Wearable technology
Wearable technology is growing, with momentum coming from the sporting goods market (activity trackers), as well as from companies that design fashion and luxury accessories.
Wristbands that have embedded connectivity technologies such as WiFI and Bluetooth are now integrating Near Field Communication (NFC) and Wireless Power technology for added functionality.
NFC is used to perform contactless payments using EMVCo compatible technology. The ability to pay for goods without taking out your wallet, or being able to leave your house for a run without taking your phone or wallet offers patent convenience.
Wearables are also integrating the use of wireless power. These devices operate with a battery, which needs to be charged often. The ability to wirelessly charge your device without having to bring a charger with you, or without having to return home is revolutionary for the wearable industry.
Micropross test solutions perform debug and conformance testing following the EMVCo specifications of wearable devices
Typically, your wearable device will behave as an EMVCo card, in order perform a contactless payment with the payment terminals (POS) deployed on the field.
Micropross has a full range of EMVCo validated test solutions for EMVCo L1 testing. To test the contactless payment feature of a wearable device, we recommend the Contactless Test Station (CTS), accompanied by the Micropross EMVCo L1 Contactless PICC analog and digital test suites.
The Micropross Contactless Test Station solution comes with all necessary accessories and a robot arm for a fully automated experience.
EMVCo L1 contactless test solutions developed by Micropross are deployed at the vast majority of certified test laboratories for type approval (official EMVCo test sessions).
Micropross test solutions for wireless power and wearable devices
Micropross is a member of both the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) and Airfuel Alliance. While Micropross offers test solutions currently on the market, we also have ongoing projects to address remaining standards defined by these standard bodies.
Typically, the wearable device will operate as a power receiver. The solutions that Micropross can provide today are based on the Qi standard, as defined by the Wireless Power Consortium.
We cover both the baseline power profile (low power, 5W) and the extended power profile (medium power, 15W) with innovative and automated test solutions—allowing you to cover tests such as all normative timing measurements and frequency demodulation.
Micropross manufacturing test solutions for wearable devices
Testing wearable devices in a manufacturing environment does not have any specific rules defined by EMVCo or its members, even though these devices are used to perform mobile payment. Micropross offers test equipment allowing you to perform thorough testing in manufacturing without compromising price per test head, and throughput.
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.