ISO Standards Governing Smart Cards

The International Standards Organization (ISO) is a network of 148 countries’institutes of standards that provides consensus for decisions governing standardsfor various products worldwide. Members include one representative per nation,including both government and private sector individuals. Decisions made by the ISO affect both business and governmentstandards.

ISO 7816 is the ISO standard governingcontact smart cards. The standard coversphysical characteristics, dimensions andcontact locations, transmission protocols,commands for interchange, applicationidentifier systems and data elements.

ISO 14443 is a four-part contactless standardconsisting of physical card characteristics,radio frequency power and signalinterference, initialization and anti-collisionand transmission protocols. The operatingfrequency defined in this standard is 13.56MHz, providing a read range up to 4 inches(10 cm). There are two “flavors” of ISO14443: Type A and Type B. Althoughoriginally meant to serve different functions,both Type A and Type B are nowmicroprocessor standards similar infunction. However, ISO 14443A is the morecommonly used technology, while Type B isused primarily in banking applications. Dueto faster data speeds, 14443 technology isrecommended for applications in whichextensive amounts of data, such as largebiometric templates, need to be transmitted.Anticipating an increase in data-intensiveapplications requiring high data rates, theU.S. government recently selected ISO14443 as its official standard.

ISO 15693 is a 13.56 MHz technologyreferred to as vicinity because it providesgreater operational read ranges, making itthe preferred choice for many high-trafficlocations like access control.
Proximity can refer to ISO14443 or to theolder 125 kHz technology traditionally usedin access control. 125 kHz proximity is not“smart” technology and is not governed byISO standards. 125 kHz proximity istypically proprietary, requiring that cardsand readers be purchased from the samevendor.

Unique Identifier (UID): All ISO-compliantsmart cards are provided with a UID number(akin to a VIN number on a vehicle).

Forinteroperability purposes, a card’s UID isopen and available to be read by allcompliant readers. Since this unique numberis not secured by keys, reading the UID of asmart card is comparable to reading aproximity card, mag stripe card or othertechnology that utilizes open, unsecurednumbers.