Introduction to FeliCa Card

When you live in tokyo, you can see a lot of cards used everywhere.In a subway, a convenience store, a gym, even a vending machine. You know, they have the same origin, FeliCa.

FeliCa is a contactless IC card technology developed by Sony. As the name stemming from the word "felicity" suggests, the system was born to make daily living easier and more convenient.

The card is difficult to forge/reconstruct, and allows to send/receive data at high speed and with high security. The system is also environment-friendly since the card can be used over-and-over virtually forever by rewriting the data. It also features ultimate user-ease, as would be expected from a contactless card, since there is no longer any need to retrieve and put away the card for every use.  All-in-all, the system is rational throughout, since one card is enough to provide for various purposes.

1 Principles of FeliCa

Contactless communication between the reader/writer and the card is activated by electromagnetic waves radiated from the reader/writer.

FeliCa communicates on a standard frequency of 13.56 MHz at a speed of 212 kbps or 424 kbps. The symmetric communication technology does not require a sub-carrier.

2 Advantageous characteristics for contactless systems

FeliCa is designed with the optimum architecture for contactless systems. FeliCa adopts the Manchester-coding system as the bit-coding scheme, which is tolerant of noise caused by the distance fluctuation between the reader/writer and the card.

Collision detection and avoidance using a time slot method requires fewer steps per transaction compared with other methods; this speeds up the whole process. Symmetric communication does not use a sub-carrier, so the emission is low and the communication rate can exceed 847 kbps.

3 High-speed transactions

Due to an efficient mutual authentication method and an advantageous transmission system, the transaction process (including secure encryption) between the reader/writer and the IC card is completed within 0.1 second.

4 Security

Using industry-standard security algorithms, FeliCa ensures high levels of proven security. The encryption key is generated dynamically every time mutual authentication is performed, thereby preventing fraud, such as impersonation.

FeliCa complements these communication-security functions with other security features. Issuance information and change-key information are encrypted and encapsulated in "packages" to ensure their secure exchange between issuers and card manufacturers without revealing confidential information. The transport key scheme provides a way to avoid fraud during shipping and the issuance process.

5 Unlimited application possibilities

FeliCa technology is already embedded in a wide range of products, from cards and mobile phones to tokens, key fobs and even wristwatches. In the near future, more and more FeliCa-based applications shall be found in a greater variety of devices, bringing the convenience of FeliCa closer than ever.

6 Can we use FeliCa in Vietnam?

It's hard to say. It's not just about technology. But about how to use. So convenience, so useful. Hope that we can popular it in vietnam as soon as possible

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEggzSmtBFw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HESuLj_S52o