TRANSFORMING THE NFC PUBLIC TRANSPORT EXPERIENCE FROM VISION TO REALITY

– The Necessities of NFC Forum Harmonization Efforts

~ by NFC Forum Transport SIG

Advancing Near Field Communication Technology

TRANSFORMING THE NFC PUBLIC TRANSPORT EXPERIENCE

● What is the role of the NFC Forum Transport SIG

The NFC Forum Transport SIG acts as a bridge between all

transport industry stakeholders, from identifying NFC roadblocks

to enabling a seamless integration of NFC by providing all players

with the information and tools they need to succeed.

● How is the Transport SIG working to increase the

adoption of NFC in the Public Transport sector?

By working with key stakeholders in leading standards organizations

to harmonize specifications. The end goal is to facilitate a global

public transport environment in which passengers board with

unprecedented speed and ease, fare collection and access are

handled with accuracy, and the user experience is uniformly positive

from country to country, and transit system to transit system.

2

ACRONYMS USED IN THIS PRESENTATION

Advancing Near Field Communication Technology3

PT =

Public transport

NMD =

NFC Mobile

Device

CICO =

Check-in/Check-out*

* Check-in/Check-out means that the user has to tap his or her

phone when entering and when leaving the system.

INTRODUCTION, MOTIVATION AND INITIAL SITUATION

1. Over the last 10 years, the public transport market has been ready to embrace NFC-enabled mobile

services but field introduction did not take place as could have been expected.

2. The fragmentation of contactless specifications may be the major reason why NFC is not as successful as

it could be.

ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 18092, EMVCo L1 and NFC Forum analog are built on the same technical foundation but over

time developed differences that may lead to interoperability issues.

NFC’s value proposition claims that it is easy to use, self-explanatory, secure and compatible with existing contactless

infrastructures. This proposition is currently broken since service providers and users cannot rely on the interoperability

of NFC mobile devices with their contactless application.

Case-by-case investigation is required to determine if a certain NFC-enabled service will be supported by a dedicated

type of NFC mobile device

3. In order to make NFC a market success, NFC mobile devices have to come with guaranteed technical

interoperability with the globally relevant contactless infrastructures and applications.

THE FRAMEWORK FOR INTEROPERABILITY

Interoperability requires continuous cooperation between the relevant standardization bodies as

specifications evolve. The NFC Forum has established relationships with the relevant bodies:

Global network for alignment on

PT market business requirements

Continuous harmonization of the

relevant specifications via liaisons

Base

standards

PT-specific

standards

Continuous harmonization of the

relevant specifications via liaisons

ISO/IEC14443ISO JTC1 SC17 WG8

EMVCo L1EMVCo, LLC

Base

standards

CEN TS16794CEN TC278 WG3 SG5

ISO TC204 WG8PT-specific

standards IN PROGRESS

REQUIREMENTS AND APPROACH

1. In order to support all globally relevant implementations, the NFC mobile device has to be interoperable with

the following standards:

ISO/IEC 14443,

ISO/IEC 18092,

EMVCo L1 and

NFC Forum’s analog specification.

2. Interoperability would be guaranteed if there were one contactless standard for all types of devices and

applications.

However, this straight-forward approach is not practical. The relevant standardization groups can provide good reasons why their

specific work has to be continued. No party will give up their specification in support of a common approach.

Instead, the approach for interoperability of NFC mobile devices has to respect and appreciate the relevance and the roles of the

established working parties.

A collaboration between these parties requires mutual consent of the individual roles and a defined division of work.

3. The foundation for the necessary harmonization work of analog/RF and digital layer specifications for NFC

mobile devices is a broad cooperation among all relevant organizations and was initiated by the NFC Forum.

EXAMPLE OF MOBILE SERVICE LIFE CYCLE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT (PT)

Advancing Near Field Communication Technology7

Mobile Service Process

Authentication-Mediavia NFC mobile device

Creation / maintenance personal account

Online-Shopvia NFC mobile device

Individualized Transport Card

Transport Card

NFC device orcontactless card

as fare mediaTransport Card

Online-Shopvia NFC mobile device

Mobile identitymanagement

NMD as PT fare media

NMD as CICO media in passive tag infrastructure

Use of ISO/IEC 14443,ISO/IEC 18092PT fare media

Mobile maintenance of NMD apps, purchasing of entitlements, payment

Mobile authen-tication

Mobile management of the personal account

(A) Setting up / managing the personal account

Seamlessly mobile service approach

Personal mobile POSMaintenance of classical fare media, purchasing, payment

Partly stationary service approach

(B2) Configuration of NFC device / media, purchasing of entitlements, payment

Use of electronic “primary identity”, authorization, setting up , resetting authentication scheme

Classical identification and authorization (ID, signature)

Purchasing at service centre, vending machine

Maintenance and purchasing over-the-air

Stat

ion

ary

and

/ o

r m

ob

ile in

spec

tio

n

(C) Customer uses PT services

Maintenance of classical media , purchasing over-the-air

(partly) stationary scenarioLegend:

Mobile authen-tication

(B1) Secure authentication

over-the-air

Mobile ID management

Personal mobile POSMaintenance of classical fare media, purchasing, payment

Mobile authen-tication

Reading tag information Classical management of the personal account

Classical sales & maintenance

Mobile application scenario

MOBILE SERVICE LIFE CYCLE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT

NMD as Reader & Media*

NFC device as PoS PT services

* Media = Card/PICC

CONTACTLESS INTERFACE

RELEVANT CONTACTLESS STANDARDS

Depending on the use case of an NMD for Public transport the support of different contactless

standards is necessary:

NMD as Reader/Writer or emulating a terminal:

Advance secure communication for mobile ID-management: ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 18092

Communication to NFC-Tags: NFC Forum (Type 1 Tag – Type 4 Tag)

Managing tickets, communication to electronic ID: ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 18092

Contactless payment: EMVCo L1, ISO/IEC 18092

NMD in Card emulation:

Contactless payment or direct fare payment: EMVCo L1, ISO/IEC 18092

Emulating a ticket or an electronic ID: ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 18092

WORK AREA “CONTACTLESS INTERFACE”

NFC MOBILE DEVICE AS PLATFORM FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Requirements to a generic NFC mobile platform for PT

PT and payment infrastructures/media using ISO/IEC 14443, EMVCo, ISO/IEC 18092 and NFC tags have to be supported

Requires conformity OR interoperability of NFC mobile devices with these standards

Potential conflicts between requirements of the relevant contactless standards (analog and digital) have to be resolved as precondition for an implementation in NFC mobile devices

Interoperability has to be tested and certified. Applies for NFC mobile devices AND PT infrastructures or PT media.

ISO/IEC 14443 EMVCo L1

Synchronization

ISO/IEC 18092

Implementation specification for generic

NFC mobile devices

NFC ForumAnalog spec

WORK AREA “CONTACTLESS INTERFACE”

ANTENNA SIZE IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION STABILITY

● NFC performs communication and/or power transfer using magnetic coupling

● Generally, the ratio of the Reader to Card antenna size as well as there relative distance determines the coupling which has a huge impact on communication stability and/or power transfer

● The 2 extreme cases have to distinguished

Low coupling case: Large difference in antenna size between Reader and Card

High coupling case: Almost equal antenna sizes of Reader and Card

● In the past Readers and Cards have been design for single applications

PT and Payment implementing systems mainly based on low coupling case

Access systems and NMD to NMD communication implementing systems mainly based on high coupling case

New challenges due to multi-application usage of NMD facing both,low and high coupling cases affecting all, NMD, Readers and Cards.

WORK AREA “CONTACTLESS INTERFACE”

RELEVANT ANTENNA SIZES

NFC mobile devices:

According to technology providers, antennas of sizes from Class 1 to Class 6 are relevant.

Antenna sizes between Class 3 and Class 6 are most common.

Trend goes to small antennas.

● Typical Antenna size overview

Antenna size PT or payment

readersNFC mobile devices

PT, ID or payment

media

Larger Class 1

Class 1

Down to Class 3

Down to Class 6 Optional

Antenna size classification

according to ISO/IEC 14443:

Class 1: ~71.5 x 41.5 mm2

Class 3: ~45 x 32 mm2

Class 6: ~24.7 x 19.7 mm2

: relevant case

: not relevant

WORK AREA “CONTACTLESS INTERFACE”

INTERACTION OF ANTENNASRelevant scenarios for interoperability between NFC mobile devices and ISO/IEC14443-

conformant readers and media.

NFC mobile devices

Antenna sizes

Class 1

Class 3

Public transport

and ID media

Antenna sizes

Class 1

Down to Class 3

Down to Class 6

Reader and Card emulation mode

Class 1 or larger

Down to Class 3

Down to Class 6 (optional)

Public Transport

readers

Antenna sizes

Class 6

ACHIEVEMENTS

● Harmonization of all relevant analog parameters has been successfully performed

● Interoperability can be ensured independent from antenna size

● Interoperability can be ensured for a minimum defined operating distance

● Testing and certification on PT and NFC Forum side will ensure interoperability

OUTLOOK

● Establish cooperation to maintain the analog and digital harmonization status

● Introduce new analog parameter in cooperation with all standardization bodies

FURTHER WORK AREAS

● The Transport SIG of the NFC Forum has identified additional work areas that

could be relevant when it comes to defining further requirements of the PT

market. Examples of those work areas include:

Electromagnetic disturbance

Operating distances

Security aspects

For further information please visit the NFC Forum Transport page or email the

Transport SIG chairs. Your contribution and participation is highly appreciated.

APPENDIX

Advancing Near Field Communication Technology17

APPENDIX: EXAMPLE -- MOBILE SERVICE LIFE

CYCLE IN PT IN GERMANY

NFC device orcontactless card

as fare media

Creation / maintenance personal

account

Online-Shopvia NFC mobile device

Mobile identitymanagement

*FIDO = Fast IDentity Online

NFC FORUM PRESENTATION CONTRIBUTORS

● Co-Chair: Joerg Schmidt, Infineon

● Secretary: Jean-Luc Guisset, Sony

● Frank Dawidowsky, Sony, NFC Forum Secretary

● Michael Stark, NXP

Advancing Near Field Communication Technology19

For further information please visit the NFC Forum Transport page or email the

Transport SIG chairs. Your contribution and participation is highly appreciated.