FEIG ELECTRONIC GmbH,
Lange Straße 4, D-35781 Weilburg
Tel.: +49 6471 3109-0, Fax: -99, info@feig.de, www.feig.de
April 2019
FEIG ELECTRONIC, a leading global supplier of radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and
antennas, with fifty years of industry experience, announces the release of firmware version
V.01.05.00 for their CPR74 NFC reader module to support high-level, cryptographic encryption
functions of NXP® Semiconductor’s MIFARE® DESFire® EV2 and NTAG® 424 DNA product protocols.
Version V01.05.00 adds to the long list of transponders directly supported in the CPR74 which now
includes MIFARE DESFire EV2, MIFARE DESFire Light and NTAG 424 DNA Authentication Chips;
contactless IC’s that are designed for solution developers and system operators building reliable,
secure, interoperable and scalable contactless solutions.
The CPR74 is a small, board-level OEM reader module measuring 50mm by 68mm. It’s designed for
embedded integration into terminals, kiosks, vending machines, turnstiles, and other devices that
target smart card solutions in identity, access, loyalty, and micro-payment applications, in transport
schemes and smart secure product tagging applications.
The module outputs 450 milliwatts of RF energy providing greater reading distances compared to a
typical low power NFC reader. MIFARE DESFire EV2 offers an improved operating distance and when
combined with the power output of the CPR74, creates the best in class reading distance. Because
the MIFARE DESFire chip becomes energized at a greater distance from the reader, command
execution times begin milliseconds faster improving transaction speed. Additionally, FEIG’s API
Command Queue further improves transaction time; allowing multiple APDU commands to be issued
to the reader in a single command packet. The module then executes the series and returns a status
of the execution. This technique eliminates the latency associated with issuing single APDU, providing
the best in class transaction time making the CPR74 the most capable and flexible NFC reader
available in the market.
“We have feedback from our customers who tested the CPR74 and found that the transaction speed
was twice as fast reading MiFARE DESFire cards and three times faster reading other MIFARE
FEIG Electronic Releases New Firmware to Support NXP MIFARE
DESFire EV2 and NTAG 424 DNA with the Most Advanced Encryption
for Contactless Identification
FEIG ELECTRONIC GmbH,
Lange Straße 4, D-35781 Weilburg
Tel.: +49 6471 3109-0, Fax: -99, info@feig.de, www.feig.de
April 2019
transponders, in comparison to a competitive card reader,” said Klaus Schoeke, Vice President of
Technical Sales for FEIG ELECTRONIC.
All cryptographic functions established in the secure messaging scheme of the MIFARE DESFire EV2
and NTAG 424 DNA are performed by the CPR74 firmware making application development for the
card reader much faster and more straightforward since the developer is not required to have an
understanding of the lowest level functions of the protocol’s challenges, authentication, and
encryption.
The CPR74 has an integrated onboard antenna as well as an external remote antenna port that is
multiplexed with the onboard antenna. The antenna functionality is configurable and may be used as
addressable individual read points.
The CPR74 reader supports the complete range of MIFARE IC’s as well as the new NTAG 424 DNA
line. NTAG 424 DNA is an attack resistant, certified chip platform, providing AES-128 cryptographic
operation for security and privacy in NFC smart product applications, to fight against counterfeiting
and grey market activities. In addition, the NTAG 424 DNA TagTamper variant is used to detect
product tampering. The CPR74 also supports the recently introduced MIFARE DESFire Light, a next-
generation lightweight version of the MIFARE DESFire family that simplifies the introduction of single
application contactless services.
The MIFARE DESFire EV2 IC fulfills the requirements for fast and highly secure data transmission,
flexible memory organization and is interoperable with existing contactless infrastructures. “Future
MIFARE IC releases will incorporate the advanced encryption standard,” said Martin Liebl, senior
director product management smart mobility and retail at NXP Semiconductors. “FEIG customers’ are
able to ‘future proof’ their RFID enabled products and extend their product life cycle through FEIG’s
firmware releases that extend support to the latest silicon releases brought to market by NXP.”
Companies that use the CPR74 as their card reader platform are able to update existing deployments
of the FEIG module simply to the latest silicon releases offered in the market. The firmware is
available for download at no charge to FEIG customers.
Smartrac Technology Group, a global leader of RFID products and IoT solutions further commented:
"We are keen to use FEIG’s CPR74 for DESFire EV2 authentication in order to provide secure keys,
encode memory and lock access in NXP's NTAG 424 DNA chips, supporting our portfolio of secure
authentication RFID inlays and tags,” said Sebastian Zeidler, Senior Subject Matter Expert at