Near field communication

Near field communication

          Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few inches. Present and anticipated applications include contact less transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an underpowered NFC chip, called a "tag".

NFC standards cover communications protocols and data exchange formats, and are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa. The standards include ISO/IEC 18092and those defined by the NFC Forum, which was founded in 2004 by Nokia, Philips and Sony, and now has more than 160 members. The Forum also promotes NFC and certifies device compliance. It fits the criteria for being considered a personal area network

Uses:

NFC builds upon RFID systems by allowing two-way communication between endpoints, where earlier systems such as contact-less smart cards were one-way only. It has been used in devices such as Samsung Nexus, powered with Icecream Sandwich, named with a feature called "Android Beam" which was first introduced in Samsung Nexus. Android Beam uses NFC to enable Bluetooth on both devices, instantly pair them, and disable Bluetooth once complete automatically on both devices. This only works between Android devices version Jelly Bean and above. It has also been used in Samsung Galaxy S III, with feature named as S-Beam. It is an extension of Android Beam, it uses the power of NFC (to share MAC Address and IP addresses) and then uses WiFi Direct to share file and docs. and pics.to share file. The advantage of using WiFi Direct over Bluetooth is that it is much faster than Bluetooth, having a speed of 300Mbit/s for sharing large files Since underpowered NFC "tags" can also be read by NFC devices, it is also capable of replacing earlier one-way applications.

Commerce:

NFC devices can be used in contact less payment systems, similar to those currently used in credit cards and electronic ticket smart cards, and allow mobile payment to replace or supplement these systems. For example, Google Wallet allows consumers to store credit card and store loyalty card information in a virtual wallet and then use an NFC-enabled device at terminals that also accept MasterCard Pay Pass transactions. Germany, Austria, Finland, New Zealand, Italy, and Turkey, have trialed NFC ticketing systems for public transport. Vilnius fully replaced paper tickets for public transportation with ISO/IEC 14443 Type A cards on July 1, 2013.

India is implementing NFC based transactions in box offices for ticketing purposes.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections:

NFC offers a low-speed connection with extremely simple setup, and can be used to bootstrap more capable wireless connections. For example, the Android Beam software uses NFC to complete the steps of enabling, pairing and establishing a Bluetooth connection when doing a file transfer. Nokia, BlackBerry and Sony have used NFC technology to pair Bluetooth headsets, media players, and speakers with one tap in its NFC-enabled devices. The same principle can be applied to the configuration of Wi-Fi networks.

Social networking:

NFC can be used in social networking situations, such as sharing contacts, photos, videos or files, and entering multilayer mobile games. in the field of social networking it is very useful to exchange the contacts & other files.

Identity and access tokens:

The NFC Forum promotes the potential for NFC-enabled devices to act as electronic identity documents and key cards. As NFC has a short range and supports encryption, it may be more suitable than earlier, less private RFID systems.

Smartphone automation and NFC tags:

Smartphones equipped with NFC can be paired with NFC tags or stickers which can be programmed by NFC apps to automate tasks. These programs can allow for a change of phone settings, a text to be created and sent, an app to be launched, or any number of commands to be executed, limited only by the NFC app and other apps on the smartphone. These applications are perhaps the most practical current uses for NFC since it does not rely on a company or manufacturer but can be utilized immediately by anyone anywhere with an NFC equipped smartphone and an NFC tag.

Comparison with Bluetooth:

Aspect	NFC	Bluetooth	Bluetooth Low Energy
RFID compatible	ISO 18000-3	active	active
Standardization body	ISO/IEC	Bluetooth SIG	Bluetooth SIG
Network Standard	ISO 13157 etc.	IEEE 802.15.1	IEEE 802.15.1
Network Type	Point-to-point	WPAN	WPAN
Cryptography	not with RFID	available	available
Range	< 0.2 m	~100 m (class 1)	~50 m
Frequency	13.56 MHz	2.4–2.5 GHz	2.4–2.5 GHz
Bit rate	424 kbit/s	2.1 Mbit/s	~1.0 Mbit/s
Set-up time	< 0.1 s	< 6 s	< 0.006 s
Power consumption	< 15mA (read)	varies with class	< 15 mA (read and transmit)

NFC and Bluetooth are both short-range communication technologies that are integrated into mobile phones. As described in technical detail above, NFC operates at slower speeds than Bluetooth, but consumes far less power and doesn't require pairing.

NFC sets up more quickly than standard Bluetooth, but has a lower transfer rate than Bluetooth low energy. With NFC, instead of performing manual configurations to identify devices, the connection between two NFC devices is automatically established quickly: in less than a tenth of a second. The maximum data transfer rate of NFC (424 kbit/s) is slower than that of Bluetooth V2.1 (2.1 Mbit/s). With a maximum working distance of less than 20 cm, NFC has a shorter range, which reduces the likelihood of unwanted interception. That makes NFC particularly suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) becomes difficult.

In contrast to Bluetooth, NFC is compatible with existing passive RFID (13.56 MHz ISO/IEC 18000-3) infrastructures. NFC requires comparatively low power, similar to the Bluetooth V4.0 low energy protocol. When NFC works with an underpowered device (e.g., on a phone that may be turned off, a contact less smart credit card, a smart poster), however, the NFC power consumption is greater than that of Bluetooth V4.0 Low Energy, since illuminating the passive tag needs extra power.