by Holly Sacks, Executive Vice President of Product Marketing, HID Global
Smart Card Alliance published a paper called “RFID Tags and Contactless Smart Card Technology: Comparing and Contrasting Applications and Capabilities” in 2004. In the paper, securely identifying people is named one of the primary applications for radio frequency (RF) chip technology.
We agree with the Smart Card Alliance’s position that while all the various RFID applications use radio waves to communicate information, the chip technology used for each is quite different, addressing the application’s unique storage, range and security requirement. In the case of security applications, from simple door access to complex enterprise systems with a variety of technologies for multiple applications, RFID technology provides a unique and cost-effective combination of convenience, security, and flexibility that delivers compelling benefits for access control solutions providers and their customers.
Electronic access control systems are a combination of hardware, software, 
credentials and reader devices designed to manage physical access of personnel to facilities. Best practices require access control systems to be combined with closed-circuit television (CCTV), digital video systems, access readers with PIN keypads or biometrics, intrusion alarms, glass break detectors, security guards, and pre-established security policies and practices.
The RFID technology began winning ground some twenty years ago with low frequency RFID (proximity) cards and readers. Proximity technology uses one-way communications from the card to the reader.
The reader sends radio frequency energy which powers the integrated circuit (IC) in the card causing the IC to transmit its encoded number. This is decoded by the reader as an ID number and facility code and sent to the access control system to be verified against the access control database. Once verified, the system grants access to the credential holder by activating the electro-mechanical door hardware that allows the door to be opened.
According to the Smart Card Alliance white paper, “Contactless smart card technology is used in applications that need to protect personal information or deliver secure transactions. Contact smart cards provide similar capabilities but do not have the RF interface that allows contactless smart cards to be conveniently read at short distance from the reading mechanism”.
That illustrates one of the major benefits of using RFID technology in security applications: convenience.
In recent years, RFID technology advancements have resulted in the introduction of high frequency contactless smart card technology which offers several significant benefits - great convenience coupled with higher security and additional functionality to a lower cost.
Security Advancements with Smart Card Technology
While contactless smart card technology is very similar to proximity technology, it also provides an additional layer of security to ensure both the privacy of the information stored on the card and the security of communications between and card and reader devices. According to the Smart Card Alliance, “Contactless smart card technology is an excellent privacy-enabling solution for applications that need to protect personal information and ensure the communication with the contactless device is secure”.
Contactless smart cards have more memory than proximity cards allowing the storage of complex encryption algorithms. This means the data stored on the card can be encrypted to protect the privacy of identity information. The transmission of that data is also secured.
Through a process called mutual authentication, the card and the reader verify each other’s authenticity before any data is transmitted. Because random number generation is used as part of the process, retransmitting the same data stream to the reader will result in failure to authenticate.
Enabling Multiple Applications
Depending on the amount of memory available and the number of memory areas, contactless access control smart cards also support additional applications such as digital cash, time and attendance, logical access, and biometric verification.
Enterprises currently adopting the technology only for physical access control often do so because it provides a single card platform for future implementation of multiple applications in a one card solution.
Contactless smart card technology readers and credentials are available in a variety of forms and often support multiple technologies in the same reader device and/or credential. This flexibility is excellent news for those managing complex security programs that are frequently based on legacy infrastructures.
Tags can also be added to proximity or magnetic stripe cards that have already been issued for use in conjunction with existing access control readers, point-of-sale terminals, or parking control systems. Reader devices can include keypads for PIN authentication, biometric readers for an additional layer of verification in high security environments such as laboratories or IT server rooms. Combination of technologies including contactless smart card technology, proximity, and magnetic stripe is also supported.
Improving The Bottom Line
In the past, proximity technology had a significant cost advantage over smart cards. However today, anyone with a budget to install a standard proximity-based access control system can afford to install a smart card system instead.