The number of IoT devices is rapidly increasing, and they have already become a part of every industry. However, as the number of smart devices increases, so do the demands on the user experience in terms of simplicity of device configuration and pairing. To address this, Infineon has launched the OPTIGA Authenticate NBT, a high-performance NFC I2C bridge tag for single-tap authentication and secured configuration of IoT devices. It is the only asymmetric cryptography tag for sign and verify operations in the market certified as a Type 4 Tag by the NFC Forum. OPTIGA Authenticate NBT enables ultra-fast and seamless data exchange even with large data volumes. It enables contactless NFC (Near Field Communication) communication between IoT devices and contactless readers such as smartphones. It can be used for various applications, such as secured configuration of electronic devices without a display, activation of shared mobility vehicles, passive commissioning of unpowered smart light bulbs prior to installation, and data logging on patient health monitors.
OPTIGA Authenticate NBT offers superior security with Infineon’s Integrity Guard 32 security architecture, and the EAL6+ certification for both the hardware and the crypto libraries. The tag supports both symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic authentication as well as pass-through and asynchronous data transfer modes.
The device uses TEGRION hardware and enables a contactless interface speed of up to 848 Kbit/s and an I2C interface that supports up to 1 Mbits/s which results in the best performance values, particularly important for demanding applications. The NFC I2C bridge tag offers 8 KB of generous memory to store customer and application-specific configuration information. In addition, the high on-chip capacitance enables smaller antenna designs, optimising both BOM costs and space requirements.
Samples of OPTIGA Authenticate NBT are available now, and the devices will become available to the broader market in August 2024. The OPTIGA Authenticate NBT Development Shield and the OPTIGA Authenticate NBT development kit are also available to facilitate evaluation and design-in. In addition, developers can access technical documentation and extensive host-side integration support without having to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
