SMART CARD TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO SMART CARDS
It has been said that smart cards will one day be as important as computers are today. This statement contains a bit of an error because it implies that smart cards are not computers, when in fact, they are. Because smart cards are indeed tiny computers, it’s difficult to predict the variety of applications that will be possible with them in the future. It’s quite possible that smart cards will follow the same trend of rapid increases in processing power that computers have, following "Moore’s Law" and doubling in performance while halving in cost every eighteen months. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page i Certification ii Acknowledgment iii Abstract iv Table of content v 1.0 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION TO SMART CARDS1 DEFINITION OF A SMART CARD2 2.0      EVOLUTION OF SMART CARDS4 HISTORY OF SMART CARDS4 CURRENT TRENDS5 CLASSIFICATION OF SMART CARDS6 3.0   DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONTACT INTERFACES10 4.0 STANDARD DIMENSIONS OF A SMART CARD14 TECHNOLOGICAL FEATURES16 5.0     APPLICATION PROTOCOL DATA UNITS (APDU)21 6.0   BENEFITS OF SMART CARDS36 CONCLUSION39 BIBLIOGRAPHY40