Elon Musk once said: “I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things. I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.” And while the core of Panthronics identity is indeed to solve engineering and manufacturing problems of our customers, let us pontificate a bit about them.
Nowadays, smart PoS manufacturers tend to focus on creating terminals that resemble smartphones rather than traditional PoS terminals. Smart PoS terminals include large screens, no buttons, an integrated camera, and many other features designed to bridge the gap between smartphones and smart terminals. Nevertheless, since the primary function of the smart PoS terminal is still to accept payments, there are some tricks and challenges that manufacturers face.
For instance, how do you place NFC behind a large touch screen and make it work? Even more, not only it should work, it should be able to pass stringent EMVCo 3.0/3.1 certification! More to that, the device with an NFC behind the screen should also pass EMVCo 3 tests with multiple PICC (Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards).
And let us not even start discussing the challenges of a bigger battery and a thinner body…
As you can see, innovation always come with a lot of questions of what and how. But what about the impact these new designs have on NFC and EMVCo certification?
First of all, large displays introduce shielding effect and noise in the system. Also, EMVCo tests with multiple PICCs lead to a coupling effect and detuning. All of this results in challenges in power transfer tests, weak modulation amplitude and waveshape distortion.
As a result, passing standards such as EMVCo 3.0/3.1 while having the antenna behind the display becomes extremely difficult and costly.
These EMVCo certification challenges have a direct impact on time-to-market and revenue. Doesn’t sound much fun, does it?
Panthronics solution answers to those challenges and the impact they have on the PoS design! To start with, up to 2W output power on the antenna allows high degree of antenna placement flexibility – you could position it freely behind the screen, no strings attached. Also, -80dBc receiver sensitivity enables higher reading distances in different card types (A, B, F, V).
Besides, passing EMVCo waveform tests becomes a reality thanks to the accurate digital wave shaping, as well as enabling EMVCo 3 PCD in PC, Smartphones and tablets!
As you can see, Panthronics NFC solutions bring unprecedented benefits to your PoS terminals! Get in touch with us to know more about how we can support your smart designs of the future!
Author: Evgeniia Vinogradova