)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:117)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:931)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
06-16 12:08:43.351: ERROR/NFC(661):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Sample Exception 2

06-16 12:08:18.316: ERROR/MyClass(661): IOException in APDU commands: transceive failed
06-16 12:08:18.316: WARN/System.err(661): java.io.IOException: transceive failed
06-16 12:08:18.324: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.nfc.tech.BasicTagTechnology.transceive(BasicTagTechnology.java:144)
06-16 12:08:18.324: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.nfc.tech.IsoDep.transceive(IsoDep.java:159)
06-16 12:08:18.328: WARN/System.err(661):     at myClass.handleTagRead(MyClass.java:117)
06-16 12:08:18.328: WARN/System.err(661):     at myClass.onNewIntent(MyClass.java:84)
06-16 12:08:18.332: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnNewIntent(Instrumentation.java:1119)
06-16 12:08:18.332: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.deliverNewIntents(ActivityThread.java:1722)
06-16 12:08:18.335: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performNewIntents(ActivityThread.java:1734)
06-16 12:08:18.335: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleNewIntent(ActivityThread.java:1742)
06-16 12:08:18.339: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:117)
06-16 12:08:18.343: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:978)
06-16 12:08:18.343: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-16 12:08:18.347: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
06-16 12:08:18.347: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
06-16 12:08:18.351: WARN/System.err(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-16 12:08:18.351: WARN/System.err(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
06-16 12:08:18.355: WARN/System.err(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
06-16 12:08:18.355: WARN/System.err(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
06-16 12:08:18.359: WARN/System.err(661):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-16 12:08:18.359: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Setting up for ForegroundDispatch for NFC ISO DEP
06-16 12:08:18.492: DEBUG/NativeNfcTag(871): Tag lost, restarting polling loop
06-16 12:08:19.269: WARN/NfcService(871): Failed to connect to tag
06-16 12:08:23.980: ERROR/NFC JNI(871): phLibNfc_RemoteDev_Connect(RW) returned 0x00ff[NFCSTATUS_FAILED]
06-16 12:08:23.980: WARN/NfcService(871): Failed to connect to tag
06-16 12:08:23.980: ERROR/NFC JNI(871): doDisconnect() - Target already disconnected

Sample Exception 3

06-16 12:08:15.468: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Recieved a TAG
06-16 12:08:15.468: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Supported Technology of for recieve    d tag: android.nfc.tech.IsoDep
06-16 12:08:15.468: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Supported Technology of for recieved tag: android.nfc.tech.NfcA
06-16 12:08:15.468: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Supported Technology of for recieved tag: android.nfc.tech.MifareClassic
06-16 12:08:15.484: ERROR/MyClass(661): Failed to connect to aTag Reason: null
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661): java.io.IOException
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.nfc.tech.BasicTagTechnology.connect(BasicTagTechnology.java:81)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.nfc.tech.IsoDep.connect(IsoDep.java:39)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at myClass.handleTagRead(ConfirmPaymentScreen.java:107)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at myClass.onNewIntent(ConfirmPaymentScreen.java:84)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnNewIntent(Instrumentation.java:1119)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.deliverNewIntents(ActivityThread.java:1722)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performNewIntents(ActivityThread.java:1734)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleNewIntent(ActivityThread.java:1742)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:117)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:978)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
06-16 12:08:15.484: WARN/System.err(661):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-16 12:08:15.484: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Failed to connect to tag
06-16 12:08:15.484: DEBUG/MyClass(661): Setting up for ForegroundDispatch for NFC ISO DEP
06-16 12:08:15.609: ERROR/NFC JNI(871): phLibNfc_RemoteDev_CheckPresence() returned 0x0095[NFCSTATUS_INVALID_HANDLE]
06-16 12:08:15.609: DEBUG/NativeNfcTag(871): Tag lost, restarting polling loop
06-16 12:08:15.609: ERROR/NFC JNI(871): phLibNfc_RemoteDev_Disconnect(294f58) returned 0x0095[NFCSTATUS_INVALID_HANDLE]

Answer 1

So I know what is causing this, some of the RFID tags I was trying to read had a higher power consumption requirement than the phone was capable of. The upsetting thing was/is the phone falls over if it gets in a bad place for too long...