Andrey Ovcharov

Professional Software Engineer and hobbyist Hardware enthusiast

Andrey Ovcharov

The new form factor for the URU Key FIDO2 Authenticator

While working on the side project URU Card - the open-source authenticator device in the form-factor of a regular credit card - I have noticed that it is way more suitable for daily use. The device like this can be carried around simply in the wallet together with other credit cards. So, I have redesigned the URU Key in this format.

URU Card Pro - biometric FIDO2 authenticator
URU Card Pro - biometric FIDO2 authenticator

The biggest challenge here is the power source. Luckily I could discover the ultra-thin lithium battery powerful enough, and it fits perfectly in the space between the logic board and the back cover.

Ultra-thin Li-Ion battery
Ultra-thin Li-Ion battery
URU Card Pro - the device internals
URU Card Pro - the device internals

As well I have made one more addition to the user experience - a tiny OLED display. On one hand, it is more informative than simple LEDs in the previous version of the device, on the other hand - not much information can be displayed there. So I am going to keep it in the design at least during the prototyping.

URU Card Pro - the OLED display
URU Card Pro - the OLED display

Other than that, the device features the same set of core elements as before - ESP32 Pico D4 microcontroller, ATECC508A security element and the FPC1020AP fingerprint scanner.

URU Card Pro
URU Card Pro

The test utility shows that all the elements work properly and the device is able to perform authentication tasks exactly as the previous version.