Measurement instrument selection for very high bit rate contactless transponder evaluation

In this paper we discuss properties of the digital sampling oscilloscope versus signal analyzer as instrument in the test bench to characterize ISO/IEC14443 compliant contactless communication devices. An extension to the existing near-field communication (NFC) standard specifies very high bit rates (VHBR) in the range of 10 Mbit/s for the Reader to Transponder communication link. One draft specification takes advantage of sophisticated signal processing and clever coding, to allow an energy-efficient contactless system, compliant to existing frequency regulation and to typical Reader hardware, which can also be used in mobile applications such as NFC in Smartphones. Considerations for the test bench to characterize this communication air interface are of general interest also for existing RFID standards in the 13.56 MHz frequency band.