Near Field Communications (NFC)

Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches) distance.^[1] The technology is a simple extension of the ISO/IEC 14443 proximity-card standard (proximity card, RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. An NFC device can communicate with both existing ISO/IEC 14443 smartcards and readers, as well as with other NFC devices, and is thereby compatible with existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation and payment. NFC is primarily aimed at usage in mobile phones, supporting mobile commerce.

Uses and Applications

NFC technology is currently aimed mainly at being used with mobile phones. There are currently three specific uses for NFC:

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• Card emulation: the NFC device behaves like an existing contactless card
• Reader mode: the NFC device is active and reads a passive RFID tag, for example for interactive advertising
• P2P mode: two NFC devices are communicating together and exchanging information.

Plenty of applications are possible, such as:

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• Mobile ticketing in public transport: an extension of the existing contactless infrastructure, such as Mobile Phone Boarding Pass.
• Mobile payment: the device acts as a debit/credit payment card.
• Smart poster: the mobile phone is used to read RFID tags on outdoor billboards.
• Bluetooth pairing: in the future pairing of Bluetooth 2.1 devices with NFC support will be as easy as bringing them close together and accepting the pairing. The process of activating Bluetooth on both sides, searching, waiting, pairing and authorization will be replaced by a simply bringing the mobile phones close to each other.

Other applications in the future could include:

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• Electronic ticketing: airline tickets, concert/event tickets, and others
• Electronic money
• Travel cards
• Identity documents
• Mobile commerce
• Electronic keys: replacements for physical car keys, house/office keys, hotel room keys, etc.
• NFC can be used to configure and initiate other wireless network connections such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Ultra-wideband.