Near Field Communication (NFC): Next Big Hope?

by By Amit Goel and Varun Uppal, Knowledgefaber - Monday, May 10, 2010 - Voice & Data

Near Field Communication or NFC is a shopper's delight and mobile payment industry's next big hope. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless technology that enables the communication between devices over a distance of less than 10 cm. The NFC standard is defined in ISO/IEC 18092. The current state of consumer electronics is moving away from single purpose devices to multipurpose devices without having the networking glitch. NFC is the first step towards achieving it and thereby making life simple for end consumers. The interfaces operate in the unregulated RF band of 13.56 MHz. This means that no restrictions are applied and no licenses are required for the use of NFC devices in this RF band. The data transfer typically takes place at 424kbits/second. The devices have to be brought within 4cms of each other; communication then happens via electromagnetic induction between the two loops antennas forming an air core transformer. A touch or a wave can then establish this connection between the two devices. NFC has two modes of operation, one is the passive mode in which only the initiator establishes the RF and the target application uses the load modulation to transfer the data. Contrary to the passive mode in the active mode the initiator and the target both generate their own RF to carry data transfer.

But then how will the new technology be adopted by consumers who are already cluttered with a plethora of technological innovations? Does NFC have a future as a sustainable business venture? Have companies already started developing the required infrastructure for these devices? What is the state of infrastructure readiness in emerging economies? Has the technology already been implemented? What makes NFC so distinct from the already present devices such as Bluetooth or wireless Ethernet?

Through this article we will look at answering some of these questions and come to a conclusion on the future of NFC.

NFC is surely going to make life easy for the consumers, let's take a look at few of the examples how the NFC technology influences day to day behavior:(more)