Introduction to Contactless

Technologies

Xavier Appé
12th November 2007
 Plan

Introduction to Contactless applications

The different Contactless protocols

Protocol ISO 14443 Type A Description

Protocol ISO 14443 Type B Description

Contactless Tools at Gemalto

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Contactless Applications
Some examples

Payment
Three main features:

 Paypass  No contact with the validator
 VSDC  Fast transactions, generally below
500ms
 Operates in short ranges

Transportation
 Calypso

Access
 Gemalto Corporate Badges

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Contactless protocol standards
Most common protocol standards

ISO 14443 Type A

 With Phillips proprietary encryption&authentication => Mifare

ISO 14443 Type B

ISO 14443
 Same Block Transmission Protocol as Type A (ISO 14443-4)
Division:
 Physical layer and initialization procedure (anticollision and selection)
are different from Type A
ISO 14443-2
Physical Layer

ISO 14443 Type B’ or Innovatron
 Same physical layer as Type B ISO 14443-3
Initialization and
 Above layers are proprietary
Anticollision

Felica from Sony (Proprietary) also called type C ISO 14443-4

Block
Transmission

ISO 15693 Protocol
Use for RFID Tags

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Contactless protocol standards
Common Behavior

Contactless Reader/validator
 When switched-on, the contactless reader generates a Radio
Frequency (RF) field.
 It starts polling for a contactless device by sending requests
(REQA,REQB,…) periodically. ISO 14443
 If a correct answer is received, it executes an anticollision loop in order Division:
to detect all devices in the field. Then it selects one of them and starts
data communication. ISO 14443-2
Physical Layer

Contactless cards
 The power is provided by the RF field ISO 14443-3
 An RF antenna is connected to the card to retrieve this power. Initialization and
Anticollision

Contactless mobile phones ISO 14443-4

 Specifications of the NFC Forum to address use cases related to a Block
contactless mobile phone environment Transmission
 Antenna in on the mobile connected to a NFC chip, this NFC chip Protocol
forwards contactless data to the SIM card.

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 ISO 14443 Type A protocol description
Initialization Flowchart

Application parameters (This data may change depending on the application

in the card, example Paypass, VSDC, …)

• UID in ATQA

• Historical Bytes in ATS

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 ISO 14443 Type B protocol description
Initialization Flowchart

Application parameters

• PUPI in ATQB

•Application Data in ATQB

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ISO 14443 Type A/B protocol description
Contactless Data Communication

Once the initialization and anticollision phases are over, the

data communication begins
 RF Reader sends the first command (generally an APDU)
 The APDU protocol is similar to the one of T=1 protocol
– Data is always included in response
– No GetResponse()
 The protocol is Half Duplex, the RF does not reader send the next
APDU before the card answers the previous one

When the transaction is over, the RF reader sends an Halt

or Deselect Command.
 All communication stops
 The card then waits for a Wake-UP signal or a field exit.

Risk of “tearing” or “field exit” before the end of the

transaction is high. It is the role of the application to prevent
corruption in those cases.

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ISO 14443 Type A/B protocol description
Contactless Data Communication Example

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Gemalto Contactless Tools
RF Readers

GemProx PU

Micropross MP 300 CL2

Micropross Class 185

Inside Reader

Vivotech 3000/5000 for Paypass/Visa

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Gemalto Contactless Tool
Reader Software (To manage reader, send APDU, run scripts…)

GemProx Manager

WinSPI

MP300 Scope

Inside MXStudio

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Gemalto Contactless Tool
Debug Tools

Micropross ClassScope – RF Spy

Oscilloscope

SWP Spy with Xsmart Board

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Common problems with contactless devices

Timings too short

Field power not strong enough

Tearings leading to data corruption

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The End

Thank you

Questions?

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