Point of sale EMV performance testing

3
votes

I am working on a POC to test a Point of sale application that used EMV concept - Chip & PIN credit cards.

Has any performance tested this in the past? If so, how is it possible to simulate the card swipe during performance testing. In EMV, each card swipe will create a unique data and it can't be re-used for multiple transactions.

Thanks Anna

1
performancetestingperformance-testingpoint-of-saleemv
What do you mean by 'performance tested'? Are you looking to benchmark event timings and the like? Furthermore, I don't believe that a card SWIPE (i.e. read magnetic-track data) will generate unique data per swipe. ICC (chip) reads will, yes. – Ive
Usually POS performance tests based on online authorisation part and EMV flows where is human interaction excluded. Test the POS transaction performance in general make no sense, because several interactions with humans in the middle - like card in/swipe/or tap, pin entry, application selection, etc. Hardware swipe (Track1, Track2, Track3) could be simulated with specific test devices like Collis/UL smartstripe. – iso8583.info support
@ Ive - Thanks. Sorry that was a typo. Wanted to ask - has anyone performance tested POS EMV data flow in the past. For this testing, we are planning to test the data flow for Chip & PIN cards. – Anna Sundaram
@iso8583.info support - Yes, i don't plan to test the POS transaction flow, since it requires manual entry. We plan to performance test the transaction data that goes out of POS and other components that are involved. – Anna Sundaram

1 Answers

2
votes

You won't be able to run performance tests on your POS with EMV contact cards, unless you have some dedicated hardware. As iso8583.info support pointed out, your main issue will be required human interactions (pin input).

However, if your hardware supports contactless EMV, you may hack your way around by simply taping a contactless EMV card on your POS card reader. Provided the transactions amount are small enough to not require a PIN, or to switch to the card contact interface, that may do the trick.