Editing Proximity card (section)

{{Short description|Contactless smart card}}
[[Image:Proximity badge.km.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A passive proximity card for door access.]]
[[Image:Turnstile and MagLock Gate.jpg|thumb|250px|A proximity card controlled turnstile]]
[[Image:ProximityCard 1.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A passive proximity card with the plastic casing opened to show components: antenna coil and integrated circuit ''(black object bottom center)'']]
[[Image:ProximityCard 2.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Anatomy of proximity card: coil and IC]]
[[Image:Proximity card reader coil.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The proximity card coil of an electronic fare collection system]]

A '''proximity card''' or '''prox card'''<ref name="Reid">{{cite book   
  | last = Reid
  | first = Robert N. 
  | title = Facility manager's guide to security: protecting your assets
  | publisher = The Fairmont Press
  | date = 2005
  | pages = 144–146
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rqFQdGnyXsYC&dq=proximity+card&pg=PA144
  | isbn = 0881734837}}</ref>  also known as a key card or keycard is a contactless [[smart card]] which can be read without inserting it into a reader device, as required by earlier [[magnetic stripe card]]s such as [[credit cards]] and contact type smart cards.<ref name="Norman">{{cite book   
  | last = Norman
  | first = Thomas L.
  | title = Electronic Access Control
  | publisher = Elsevier
  | date = 2011
  | pages = 57–58
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TmRRTfAPfdYC&dq=proximity+card&pg=PA57
  | isbn = 978-0123820280}}</ref>  The proximity cards are part of the contactless card technologies. Held near an electronic reader for a moment they enable the identification of an encoded number.  The reader usually produces a beep or other sound to indicate the card has been read.

The term "proximity card" refers to the older 125&nbsp;kHz devices as distinct from the newer 13.56&nbsp;MHz [[contactless smartcard]]s.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Second generation prox cards are used for mass and distance reading applications. Proximity cards typically have a read range of up to {{cvt|50|cm|in}}<ref name="Reid" /> which is the main difference from the [[contactless smartcard]] with a range of {{cvt|2|to|10|cm|in|0}}. The card can often be left in a wallet or purse,<ref>Access Control Card Handling Guide
https://www.supercircuits.com/media/docs/proxcard_handling_guide_en.pdf  
</ref> and read by simply holding the wallet or purse near the reader. These early proximity cards can't  hold more data than a [[magnetic stripe card]], and only cards with smart chips (ie, [[contactless smartcard]]s) can hold other types of data like electronic funds balance for [[contactless payment]] systems, history data for time and attendance or biometric templates. When used without encoding data, only with the card serial number, contactless smartcards have similar functionalities to proximity cards.