Date: 07/11/2006

Contactless smart card IC supporting Rijndael from NXP Semi

NXP Semiconductor has added a new contactless smart card IC named MIFARE DESFire8 to it's MIFARE family of contactless smart cards. This new member supports a security feature called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) which is also called as Rijndael.. This chip is aimed at providing additional security measures to the smart card user such as counterfeit, privacy protection.

Targets applications are transport schemes, citizen cards and ID applications. Examples mentioned are public transport tickets, event tickets, office entry ID cards, and secure payment systems.
The key advantages of contactless smart cards are, less processing time, no swiping and hence less maintenance of interface system. Single ID card can be used for multiple services.