ISO 14443

Standards & Protocols

Proximity coupling HF RFID standard at 13.56 MHz for contactless smart cards within 10 cm, used in payment and access.

ISO 14443

coupling standard for smart cards." data-category="Standards & Protocols">ISO 14443 is the proximity coupling HF RFID standard operating at 13.56 MHz, designed for communication at distances up to 10 cm. It is the foundation of contactless smart card systems worldwide, including payment cards (Visa payWave, Mastercard PayPass), transit cards, electronic passports, and secure access badges.

Standard Parts

ISO 14443 is divided into four parts:

Part Title Content
14443-1 Physical characteristics Card dimensions, RF field strength
14443-2 RF power and signal interface Type A (ASK 100%) and Type B (ASK 10%) modulation
14443-3 Initialization and anti-collision UID structure, bit-frame anti-collision (A), slot-based (B)
14443-4 Transmission protocol Half-duplex block protocol for APDUs

Type A vs. Type B

The standard defines two air interface variants:

  • Type A (based on NXP MIFARE heritage): 100% ASK modulation, Modified Miller coding, bit-oriented anti-collision. Dominant in access control and transport.
  • Type B (based on Calypso/Infineon designs): 10% ASK modulation, NRZ-L coding, probabilistic anti-collision. Common in government ID and banking.

Both types operate at the same frequency and are supported by modern multi-protocol readers.

Data Rates

The base data rate is 106 kbps in both directions. ISO 14443-4 supports higher rates through divisor negotiation: 212 kbps, 424 kbps, and 848 kbps. These higher rates are essential for biometric passport reading and transit gate throughput.

Relationship to NFC and RFID

ISO 14443 is one of the three communication modes in the NFC specification (ISO 21481). Every NFC-enabled smartphone can read and emulate ISO 14443 cards. Within the RFID ecosystem, ISO 14443 is complementary to ISO 15693: 14443 offers secure, short-range communication for authentication and payment, while 15693 provides longer-range identification for asset tracking and libraries.

See also: ISO 15693 | NDEF | Standards

Related Content

What is RFID?

Getting Started

…Animal ID, access cards HF 13.56 MHz 0.01–1 m ISO 15693, ISO 14443 Library books, NFC payments UHF 860–960 MHz 0.5–12 m EPC…

RFID Frequency Bands Explained

Getting Started

…contactless payments or NFC smartphone interaction? → HF (ISO 14443). Is the deployment cross-border? → LF or HF for maximum…

RFID vs Barcode vs NFC vs BLE

Getting Started

…(DSCSA) UHF RFID + barcode combo Contactless payment NFC (ISO 14443) Cold chain with sensor data UHF semi-passive or BLE Use…

RFID in Healthcare Implementation

Implementation

…corridors, loading docks) and use HF ( ISO 15693 or ISO 14443 ) at point-of-care. Use Case 1: Asset Tracking Hospitals…

Questions fréquemment posées

The RFID glossary is a comprehensive reference of technical terms, acronyms, and concepts used in Radio-Frequency Identification technology. It is designed for engineers, system integrators, and project managers who work with RFID and need clear definitions of terms like EPC, backscatter, anti-collision, and ISO 18000.

Yes. RFIDFYI provides glossary definitions in 15 languages including English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic, French, Russian, German, Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai.