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Technical Report NFC Test Suite

Dominik Krenner Hagenberg, March 20, 2008

Version: Status: Created: Datei:

0.0.1 Draft Dominik Krenner TechReport.pdf

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Contents
1 Abstract 2 Introduction 2.1 NFC- The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 What will be tested? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Concepts and realization 3.1 Overview . . . . . . . 3.2 Why this concept? . . . 3.3 Software . . . . . . . . 3.4 Devices . . . . . . . . 3.5 Robot . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Oscilloscope . . . . . . 3.7 Mobile server . . . . . 3.8 Database . . . . . . . . 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12

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4 Testing 4.1 Example test script: NFC Forum test TP 2 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 The script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Predened Tests 5.1 Window tests . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Requirements . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Available tests and results 5.2 Range tests . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Description . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Requirements . . . . . . . 5.2.3 Available tests and results 5.3 Amplitude measurements . . . . . 5.3.1 Description . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Requirements . . . . . . . 5.3.3 Available tests and results

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List of Tables

List of Figures
1 2 3 The test system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Python script performing NFC Forum test TP 2 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Result for amplitude test Cube - 5, Samsung SGH-X700N . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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1 Abstract
The implementation of a Near Field Communication (NFC) test system had the goal to invent a system which is capable of testing NFC devices concerning the amplitude and frequency of the emitted electro magnetic eld, just like the range in which other NFC devices can be detected. Therefore a cartesian coordinate robot was constructed. It can move the device under test (DUT) in three dimensions to a maximum of 200 mm along each axis. The three stepper motors used, provide an accuracy of 0.25 mm. The main application which was developed features a 3D log viewer, a robot control panel and a test editor. Tests scripts can be written by the user to provide custom test scenarios. These scripts are written in Python and can access the robot, logs and the DUT using a Python module provided with the main application. To test a device, custom software has to be installed on it, which provides communication with the main application and controls the devices NFC activities as requested by the main application and the test script. This test-client, a J2ME application, comes with an hardware abstraction layer, allowing us to use the test client like the Nokia 6131 NFC, Samsung SGH-X700N and the Sagems my700X. The NFC devices can be connected via TCP/IP or Bluetooth. Already implemented tests include eld measurements in all three dimensions. Window tests can be used to verify if a specic device can detect a target in a certain range. It is also possible to determine a devices maximum range in each direction. Measured positions are stored separately in a database and can be analyzed in the log viewer. The result can be rotated and zoomed and provides all collected data of each point. Automated testing of NFC devices and their operating modes can be done by this system in a very convenient and quick way. Through customized test cases allow individual tests with different NFC devices without Software adaptation. The results of the tests indicate the functionality of the NFC devices in different operating modes.

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2 Introduction
The project NFC Testing was a students project at the university of applied sciences in Hagenberg (Austria). The goal was to develop a system which can test NFC devices automatically. Five Hardware/Software Systems Engeneering students developed the systems as part of their studies over a period of two semesters.

2.1 NFC- The Basics

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a new technology which allows devices to communicate wirelessly over a short distance. It is possible to use one active and one passive device or two active devices. NFC devices operate at a frequency of 13.56 MHz and are able to interact with RFID devices. Because NFC is based on the ISO 14443A standart, it can be used with other existing smart card infrastructures like Mifare (NXP Semiconductors) or FeliCa (Sony). NFC provides a quantity of possible uses, it can replace a conventional key, can be used as a virtual purse or allows the user to establish a Bluetooth connection without the overhead of entering passkeys or the like. Another usage is to place passive NFC devices (so called Tags) behind a poster or advertisement and provide additional information like a short trailer to users of NFC devices, which can be accessed by placing a NFC capable mobile phone near the poster.

2.2 What will be tested?

The developed test system is able to position a NFC device using a cartesian coordinate robot. An oscilloscope provides access to amplitude and frequency measurement. Active NFC devices can be controlled via a software protocol and provide information if other NFC devices can be detected or not.

3 Concepts and realization

3.1 Overview
The System consists of six main components; The NFC devices, the mobile server, the robot, an oscilloscope, a database server and a workstation running the main application.

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Figure 1: The test system

3.2 Why this concept?

To test a NFC device, the device has to be moved through space and communication between the main application and the device has to be possible. Because the distance between two NFC devices over which communication takes place is around 10 cm, the positioning has to be very precise to get accurate results. Therefore the robot moves using three stepper motors providing a 0.25 mm resolution each. Each device has different physical measurements, so the robot has an adaptable bracket to match the device-under-tests physical appearance. The main application has to communicate with all kind of NFC devices, each using different types of connectivity. To abstract the connection type, a proxy application, the mobile server, is used. Because test cases should be easy to create and modify, there has to be a mechanism which allows the operator to congure new tests or change existing ones, which is achieved via scripting. To measure amplitude and frequency of the created electro magnetic eld, an oscilloscope with an attached antenna is being used.

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3.3 Software
The main application coordinates attached devices as the robot, oscilloscope or the device-undertest. It provides test scripts with initialized and congured objects which represent the testing environment, like the robot, the oscilloscope and the device under test. It also provides a graphical user interface (GUI), a test-script editor, a robot control panel and a log viewer which presents collected data in 3D. It was developed using the object oriented scripting language Python. Python offers lots of features and packages which allow the easy creation of complex and powerful software, while still being nearly independent of the operating system. It also provides mechanisms to run scripts (also written in Python) and pass objects, which already exist in the main application, to them. These scripts can be created and modied while the main application is already running. The graphical user interface (GUI) was developed using the wxPython package which is a port of the wxWidgets class library. The main application also provides predened classes which can be used by test scripts for fast and easy test case generation.

3.4 Devices
The rst devices which were tested were the Nokia 6131 NFC, the Samsung SGH-X700N mobile phones and the Dell Axim X51v PDA. Each of the three devices uses a different connection method and runs a software providing the proprietary communication protocol between the mobile server and the device. This software also controls the NFC activities of the device as requested by the main application and the current test. Currently this application has to be customized to t the devices architecture.

3.5 Robot
The cartesian coordinate robot was constructed out of three linear modules and three stepper motors, which allow the robot to move the device under test through space in three dimensions. It can move a device 20 cm in each direction, with an accuracy of 0.25 mm. A circuit board featuring a ATmegaUSB microcontroller controlls these motors and is connected to a working station via the USB protocol. To communicate with the host, it uses the USB communication device class and can be accessed by software like a serial communication port. A proprietary text based protocol is used to control the robot via software. The robot can recalibrate itself using six press switches at the end of each linear module which also work as emergency stops. The robot stores the maximum distance along each axis and its current position. This information is used by the robot to determine if a move-command can be executed safely or not and avoids that the robot tries to move the device under test too far and damage the devices.

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3.6 Oscilloscope
To enable frequency and amplitude measurements an oscilloscope with an antenna attached is used. It is congured via the main application or the test case to provide exibility. The connection between the main application and the oscilloscope is established over TCP/IP and a C library provided by the manufacturer.

3.7 Mobile server

The mobile server abstracts the connection method of the NFC devices and operates as proxy between the main application and the devices. The main application only has to use a single TCP/IP connection to interact with the devices. If a request from the main application to a device is sent, the mobile server makes sure that the request is sent to the correct device.

3.8 Database
The database is used to store test scripts and test results alike. Each position at which data is collected is stored with the corresponding results. At the moment of writing the software uses a MySQL database server running on the same machine as the main application. But because the connection is established via TCP/IP, the database server can be run on any machine in the network.

4 Testing
There are some basic test cases already implemented in the main application which can be ran to analyze a device under test in a two dimensional plane, a single line or the whole eld in which measurements can take place. In addition, tests dened by the NFC Forum are available. To create own test cases, a simple interface is provided which allows the implementation of custom tests by using a object oriented environment.

4.1 Example test script: NFC Forum test TP 2 1 1

4.1.1 Description This simple test veries if a device is able to detect a target (Tag) at different distances between 0 to 10 mm. If the device can detect the target in all ranges, it passes the test. The start point is

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# Entry function of test script def Run(TE): # Default result: device failed the test. TE.Result = "Failed" # Start with the device/tag touching each other Distance = 0 DeviceFound = False # Loop until either tag wasnt found or distance is 10 mm while DeviceFound and Distance < 11: # Check if the device under test can detect the tag DeviceFound = TE.DUT.SearchForDevice() == "1" # Move device under test one mm (= 4 steps) back TE.Robot.Move(-4, 0, 0) # Distance has increased Distance += 1 # End of test # If distance is 11, DUT passed the test. if Distance == 11 and DeviceFound: TE.Result = "Passed" Figure 2: Python script performing NFC Forum test TP 2 1 1

the point where the device under test and the target touch each other. 4.1.2 The script When the test is started, the main application calls a function Run in the test script and passes the testing environment (TE) to it. The testing environment holds objects like the robot, a log and the device under test (DUT) which can be used by the script. The example script denes that by the default the device will fail the test and that it starts testing with the device under test and the target touching each other. After that it enters a loop which will be executed until either the device under test could not be detected by the target or the maximum distance (10 mm) was reached. The loop consists of testing if the target can be detected (Line 13), moving the robot back by 4 steps (= 1 mm) (Line 15) and keeping track of the distance (Line 17). If the main loop is left, the test script determines if the device under test passed the test or not.

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5 Predened Tests
These tests are already dened in a module provided by the main application. On the one hand, these are tests as dened by the NFC Forum, on the other hand simple shapes are provided which are used for amplitude measurements. These tests are represented as Python classes and can be used as base classes for custom tests.

5.1 Window tests

5.1.1 Description Window tests are used to verify that the device under test can detect a target in a specied window. Therefor the device under test is placed in the robots bracket and the target is positioned at a specied point in space. The robot moves the device to all required positions and the main application then sends a request to the device under test. It checks if it can detect a target and returns the result to the main application. If the device under test can detect the target at all positions, it passes the test. 5.1.2 Requirements Robot Device under test Target 5.1.3 Available tests and results Test TP 2 TP 2 TP 2 TP 2 TP 2 TP 2 TP 2 Range [mm] 0 - 10 10 - 30 30 - 50 50 - 100 0 - 10 10 - 50 50 - 100 Resolution [mm] Nokia 6131 NFC 1 Passed 5 Failed 5 Failed 5 Failed 1 Passed 5 Failed 5 Failed Samsung SGH-X700N Passed Failed Failed Failed Passed Failed Failed

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1 2 3 4 1 2 3

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5.2 Range tests

5.2.1 Description These tests verify a range in which a device under test can detect other NFC devices. When the test starts, the target and the device under test touch each other. The device under test is now moved step by step away from the target. At each step, the main application sends a request to the device under test which checks if it can detect a target and returns the result to the main application. The test ends when no device can be detected three times in succession. The result of the test is the distance closest to the target where the device under test can not detect the target anymore. 5.2.2 Requirements Robot Device under test Target 5.2.3 Available tests and results Test Nokia 6131 NFC 14 mm TP 2 1 5 14 mm TP 2 2 4 Samsung SGH-X700N 11 mm 11 mm

5.3 Amplitude measurements

5.3.1 Description To analyze the electro magnetic eld emitted by the device under test as seen by the target, an antenna is attached to the oscilloscope and placed instead or near the target. If a target is used, the antenna should be placed between the device under test and the target. The tests start with the device under test as close to the antenna as possible. The software on the device should permanently try to nd other NFC devices. The device under test is then moved to all specied positions and the amplitude, as measured by the oscilloscope, is recorded.

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5.3.2 Requirements Robot Device under test Oscilloscope optional: Target 5.3.3 Available tests and results Test Plain - XY Plain - XZ Plain - YZ Plain - All Cube - 5 Directions XY XZ YZ XYZ XYZ Resolution Remarks 5 mm Two dimensional plane in X- and Y-direction 5 mm Two dimensional plane in X- and Z-direction 5 mm Two dimensional plane in Y- and Z-direction 5 mm Runs tests Plain - XY, Plain - XZ and Plain - YZ 5 mm Tests positions in a 5 cm cube

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Figure 3: Result for amplitude test Cube - 5, Samsung SGH-X700N

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