Open and closed contactless technologies – chances and risks for access control applications, by Michael Szücs of Finnish manufacturer Idesco Oy.
Contactless technologies are today a natural part of modern access control applications. More and more users appreciate the level of security, suitability and economic efficiency offered by contactless technologies. Nevertheless, many users are not deeply familiar with the technical background of Proximity and Smart Card technology, or with the impact that open or closed technologies and the system architecture have on future system enlargements. This article will give an overview about the background of contactless technologies. Application demands can vary case by case – from simple solutions with low security level up to applications with high security needs. The variety of Proximity and Smart Card alternatives available these days enables the system architect to create solutions, in which price, performance and security level of the systems can be optimised according to individual application needs.
Advantages of contactless technologies
Users of access control, time management and ticketing applications acknowledge especially user friendliness with uncomplicated user instructions, low maintenance cost level, long operating life of the data carrier, possibility to use the technology also in harsh environments, especially in comparison to dirt and vandalism sensitive contact technologies (magnetic, contact chip). Also the high transaction speed and rate, secured data content and the possibility to use the same identification medium in several applications are important features offered especially by Smart Card Technologies operating on 13,56 MHz.
Proximity and Smart Card technologies
Proximity is usually understood as a low frequency technology on the level 100-500 kHz (mainly 125kHz). Technologies working on 13,56 MHz frequency level are usually summarized under contactless Smart Card technology. On both frequency levels, there are also different types of tags, e.g. keyring, fob, coin format in addition to cards.
Proximity technology with read-only function is today still the most common used technology in contactless access control applications. However, this technology is not based on any ISO standard. Smart Card technologies have become more and more popular also in access control applications, as they often work in accordance to international standards (ISO14443, ISO 15693), and offer an increased security level as well as superb multiple application possibilities.
Huge differences in memory capacity and data transfer speed
The silicon chips in both technology levels consist of a chip identification number and a programmable memory. The serial identification number of the chip is a random, not changeable, unique number, given by the chip manufacturer. Because of its uniqueness, the serial number is a very suitable identification medium for access control and time management applications, as the holder of the tag can be provided by the system with relevant rights.
The maximum memory sizes available on the market are located in different categories when comparing Proximity and Smart Card technologies. Proximity has the maximum around 2 KBit, but Smart Cards can reach up to 64 Kbit. Because of the significantly higher memory size of the Smart Card technology, also increased security features can be stored into the card and be used for identification in sensitive areas (e.g. biometric data). Especially Smart Card technologies support multi-applications where the same tag can be used for several applications like access control, ticketing and other payment applications.
The data transfer speed of Proximity is very low compared with Smart Card technologies. On the market there are Proximity technologies available with 4 kbps (kilobit per second) and Smart Card technologies with up to 848 kbps enabling huge amounts of data exchange within a very short time.
Open and closed solutions
Most crucial factors when realizing access control and time attendance solutions are, besides the price, especially the targeted security level as well as supplier independence concerning future system enlargements. System architects should be very much aware of the long term consequences of the selected contactless technology.
There are chip technology providers, whose chips are used in transponders and reader devices. On the other hand there are reader and card manufacturers, who integrate those chip technologies into their products. It is often a closed technology, if the same company is the source for the chip technology as well as the readers and cards. This means, that no other reader and card manufacturer can offer products that work with those chip technologies. If a system architect decides to integrate products from these suppliers, he must be aware of the fact, that in case of future system enlargements the readers and the cards have to be purchased from the same source and that the independence to choose the supply source is lost. With open Proximity technologies, reader and tag manufacturers have the possibility to integrate chips of other chip-producers into their products. The system users have therefore the independency to choose from where to purchase the cards and readers when enlargening the systems, in case if the system works with the ID number identification, or if the system user has the authority to program the readers and cards.
In case of a Smart Card technology the manufacturers of Chip-technologies are mostly not connected to the manufacturers of readers and tags. The target of the existing ISO14443 and ISO15693 norms on this 13,56 MHz technology level is to ensure the compatibility of the chips of different suppliers. Especially applications which work with the unique serial number identification could profit most of this fact, as there would be a wide range of technology alternatives as well as manufacturers of reader and transponder products in the market. In case of serial number identification, it is therefore not necessarily wise to use non ISO-compatible technologies, or reader and card solutions from providers, whose reader and tag concept restricts the independency to select a supplier source in the future.
If the information that is needed for identification is stored into the memory section, it is important to know, if the programming authority is at the end user or does it remain at the reader and card supplier when considering the independency issues. It has to be evaluated case by case, if the costs of purchasing a coding unit and the involved additional personnel costs are in an attractive relationship with the archived value.
Growing market offers many possibilities
The operations of the most important chip technology manufacturers globally prove the trend towards 13,56 MHz Smart Card technology. Many of them offer ISO-compatible chips meanwhile and enable the user of a contactless technology to choose between many alternatives. The increased competition in the chip market lead to the fact, that the price difference to the low frequency technologies has been lost, and the advantages of Smart Card technologies are increasingly used in access control, time attendance and payment applications. It is up to the system architect to choose the most suitable technology alternative for his application and avoid solutions that limit his future independence.
Idesco portfolio for all application needs
With the Access readers series Idesco offers a wide product range of contactless reader alternatives for access control and time attendance applications, with options for low-end applications up to high-end solutions with increased security requirements. The product alternatives reach from price attractive 125kHz technology alternatives (Access 7 A) up to advanced 13,56 MHz multi-technology readers (Access 7 C) as well as special Mifare‚ readers with sector reading ability (Access 8 CM) and read/write features (Access 9 CM) to be used in multi-application solutions.
A combined pin-reader solution with additional pin pad (Access Pin) increases the security level for access control applications by additional pin identification combined with a contactless technology. Because of its unique design, there are no moving parts in the pin pad. This reader does not require any maintenance and it is vandalism resistant.
The unique design of the housing guarantees that the reader can be reliably used also in the harshest environments. The standard readers are vandalism resistant and can be installed even directly on any metal surface. Additionally Idesco also offers exclusive readers with original wooden and stone housing for exclusive environments, as well as the elegant Access Quattro a reader, which can be mounted directly onto standard plaster sockets.
About the company
Idesco Oy specializes in readers, reader modules, cards and tags based on various proximity, smart card and UHF technologies. Its products are applied for instance to access control, factory automation, asset marking, and collection in public transport.
