topic Re: PN5190 DPC calibration in NFC

PN5190 DPC calibration

sinu52 — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 06:12:30 GMT

Hi,

I am in the process of calibrating the DPC of the PN5190B2.

I have purchased an Reference PICC 1,2,3 card.

When reading through AN12549 it states at page 66 that:

"The target for the DPC calibration shall be the power transfer: here the value of 5.3 V is chosen. The value of 5.3 V is somewhere in the center range between the allowed minimum and maximum power transfer."

How do i determine the center voltage value of allowed power transfer in my specific case and where do i find the allowed minimum and maximum power transfer for PICC 1,2,3.

Kind regards Remco

Re: PN5190 DPC calibration

EduardoZamora — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 18:04:50 GMT

Hello @sinu52

Hope you are doing well.

The target power transfer of 5.3 V with TestPICC1 is only one example, typically it makes sense to use values around 5.5V. The limits are defined by EMVCo specification.

I will recommend you taking a look at the PN5190 Dynamic Power Control Quick Calibration and TxShaping Demo | NXP Semiconductors. This training series demonstrates a quick calibration of the PN5190 DPC by using NFC Cockpit and an EMVCo test setup to measure the power transfer to perform the compliance tests.

Regards,
Eduardo.

Re: PN5190 DPC calibration

sinu52 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 13:40:44 GMT

Currently I am trying to get the PN5190’s DPC calibrated. I purchased a set of PICC reference cards. https://www.comprion.com/shop/iso-10373-6-test-picc-class-1-6.html

I matched my antenna to ~16.5R (See the added smith chart).

The target current in unloaded condition is set to 246mA this is the maximum I am getting. (I would expect this to be much higher around 5.7V/16.5R ~345mA)

I now encounter the issue that when I am trying to read an NXP desfire EV1 card without the DPC calibrated I am getting 7.5 cm detection and 5.5cm read distance.

However with the DPC calibrated I only get 3.8cm detection and 2.3cm read distance. I would prefer it to have more read range. Is this to be expected or am I doing something wrong during calibration?