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Exponent is the nation’s leading engineering and scientific consulting firm dedicated to analyzing and preventing technological and engineering-related failures. In the fields of personal identification and card technologies, we offer a wide range of services to make identification devices, cards, equipment, and processes more reliable including testing, design analysis, reliability studies, performance assessment, and engineering support.
Our services include:
- Testing for compliance to existing specifications and preparation of specifications for future iterations of smart cards, Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTDs), and other identification devices
- Analysis of test methods and operating environments
- Program risk mitigation consulting for smooth program implementation
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- Evaluation and development of new methods for non-destructive failure analysis of integrated circuits including high resolution real time x-ray imaging
- Failure modes & effects analysis (FMEA) on devices and applications
- Failure analysis of products and equipment
- Design reviews and engineering support
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Exponent will help you answer your toughest problems!
Our multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers has capabilities to serve industries such as airlines, banking, gaming, government, healthcare, hotels, retail, travel and entertainment, and vending. At Exponent, we pride ourselves on the high quality of our staff of approximately 750 employees. We have more than 450 are degreed technical professionals, and more than 175 have earned a M.D. or Ph.D. degree. Exponent operates 18 offices throughout the nation and 2 international offices. Exponent is certified to ISO 9001 and is authorized by the Government Services Agency (GSA) to provide professional engineering services. Exponent participates in ANSI and ISO Working Groups on Physical Characteristics and Test Methods.
We help our clients evaluate the quality of their contact and contactless cards, MRTDs, and identification devices by performing ISO, ANSI, ICAO, and other standard tests which include:
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Physical Parameters
- Height, width, thickness, corners
- Warpage
- Light transmittance
- Bending stiffness
- Blocking
- Temperature/humidity stability
- Flammability
- Delamination
Magnetic Stripe Parameters
- Placement
- Surface roughness
- Surface profile
- Resistance to chemicals
- Wear from read/write head
- "Window"and resolution test
- Erasure and demagnetization test
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Magnetic Encoding Parameters
- Location of start sentinel
- Location of tracks
- Signal amplitude and "jitter"
- Character decode
IC Card and ID Device Tests
- Static electricity exposure
- Bending properties
- Torsion properties
- Profile of contacts
- EMC exposure
- UV light exposure
- ESD exposure
- Alternating electric fields
- Alternating magnetic fields
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Embossing Parameters
- Character placement
- Character relief height
Durability/Life Tests
- Abrasion tests
- Flexure tests
- Embossed Character retention
- Chemical resistance
- Fade resistance
- Tamper resistance
- Environmental exposure
- Impact resistance
- Structural integrity
- Aging tests
- Stress tests
- 3-Roller tests
- Pressure tests
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Project Highlights
 Under contract to the Department of Defense, Exponent is helping to increase the reliability of smart identification cards. This effort is in support of the Defense Manpower Data Center's (DMDC's) release of the Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC). The CAC is a leading-edge Java-based smart card that provides logical and physical access to Department of Defense computer systems and bases and is deployed worldwide to more than 4 million military and civilian personnel.
Exponent currently tests the CAC for compliance to existing government and international specifications, performs failure analysis on the cards, and makes recommendations to improve specifications and reliability of future iterations of smart cards. Exponent analyzes the cards using non-destructive techniques including high-resolution real time x-ray imaging, which can show details as minute as the solder joints used to connect the smart card computer chip to external contacts. By identifying repetitive failure modes and causes, Exponent suggests changes to the DMDC specifications that will minimize future failures. These recommendations help increase the reliability of the cards and provide significant savings to the DMDC.
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