To better understand the importance of the ST25R3916-EMVCO reference design, learn more about EMVCo 3.0 and how it answers the new challenges arising from the popularity of contactless payments.
The ST25R3916-EMVCO is a reference design that greatly facilitates the creation of the contactless system of a payment terminal by offering a hardware layout and a code example for an EMVCo 3.0 level 1 stack. The kit uses the ST25R3916 reader IC and also distinguishes itself thanks to the inclusion of a 65 mm x 74 mm two turns RF antenna placed around the 2.4-inch display. Additionally, it can connect to custom antennas to account for various designs, such as the use of a big-screen terminal or space-constrained payment dongles that use small antennas of just a few centimeters.
The kit, along with design files, recommendations, and reference code, is available upon request to designers. Therefore, they can use it to learn from our implementation, reduce the number of PCBs they have to create for their prototype, and shorten their time to market. The ST25R3916-EMVCO even includes an STM32L476 with 1 MB of Flash to allow them to write their application layer comfortably.
EMVCo 3.0 Now Mandatory
The EMVCo consortium mandates that as of January 2020, all contactless level 1 systems be compliant with the EMVCo 3.0 specification. As we already explained, the new standard improves the interoperability of payment terminals by offering multiple PICC reference profiles, testing them against different loads, and tightening the overshoot and understood limits, among other things. The ST25R3916 features a new Active Waveshaping (AWS) to adjust the RF signal better while its Dynamic Power Output (DPO) controls the field strength to comply with the new EMVCo requirements. A kit such as the ST25R3916-EMVCO thus ensures that engineers can quickly take advantage of these functionalities and rapidly design a contactless system that can receive the EMVCo 3.0 certification.
ST25R3916-EMVCO for Practicality
The ST25R3916-EMVCO reference design is compatible with the ISO 14443A and ISO 14443B standards to support most of the NFC cards available today. The ST25R3916 IC is also the component of choice as it is present in the majority of designs currently receiving the EMVCo 3.0 certification. It also includes a micro-USB connector to communicate with a PC and power the system, while the display integrates our S-Touch controller, which enables multitouch interfaces. Designing a contactless system for a payment solution is never easy, but this reference design is one of the most useful tools to leap out of a proof-of-concept into a PCB that’s closer to the final product.
