Microcontroller ideal for contactless applications

Working with partners including equipment manufacturer Strikh-M, inlay manufacturer Smartrac and card manufacturer Novacard, the project, currently in the pilot phase, will offer all the benefits associated with contactless automatic fare collection to passenger and transport operators.

Mifare Plus was launched in 2009 and is said to offer high standards of security and privacy for contactless smartcard systems.

Designed to offer a smooth upgrade path from earlier products such as Mifare Classic, NXP's latest Mifare contactless IC enables systems integrators to add new security features and functionality into existing Mifare infrastructures.

The Mifare Plus-based systems will help improve the overall passenger experience and drive operational efficiencies.

Eliminating the need for cash, passengers will be able to purchase and fill up contactless travel cards and season tickets at the automatic smart-card payment terminals, speeding up passenger embarkation.

The project is an essential part of Sochi's preparation for building a highly secure automatic fare collection system for the Olympic Games in 2014.

Mifare Plus, designed specifically for contactless applications that require additional layers of security such as public transport tickets schemes, road tolling, loyalty cards, closed-loop micro payments, and in access management in both the public and private sectors, features 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

In addition, the product has received Common Criteria EAL 4+ certification by the German Federal Office for Information Security, and has undergone thorough security and privacy assessment by the universities of Bochum and Leuven.