NFC & contactless test glossary

Standards & specifications

ISO/IEC 14443

The 13.56 MHz proximity contactless standard behind payment cards, transit, eID and access. Defines Type A and Type B at a range of a few centimetres. More on ISO/IEC 14443 →

ISO/IEC 15693

The 13.56 MHz vicinity contactless standard — longer range (up to about a metre) and lower data rate than ISO 14443; used for tagging and tracking. More on ISO/IEC 15693 →

ISO/IEC 10373-6

The test-method standard for ISO 14443 proximity cards and readers: reference PICC/PCD assemblies, calibration coils and the analog/digital measurements. More on ISO/IEC 10373-6 →

ISO/IEC 10373-7

The test-method standard for ISO 15693 vicinity cards and readers.

ISO/IEC 7816

The contact smart-card standard — physical card, electrical interface and transmission protocols (T=0, T=1) and APDU command set. More on ISO/IEC 7816 →

ISO/IEC 18092NFCIP-1

The NFC interface and protocol standard defining the peer-to-peer and active/passive communication modes NFC builds on.

EMV® Level 1L1

The RF/analog and low-level digital layer of contactless payment, certified separately for PCD and PICC. More on EMV® Level 1 →

NFC Forum Certification ReleaseCR

A versioned bundle of the NFC test specifications a device is certified against. CR15 is the current release. More on NFC Forum Certification Release →

NFC-WLC

NFC Wireless Charging — delivers up to about a watt over the 13.56 MHz NFC link for small devices. More on NFC-WLC →

Roles & devices

PICC

Proximity Integrated Circuit Card — the card, tag or device side of an ISO 14443 link.

PCD

Proximity Coupling Device — the reader or terminal side of an ISO 14443 link, which generates the field.

VICC / VCD

Vicinity card and vicinity coupling device — the card and reader sides of ISO 15693.

Poller

The active NFC role that generates the RF field and initiates communication (reader-like).

Listener

The NFC role that responds to a Poller (tag- or card-like).

DUT

Device Under Test — the card, reader or device being measured.

Reference PICC

A calibrated reference 'card' used to measure a reader repeatably and traceably, per ISO 10373-6.

Test PCD Assembly

A calibrated reference reader-antenna assembly used to measure a card, per ISO 10373-6.

Sense coil

A calibrated coil used to measure the magnetic field strength in the test setup.

Dual-interface card

A card that supports both the contact (ISO 7816) and contactless (ISO 14443) interfaces.

Modulation & coding

Type A

An ISO 14443 signalling family: 100% ASK with modified Miller coding from reader to card, and Manchester-coded load modulation from card to reader.

Type B

An ISO 14443 signalling family: 10% ASK with NRZ coding and a continuous field that simplifies timing.

ASK

Amplitude-Shift Keying — the modulation method (varying carrier amplitude) used to send data over the 13.56 MHz field.

Subcarrier

The frequency (e.g. fc/16 ≈ 848 kHz) on which a PICC load-modulates its response back to the PCD.

VHBR

Very High Bit Rate — the higher ISO 14443 data rates (up to several Mbit/s) above the base 106 kbit/s.

RF measurement

Load modulation

How a PICC sends data back to a PCD: it varies the load it presents to the field, which the reader detects as a small amplitude change.

Load Modulation AmplitudeLMA

The magnitude of a card's load modulation — a key analog conformance measurement, often reported as a voltage at a reference.

Vpp

Peak-to-peak voltage — a common way to quantify the load-modulation signal measured at a reference point.

Field strength (H-field)

The magnetic field strength in A/m generated by a PCD. It must sit within the standard's minimum and maximum limits (Hmin–Hmax).

Operating volumeOV

The 3D region in which an NFC device must perform. NFC Forum CR15 extends the tested volume (OV20).

Q-factor

The quality factor of an antenna's resonant circuit — it sets bandwidth and how strongly the antenna couples to the field.

Resonance frequency

The frequency at which an antenna circuit resonates; contactless antennas are tuned around 13.56 MHz.

Detuning

A shift of the resonance frequency away from its target, e.g. from nearby metal or loading, which degrades performance.

Loading effect

How the presence of a card — or a measurement probe — loads the field and changes the conditions the device actually sees.

Receiver sensitivity

The weakest signal a reader or device can reliably receive. cilab measures it as an absolute value with margin to the limit.

Power transfer

The power delivered from the PCD to the PICC across the 13.56 MHz field — critical for both operation and wireless charging.

Absolute (analog) measurement

Reporting the actual measured analog value with its margin to the limit, rather than only a pass/fail result.

Waveshape / envelope

The shape of the modulated RF envelope (rise and fall time, overshoot), checked against the standard's masks.

Debug & visualization

Shmoo plot

A 2D map of pass/fail or a measured value across two swept parameters — used to see margins and find weak spots quickly.

3D RF-field plot

A spatial visualization of the RF field and coupling around a device, used to locate dead spots in a reader's field.

Intensity chart

A heat-map visualization of a measured parameter across position or swept settings.

Protocol

Anticollision

The procedure that lets a reader single out and communicate with one card when several are present in the field.

NDEF

NFC Data Exchange Format — the standard record and message format used on NFC tags.

LLCP

Logical Link Control Protocol — the link layer used for NFC peer-to-peer communication.

SNEP

Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol — exchanges NDEF messages over LLCP in NFC peer-to-peer mode.

ATR

Answer To Reset — the initial response a contact smart card sends after reset, per ISO 7816-3.

T=0 / T=1

The two ISO 7816-3 contact transmission protocols — T=0 is byte-oriented, T=1 is block-oriented.

APDU

Application Protocol Data Unit — the command/response unit exchanged with a smart card.

Applications & other

eMRTD

Electronic Machine-Readable Travel Document — an ePassport, which uses a contactless chip (ISO 14443) tested to ICAO and BSI specifications.

Type approval

Formal certification that a product conforms to a specification, e.g. EMV® Level 1 type approval for contactless payment.