Overview
ISO/IEC 11694-3:2015 specifies the optical properties and characteristics for identification cards that use an optical memory card (OMC) linear recording method. This part of the ISO/IEC 11694 series defines minimum optical performance levels, test conditions and defect criteria that support interoperability, reliable read/write performance and long-term use under specified test environments.
Key references for test methods and conditioning are ISO/IEC 10373-5 (test methods) and ISO/IEC 11693-1 (default test environment and conditioning).
Key Topics
- Background reflectivity: Measured midway between adjacent track guides. Required range is 27% to 68%, with within-card variation not exceeding ±10% relative to the mean.
- Track guide contrast: Preformatted track guides must have a minimum contrast of 0.3 when scanned perpendicular to guides (contrast defined relative to the background signal level).
- Written / preformatted data contrast: Written or preformatted data bits must also meet a minimum contrast of 0.3 versus background.
- Card surface reflectivity: Reflectivity at the entry face of the data side shall be ≤ 7%.
- Preformatted and written data characteristics: Values for low-frequency recovery, amplitude comparison and signal overlap divided by high-frequency amplitude are verifiable on card scans; the actual numeric criteria are specified in ISO/IEC 11694-4.
- Optical path length: Must lie in the range 1.036 mm to 1.431 mm; variation shall not exceed ±15% within a card or between lots.
- Reading endurance: Cards are subjected to 10 000 successive read passes in the same region; after reorientation by 90° the relative reflectivity change of that region must not exceed ±10%.
- Defect criteria: Any anomaly within the accessible optical area whose cross-section exceeds 2.5 µm is considered a defect. The raw uncorrected defect ratio shall be **