SLOA246B January   2018  – March 2019 TRF7964A , TRF7970A

 

  1.   Frequently asked questions for TRF7970A and TRF7964A devices
    1.     Trademarks
    2. 1 General Questions
      1. 1.1 What is the TRF79xxA?
      2. 1.2 What protocols are supported by the TRF7960A, TRF7970A, and variants?
      3. 1.3 What evaluation hardware and firmware should I get to evaluate the TRF79xxA devices?
      4. 1.4 What are the expected read ranges for NFC/RFID tags with TRF79xxA evaluation hardware?
      5. 1.5 The TRF7970AEVM is not available anymore, what is the replacement?
    3. 2 NFC/RFID Operating Mode Questions
      1. 2.1 Reader/Writer Mode
        1. 2.1.1 What is the difference between an NFC tag and an HF RFID tag?
        2. 2.1.2 Why is NDEF used? What advantages does NDEF provide?
        3. 2.1.3 How do I read NFC/RFID tags with the TRF79xxA series of devices?
      2. 2.2 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Mode
        1. 2.2.1 What is NFC peer-to-peer mode?
        2. 2.2.2 How do I send peer-to-peer messages to NFC devices with the TRF79xxA series of devices?
        3. 2.2.3 What is the difference between passive and active P2P?
      3. 2.3 NFC Card Emulation Mode
        1. 2.3.1 What is NFC tag or card emulation?
        2. 2.3.2 How do I emulate an NFC tag or card with the TRF79xxA series of devices?
    4. 3 Hardware and Design Questions
      1. 3.1 Where can I get schematics and layout files for the TRF79xxA devices?
      2. 3.2 How do I design and tune an antenna to 13.56 MHz for the TRF79xxA devices?
      3. 3.3 Does TI provide FCC certification for the TRF79xxA devices?
      4. 3.4 What TI reference designs are available for the TRF79xxA devices?
    5. 4 Software Questions
      1. 4.1 I need to read a non-NFC compliant tag or transponder, what firmware example should I use?
      2. 4.2 Are there any firmware examples available for TI MCUs other than MSP430 and MSP432 MCUs?
      3. 4.3 Is there support for NFCLink with NCI?
      4. 4.4 Are authentication examples available for the TRF79xxA devices?
      5. 4.5 What are the recommended TRF79xxA register settings or device configuration?
      6. 4.6 What does an IRQ status of 0xC0 mean?
      7. 4.7 Are software examples available to read Topaz-512 (NFC Forum Type 1) tags?
      8. 4.8 Are software examples available to read iCLASS or PicoPass tags?
    6. 5 Miscellaneous Questions
      1. 5.1 Is there any support for RF power amplifiers?
      2. 5.2 Is there any TI training collateral for NFC?
      3. 5.3 Are there Energia or Arduino examples for the TRF79xxA?
      4. 5.4 What IDEs are supported for Texas Instruments TRF79xxA firmware examples?
      5. 5.5 What Android handset interoperability is supported?
      6. 5.6 How do I configure the TRF79xxA to output a continuous or unmodulated RF field?
    7. 6 Comparison of TI NFCLink Standalone Firmware and TI RFID Reader Example Firmware
      1. 6.1 NFCLink Standalone Firmware
      2. 6.2 RFID Reader Example Firmware
      3. 6.3 Memory Footprint Comparison
    8. 7 References
  2.   Revision History

6.1 NFCLink Standalone Firmware

NFCLink Standalone has been designed to provide the following features:

  • Reading and writing to NDEF-formatted NFC tags with the ability to also support proprietary RFID tags with application level modifications
  • Handling various NFC Forum defined error cases according to the NFC Forum specifications, including retries of failed data transmissions when allowed
  • Handling for various error cases uncovered during extensive testing against the NFC Forum standards as well as with NFC devices and tags in the market

What are the advantages of TI NFCLink Standalone?

  • Includes full support for reading and writing NDEF messages to NFC formatted tags for:
    • NFC Forum Type 2 (ISO/IEC 14443 A) tags (not compliant with ISO/IEC 14443-4)
    • NFC Forum Type 3 (FeliCa) tags
    • NFC Forum Type 4A (ISO/IEC 14443 A) tags (compliant with ISO/IEC 14443-4)
    • NFC Forum Type 4B (ISO/IEC 14443 B) tags
    • NFC Forum Type 5 technologies (ISO/IEC 15963) tags
  • Interoperability tested with a large array of NFC and RFID tags in the marketplace from a variety of different tag vendors
  • Tested against NFC Forum specifications to ensure high levels of interoperability with supported NFC protocols
  • Robust error handling to cover general technology-based failures as well as device-specific corner cases
  • Allows for retransmission attempts under certain error conditions outlined by the NFC Forum specifications
  • Configurable to compile only the necessary NFC technologies to reduce memory footprint

What are the disadvantages of TI NFCLink Standalone?

  • Requires larger processor memory footprints
  • Does not support anticollision for any tag technology