Gregory's ServerThe card doesn't transmit a signal back. Instead it changes its antenna load, causing the card to absorb more or less energy from the reader. The reader detects this "load modulation", allowing it to receive data from the card without the card using power to transmit data. 6/15
|
8 comments
 This block diagram from the datasheet shows the components of the card. The RF interface is the analog circuitry connected to the antenna. The card stores 48 bytes (the ticket info) in the EEPROM. The digital circuitry accepts commands to read and write the EEPROM. 8/15 Most of the chip is digital logic, implemented with standard-cell circuitry, but there's lots of analog circuitry to handle the antenna signal. The four bond pads are where the antenna is attached. 9/15 Many chips use standard-cell circuitry. A program converts the logic description into rows of standardized blocks (NAND gates, flip-flops, etc.) and lays out the metal wiring between them. Much faster than creating an optimized layout by hand. 10/15  @kenshirriff Does this mean that the back-end has a database of all issued tickets (identified by their UID), and whether they have been tapped in and/or out?   @kenshirriff "load modulation" is carrier modulation. The carrier is a side effect of the interrogation signal. Any carrier is merely a baseline reference in the time domain. To suggest that the return signal does not emanate from the chip because it is powered by the interrogator is a weird perspective to me. |
I dissolved the chip's metal and oxide layers to reveal the chip's underlying silicon, showing the layout of its transistors. 7/15