Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP)
improve interoperability among access control and security products
What Is OSDP?
Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) is an access control communications standard developed by the Security Industry Association (SIA) to improve interoperability among access control and security products.
OSDP was approved as an international standard by the International Electrotechnical Commission in May 2020 and has been published as IEC 60839-11-5.
SIA OSDP v2.2.2 was released in October 2024. SIA OSDP is in constant refinement to retain its industry-leading position.
Why Specify or Adopt OSDP?
SIA encourages broad adoption of this standard –which is already in wide use by many leading manufacturers like Cypress, HID Global and Mercury – and recommends specifying OSDP for any access control installations that require real security and/or will be used in government and other higher-security settings. SIA OSDP is particularly valuable for government applications because it meets federal access control requirements like PKI for FICAM.
Introducing SIA OSDP Verified
SIA OSDP Verified is a new comprehensive testing program that validates a device's conformance to the SIA OSDP standard and related performance protocols. SIA's testing means you can trust OSDP Verified solutions.
Training You Need: OSDP Boot Camp
Get instructor-led, hands-on OSDP design, configuration and implementation training.
Benefits of OSDP
Compared to common low-security legacy protocols, the OSDP standard offers:
Higher Security
- OSDP is more secure than the most common access control communications protocol.
- OSDP Secure Channel supports high-end AES-128 encryption (required in federal government applications).
- OSDP constantly monitors wiring to protect against attack threats.
Advanced Functionality
- OSDP supports advance smartcard technology applications, including PKI/FICAM and biometrics.
- OSDP supports bi-directional communications among devices.
- OSDP supports advanced user interface, including welcome messages and text prompts.
- OSDP’s use of 2 wires instead of 12+ allows for multi-drop installation, supervised connections to indicate reader malfunctions, and scalability to connect more field devices.
Ease of Use
- Audio-visual user feedback mechanisms provide a rich, user-centric access control environment.
- Guesswork is eliminated since encryption and authentication are predefined.
- Low cost of implementation on an embedded device.
More Interoperability
- Using OSDP enables communication among different manufacturers' devices and solutions.
- The standard applies to peripheral devices such as card readers and other devices at secured access doors/gates and their control panels.
- SIA promotes the standard at regular “plugfests” among manufacturers and at SIA InteropFest– an annual interoperability event held at the ISC West trade show.
- The OSDP specification is currently recommended when TCP/IP, USB or other common protocols do not lend themselves to the application.
- The OSDP specification is extensible to IP environments and the OSDP Working Group is working on deploying OSDP over IP soon.
Purchase the OSDP Standard
Interested in implementing OSDP in your solutions? The SIA Open Supervised Device Protocol standard (v2.2.2) is available for purchase from the SIA store.
Test Your OSDP Conformance
SIA freely offers the Open OSDP Test Tool, an open-source software tool which simplifies testing the product against the OSDP specification.
Runs on Linux Machines
*Before launching, please view the "Read Me" and "Getting Started document.
Get Involved With SIA Standards
The SIA OSDP Working Group, part of the larger SIA Standards Access Control & Identity Subcommittee, stays in touch and exchanges information via our community hub for SIA members. Join the community today and network with like-minded engineers, product developers and specifiers who are advancing OSDP.
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