Smart Card

Smart Card Applications: Design models for using and programming smart cards
$130.00
A practical guide to the specification, design, and programming of smart card systems for working applications. More than?3 billion smartcards are produced every year. Generally defined as any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits or chips, they have a huge number of applications including travel cards, chip and pin cards, pet tags, mobile phone SIMs and pallet trackers. Now with modern Smart Card technology such as Java Card and Basic Card?it is possible for everyone to create his or her own applications on a smart card. This book provides generic solutions for programming smart cards, enabling the creation of working applications and systems. Key features: Presents a comprehensive introduction to the topic of smart cards, explaining component elements and the smart card microcontrollers. Sets out information on operating systems with case studies of a range of applications including credit card security, mobile phones and transport payment cards. Gives detailed advice on the monitoring of smart card applications, recognizing potential attacks on security and improving system integrity. Provides modules and examples so that all types of systems can be built up from a small number of individual components. Offers guidelines on avoiding and overcoming design errors. Ideal for practising engineers and designers looking to implement smart cards in their business, it is also a valuable reference for postgraduate students taking courses on embedded system and smart card design.

Gemplus Expresscard Smart Card Reader From Lenovo , Expresscard Reader for Pcs W
$93.26
I was using a usb smart card reader previously - this one loaded flawlessly and worked the first time with no issues. Much smaller and more convenient than the usb one.

Smart Card Handbook
$190.00
The book is well written and clear. I must say one thing this is physically the heaviest book I have ever felt for its size. It appears to have very good quality paper. The photos, drawing, and unique diagrams are superb in understanding. The Handbook provides a comprehensive coverage of card components; best I've seen explaining contactless card operation; operating system workings; and data transmission protocol. Of course the details of data transmission are not necessary to know unless you cover how coding of APDU (e.g., Java) which is needed. The discuss on the types of memory used on Smart Card (ROM, EEPROM, FRAM, Flash Memory, RAM) and its use could provide a summary table at the end similar to GSA report Government Smart Card Handbook found free on the Internet.

The section on Java Card (5.14.1) starts well but falls short in providing next logical part of discussing the coding process and how the card protocol relates to its use. I expected Java Card programming model to be discussed with sample applet and its components. I'm not looking at this to me some sort of programming book. However, technical people are reading this book and those that are not can stop short of reading on. Java Card programming model discussion material is found in a lighter book titled "Smart Cards the Developer's Toolkit" by Timothy M. Jurgensen which is more like this book but fails to be a programmer's book. It also covers Multos model as well. For this Handbook, there is practically no information on Multos model and the author uses the excuse that this is proprietary. Anyhow the Java Card seems to be the standard, explaining the programming process and the anatomy of a Java Card applet relating to operation (see Sun Microsystems article on net "Writing a Java Card Applet") brings to light the understanding on how it all works and what's involved in programming for this device. It makes sense to discuss this since the book discusses such details as the EF file structures to store data which is very well done.

The Handbook concentrates on Smart Cards for telecommunication, payment systems, and health insurance information. No reference is made of Smart Card for use in physical and logical access such as ID Badges which is becoming a base for all other uses. However, a small section does provide a summary paragraph for sample applications including personal identification; not much use, but nice to have.

Very little coverage is made of Card Management Systems (CMS). In fact the author groups Application (Applet) Management Systems (AMS) and CMS into Card Management System (CMS). The fact is that a CMS concentrates more on card inventory and issuance, while AMS is used for personalization and its application management. A little more than two pages on this subject is needed. It would be nice to see a discussion on the integration of a CMS-AMS and its relationship to Card Life Cycle Phases 3, 4, and 5. The book gives the impression that personalization is done at the manufacturer or a service facility when it could be done at the issuer's location using an integrated CMS-AMS.

The book is 1066 pages of which 170 pages are useful appendices. Even though it was rather expensive, missing a discussion on card programming and CMS, I think I still got my money's worth.

SCM SCR331 - SMART card reader - USB
$20.95
Quick shipment did not take as long as I first thought and item was exactly as described