Proximity Cards ? Powered by RF

Posted by brunson stafford on June 3rd, 2017

About Proximity Card

Prox cards or Proximity cards are type of smart cards that work on the principle of “contactless technology”. Unlike ATM, debit or credit cards, which requires a reader device to read the magnetic strip, proximity cards are designed in a different way. Proximity cards does not have a magnetic strip and thus these cards are not required to be swapped in the reader device. Proximity cards make use of access control mechanism generally the physical access mechanism in the organizations to regulate employee entrance and exit in the office building. Employees in order to trespass the organization gate have to bring the proximity card in the read range of proximity reader.

How Proximity Cards Operate?

Proximity card generates an ID by receiving radio signals transmitted by the proximity reader. The reader after receiving the ID, transfers it to the primary system. The access control system checks the database to ensure whether the ID is matching or not and accordingly it allow entrance or restrict it.

Different Varieties of Proximity Card

Various varieties of proximity key fobs, proximity key tabs and proximity cards are present in the market that work with the feature of contactless technology. To name few are, HID proximity cards, AWID proximity cards, indala proximity card, kantech proximity cards, etc. Broadly proximity cards are of two types, passive and active cards. Passive proximity cards uses RF signals and have low read range and are predominantly used by organizations, in libraries, public transit system, etc. On the other hand, active proximity cards or vicinity cards make use of lithium battery fitted internally. They have high read range than passive cards and can read from a distance of 2 meters. As these are dependent on batteries, they are required to be replaced.

Pros and cons of Proximity Cards

There are various benefits of using proximity card as by its use access control is granted. Not only proximity cards provide better access control, but also great security measures. As these proximity card are provided to all the employees, these are not very expensive, but more than the expense it increases the safety measures. These low price proximity card are also used for monitoring the attendance of employees as audit reports can be easily generated by accessing proximity card for entry and exit. Moreover the proximity cards are compatible with multiple proximity readers and thus it made it more flexible to use.

Apart from physical access control, proximity cards are also used for gaining logical access and are used for digital signatures and certifications, email encryption and for more web based purposes. Along with the above pros, proximity cards have few cons too. These are very light weight and so if these are mishandled, they can be broken or lost easily. Merchandiser and retail outlet owners find the use of proximity card little expensive as compared to debit and credit cards for payment transactions and thus they incur extra fee for the usage of proximity cards by the customers.

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brunson stafford

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brunson stafford
Joined: January 29th, 2017
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