NorthSec 2026 Electronic Badge

You have probably visited this page because you own a new, shiny NorthSec 2026 electronic badge. Welcome to the #badgelife club! Don't forget to show the world what you've got on social media using #badgelife and #nsec2026 tags.

Badge Buttons & Functionality

The badge has 6 physical buttons: four directional buttons (Up, Down, Left, Right) and two action buttons (A, B).

Button Overview

Power toggle is next to A and B buttons on the back.

Button Primary Function In Social Mode
Up Open WiFi Portal Open WiFi Portal
Down Start NFC Pairing Start NFC Pairing
Left Start NFC Reader Start NFC Reader
Right Start NFC Emulator Start NFC Emulator
A Cycle LED animations Cycle through social categories
B Enter Social display mode Double-press to hold display

Pressing the same directional button again (or A) exits that mode and returns to idle.

Directional Buttons — NFC & WiFi

Up — WiFi Portal

Pressing Up activates the badge as a WiFi access point with a captive portal (192.168.4.1).

  • SSID: NSEC-XXXX (unique to your badge, derived from its MAC address)
  • Password: A random 16-character alphanumeric passphrase (generated on first boot and persisted)
  • Timeout: The portal automatically shuts down after 5 minutes of inactivity, or press Up again to exit manually
  • LED indicator: A dedicated WiFi portal animation plays while the portal is active
  • NFC tap-to-connect: While the portal is active, tapping the badge with an NFC-capable phone will prompt “Connect to Wi-Fi?” — no need to type the password manually. The SSID and password are printed out on the badge’s serial connection as well for reference.

Down — NFC Peer-to-Peer Pairing

Pressing Down enters NFC pairing mode, allowing two badges to exchange profiles.

  • LED indicator: Orange breathing animation
  • Timeout: Pairing mode lasts 20 seconds before auto-exiting
  • How to pair: Hold two badges close together (NFC antennas aligned) while both are in pairing mode
  • What gets exchanged: If profile sharing is enabled (via the WiFi portal), badges exchange your name, pronouns, affiliation, contact info, and favorite color
  • Pairing outcomes (shown on e-ink display for 5 seconds):
    • New Partner! (green LEDs) — Successfully paired with a new badge
    • Already Paired (yellow LEDs) — You’ve already paired with this badge
    • Pair Failed (red LEDs) — Authentication failed
  • Partner tracking: Your badge remembers up to 128 unique partners, viewable in the WiFi portal’s Contacts section

Left — NFC Reader

Pressing Left enters NFC reader mode, which scans for nearby NFC tags.

  • LED indicator: White breathing animation
  • No timeout — stays in reader mode until you press Left again or A to exit
  • Scan results: When a tag is found, the e-ink display shows the tag’s UID (in hex) and any NDEF text content for 15 seconds, with a green LED flash

Right — NFC Emulator

Pressing Right enters NFC tag emulation mode, making the badge appear as an NTAG213 tag to phones and readers.

  • LED indicator: Cyan breathing animation
  • No timeout — stays in emulation mode until toggled off
  • Default content: Emulates an NDEF tag with your badge’s unique identifier
  • On boot: On boot, the emulator serves a URL pointing to https://nsec.io/badge — tap with a phone to visit the event page

Action Buttons — Animations & Social

A — Cycle Animations (Idle Mode)

While in idle mode, pressing A cycles through 26 LED animations:

aurora, burning, comet, cycles, fav_breathe, fav_noise, fav_orbs, fireflies, flow, gemstone, gold_calm, lava_lamp, nsec_glow, nsec_marquee, nsec_meter, nsec_wave, ping_pong, pink_gold_circling, prism, radar, rainbow, siren, smooth_glow, sparks, splotches, strobe

Each press advances to the next animation. After the last one, it wraps back to the first. LED brightness can be adjusted via the WiFi portal (0–255).

B — Social Progress Display

Pressing B enters social display mode, showing your progress across social categories on both the e-ink display and LEDs.

Social categories:

Category LED Color How to Earn
Social Purple Pair with other attendee badges via NFC (Down button)
Sponsor Green Pair with sponsor badges via NFC
Light Blue Automatic — collected passively via the ambient light sensor
  • Each category ranges from 0 to 255
  • LEDs visualize progress: the number of lit pixels (out of 18) corresponds to your value
  • The e-ink display shows the category name and progress
  • Timeout: The social display disappears after 5 seconds unless held
  • Hold display: Double-press B to lock the display indefinitely (press again to release)
  • Press A to cycle between Social → Sponsor → Light → Social…

Rainbow celebration: When all three categories reach 255, the LEDs switch to a rainbow cycling animation as a visual celebration of your achievement!

WiFi Portal

Connect to your badge’s WiFi network (NSEC-XXXX) using the password displayed on the badge. Once connected, open any webpage — the captive portal should redirect you automatically. Otherwise, navigate to the IP address listed.

Portal Features

  1. Badge Settings
    • Color picker: Choose your favorite color (RGB) — this tints compatible idle animations
    • Brightness slider: Adjust LED brightness (0–255), applied immediately
  2. Profile Sharing
    • Toggle profile sharing on/off (default: off)
    • When enabled, set the info exchanged during NFC pairing:
      • Name (max 20 characters)
      • Pronouns (max 10 characters)
      • Affiliation (max 30 characters)
      • How to reach me (max 60 characters)
    • ⚠️ Shared data is not encrypted — only share what you’re comfortable with
  3. Social Progress
    • View your current Social, Sponsor, and Light values as progress bars (read-only)
  4. Contacts
    • Browse all badges you’ve paired with via NFC
    • Each contact shows their name, pronouns, affiliation, contact info, and color (if they had sharing enabled)

Additional Details

  • Status LED: A small red LED on the badge pulses every 500ms as a heartbeat indicator — this confirms the badge is powered and running
  • Boot animation: A special boot animation plays on startup (separate from the idle cycle)
  • E-ink display: If connected - shows the NorthSec logo when idle. Mode-specific screens appear temporarily during NFC scans, pairing, and social display, then revert to the logo
  • Light sensor: Ambient light above ~600 lux passively fills your Light social value. The brighter the environment, the faster it fills. It slowly decays in darkness after a 30-minute hold period
  • Serial CLI: Connect via USB (115200 baud) for diagnostic commands — type help for a list of available commands

Battery

The Nsec badge comes with a LiPo battery.

Here are some basic LiPo battery handling guidelines:

  • Notify a volunteer or staff member if you notice any of the following situations:
    • A damaged battery
    • A battery being overcharged
    • A battery getting hot
    • A swollen battery
    • A battery producing smoke
  • Please make sure to:
    • Charge your badge under supervision
    • Avoid damaging the battery
    • Disconnect the battery before working on the badge
    • Keep the battery away from water and other liquids
    • Keep the battery away from heat sources (sunlight, soldering irons, stage lights, etc.)

If you have any questions, feel free to contact a member of the event staff.

If you have concerns or witness an incident involving a badge, please notify a staff member immediately.

If you have any questions or doubts, do not hesitate to speak with the members of the soldering village.