PARTNER NEWS: NFC testing innovator Cilab has added support for EMVCo 3.0b to its high speed tester, enabling POS terminal manufacturers to quickly and easily debug and conduct pre-certification testing of their devices ahead of the new EMVCo specification coming into force in mid-2021.

EMVCo L1 CL 3.0b is designed to provide an improved experience for consumers making contactless payments using a smartphone, wearable or physical card, Cilab CEO Alfred Binder told NFC World.

“The new specification places new requirements on POS terminal manufacturers to ensure that consumers get a consistently good experience when choosing to make a contactless payment,” he explained.

“In particular, it includes a new IQ receiver test that can highlight a weakness in the way a POS terminal has been designed that the earlier specification did not include.

“For some manufacturers, it will be quite straightforward to meet this new test requirement. Others, however, are finding that they are needing to undertake significant redevelopment of their hardware in order to meet the requirements of the new specification before the EMVCo deadline.

“Here at Cilab, we have designed our ci230 from the ground up so that engineers can both debug and pre-certify their readers against existing standards — and easily and quickly upgrade their testing kit to meet new specifications as they are issued.  

“For EMVCo 3.0b, that means our customers need just a software update and an additional, easy to use antenna and they are ready to begin testing against the new requirements, with none of the complex reconfiguring of testing set-ups that you get with an environment containing multiple pieces of equipment from multiple suppliers.

“Moving forward, a similar test is also a requirement of ISO 10373-6:2020,” Binder added. “So all contactless reader manufacturers will eventually need to address this issue — and will be able to benefit from our high speed approach to NFC testing.”

Updated February 2021 As it moves towards adoption the EMVCo 3.0b specification is now known as the ‘EMVCo 3.1a Final Draft’. Cilab’s equipment fully supports the EMVCo 3.1a specification.