Published 11 June 2026 · 2 min read Working with smart cards and NFC devices means dealing with a stack of protocols that each come with their own timing requirements, framing rules, and activation sequences. The ci200 handles all of that internally, so your application doesn’t have to. Full protocol support, out of the box The ci200 firmware natively implements the most widely used contactless and contact card protocols: ISO 14443 — the standard behind most NFC payment cards, access badges, and transit cards ISO 15693 — used in vicinity cards, asset tags, and industrial RFID labels ISO 7816 — the contact smart card standard found in SIM cards, bank cards, and secure elements There’s no need to integrate a separate middleware layer, install a PC/SC stack, or license a third-party protocol library. The protocols live in the ci200 firmware and are ready to use. Activation and APDU exchange in two commands Bringing a card interface online and talking to a card is as simple as it sounds:

The ci200 takes care of everything underneath: field activation, anticollision, ATR/ATS parsing, chaining, error handling, and timing. Your application sends an APDU and receives a response — the protocol machinery is invisible. Why this matters for your integration Fewer dependencies. Applications that would previously require a PC/SC driver, a middleware daemon, or a platform-specific smart card API can now talk directly to the ci200 over the RCI . The protocol stack you need is already there. Portable application code. Because the ci200 abstracts the protocol layer, the same APDU exchange logic works regardless of whether the card is contactless or contact, ISO 14443 or ISO 15693. Switching between interfaces doesn’t require changes to your application. Faster development cycles. Protocol bring-up — historically one of the most time-consuming parts of a smart card integration — is reduced to a single activation command. Your team can focus on application logic from the start. Reliable behavior across card types. Protocol edge cases, timing margins, and card-specific quirks are handled consistently in firmware rather than left to the application developer to discover and work around. The ci200 is built for developers who want to work with cards and NFC devices without becoming protocol experts. Get in touch to request the full command reference or discuss your integration. Talk to our test engineers. A contactless, contact or production test question — or want to see a cilab system on your bench? Get in touch with the engineers who build the instruments.