EMVCo is the certification body governing the payment industry. Their members include the leading credit card and payment companies, such as Mastercard, Visa, China Unionpay, American Express, and many others. In order to allow a global interoperability in payment, EMVCo has defined a set of specifications (both a system description and test specifications), and administrates a network of test laboratories. These laboratories are authorized to perform type approval sessions on payment terminals, payment cards, NFC-enabled mobiles phones, and even wearable devices.
EMVCo has organized their test specifications in several layers (called "levels"). Micropross is an active participant in Level 1—physical interface and protocol testing. Micropross supplies test hardware and automated software to a wide range of customers, allowing them to perform debugging and type approval sessions.
With these hardware and software solutions for NFC and EMVCo test, Micropross is able to accompany their customers from the initial design of their product all the way through the manufacturing stage, providing them with innovative and convenient solutions appropriate for every stage of the design process.
For type approval and debugging
For both contact or contactless payment technology, Micropross has your back!
For contactless payment technologies, Micropross is able to propose certified and automated EMVCo L1 test solutions based on the Contactless Test Station (CTS) and the MP500 TCL3.
These hardware solutions are accompanied by automated software test suites, all qualified by EMVCo. These solutions have been widely adopted by EMVCo accredited test laboratories to perform type approval and debug sessions for their customers.
Contact payment technology is also supported by Micropross. You have the choice of the Star 3150, MP300 TC3 or MP300 SC2 hardware, depending on your specific testing requirements. A full range of turnkey solutions (Micropross hardware + Micropross software) is also available, to test both the reader (IFM) and the chip card. Those solutions include :
For manufacturing
Even though EMVCo does not define any requirements for the production of contactless smartcards, the different standards may require card manufacturers to comply to a certain number of criteria. The initiative of Mastercard through their CQM process (Card Quality Management) is particularly worthy of being mentioned, as it aims to set a standard on the quality of the contactless smartcards that will be put in the consumer's wallets.
Mastercard CQM tests can be performed using the MP300 CL3, as this tester is able to perform reading distance simulation, resonance frequency, and Q factor measurements.
Similar to contactless smartcards, testing NFC-enabled mobile phones in a manufacturing environment does not have any specific rules defined by EMVCo or its members, even though a primary function of NFC in a mobile phone is to perform mobile payment. Micropross offers test equipment for performing thorough testing in manufacturing—all while keeping the price per test head low, and the throughput high.
For manufacturing test, we recommend the MP500 PT1-NFC, which allows you to perform tests such as the load modulation amplitude (LMA), loading effect, and frame delay time (FDT) measurements in a fast, automated manner. Proven within industrial test runs, the MP500 PT1-NFC has demonstrated 3x faster test times when compared to the competition for identical test plans.