NFC: Present and Future Technology
Hi, habravchane!
About NFC technology now does not say just lazy. All the more strange is the fact that there is almost no complete and interesting information about this attractive technology at Habré. Nokia was at the head of the NFC Forum, which was created to promote the use of NFC in mobile devices and consumer electronics, which means we have something to tell.
NFC (Near Field Communication, “Near Field Communication” or “Short Range Communication”) is a short-range wireless high-frequency communication technology that provides data exchange between devices at a distance of several centimeters. It combines the interface of a smart card and reader into a single device. In other words, an ordinary NFC user can quickly transfer a contact or video from one smartphone to another with a simple touch of these devices, as well as make contactless payments, replacing bank cards. How it will look at the example of Nokia smartphones, you can see in the following video:
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In fact, the applications of NFC technology can find a whole mass. With such a chip (and with the appropriate software), the smartphone can now replace bank cards, transport tickets, discount cards and access smart cards, movie tickets and parking cards. When spreading NFC technology, interactive billboards (so-called smart posters) will also be used, when interacting with smartphones, they will be able to read information from them. In the near future, the initialization of the Bluetooth connection between devices can be accelerated thanks to NFC: a tenth of a second (against six seconds) - and the devices found each other. Having brought a smartphone to the TV in the same way, it will be possible to quickly establish a connection for streaming videos or photos to the big screen. Looking ahead at all (if you are not afraid of futuristic views), we can say that with the widespread use of NFC, smartphones will be able to replace your home and car keys . By the way, some car manufacturers (for example, BMW) are already engaged in the development of keys using NFC technology.

For security reasons, many are unlikely to want to entrust the functions of a bank card and a house key to a smartphone, especially at the same time. But let's first try to figure out the technology specification and its history, and after that judge NFC.
As you can see, the NFC Forum has a huge impact on the development of NFC technology, but other participants stand behind its development. Thus, the global trade association of mobile operators GSM Association (about 800 operators represented in 219 countries of the world) launched two significant NFC initiatives:
1) Mobile NFC Initiative. As part of this initiative, the main operators controlling almost half of the global market described (pdf) their vision of NFC technology.
2) Pay Buy Mobile Initiative. This time, the operators tried to define (pdf) a global approach to the use of short-range communication technology in mobile devices for interaction with payment systems.
In addition to the GSMA, the European consortium StoLPaN (Store Logistics and Payment with NFC), created to explore the possibilities of integrating NFC, wireless data networks, and mobile information sharing, participates in the life of NFC.
NFC technology is a logical continuation of RFID technology, and its main difference from the latter is a limited range. While the reading distance of active RFID tags can reach several hundred meters, NFC tags are only available within 5-10 centimeters. The operating frequency of NFC chips is in the unlicensed radio frequency range of the ISM band, used for industrial, medical and scientific purposes, and is 13.56 MHz, and the information transfer rate can be equal to 106, 212 or 424 kbaud / s.
NFC supports RFID standards ISO 14443 / Mifare, FeliCa and ISO / IEC 18092. The cards made according to ISO 14443 are popularly referred to as BSK - contactless smart cards - they are used in our metro; FeliCa technology is used for mobile payments and payment of tickets in public transport in China and Japan. As in the ISO 14443 / Mifare standard in NFC, communication is supported by mutual induction of coil antennas. As you can see, the technology fully fits the previously established infrastructure of transport cards and mobile payments.
NFC Forum has identified three communication modes of NFC chips:
By the way, the card emulation mode is the most interesting, especially considering the Google Wallet release the day before yesterday.
Google Wallet is the first mass smartphone app for contactless one-touch payments. To achieve this, of course, it was possible through the use of NFC-chips in smartphones. Despite the fact that the application is available only to American users of the operator Sprint with a Google Nexus S 4G smartphone, which, moreover, must be Citi Bank customers with MasterCard cards, its potential is enormous. In the future, Google plans to add support for other payment networks (Visa, Discover and American Express have already announced cooperation with a search engine) and a number of new smartphones with NFC chips. And there will be plenty of them: the recently announced Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 will be with NFC chips; the already-released Nokia C7 will also receive NFC support with Symbian Belle; Moreover, all subsequent Symbian-smartphones will be equipped with NFC-chips.
There is no need to worry about the security of shopping through Google Wallet. First, bank card data is not stored in the phone’s memory, but on a special PN65 chip. This chip is used in EMV standard cards; The following details speak about its security: the chip encrypts all data, has autonomous power, removes all information when trying to physically hack. Secondly, the NFC antenna does not work if the phone is turned off or locked, and data exchange with the bank is carried out using the FirstData technology, which ensures maximum security. Thirdly, until the user has entered a PIN code, it is impossible in principle to read any data from the device.
In the rest of the world, NFC technology is also gaining momentum.
Mobile device manufacturers are increasingly embedding NFC. Nokia is the undisputed leader - all new smartphones based on Symbian will be equipped with these chips. However, other manufacturers are also trying to keep up, not counting HTC and Apple, which are still ignoring the introduction of technology into their devices.
NFC will appear in laptops and netbooks very soon. At a BUILD conference a week ago, Microsoft announced support for NFC in the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Tablet computers created for visitors with Windows 8 preinstalled already had NFC onboard.
In Japan and South Korea, Japanese KDDI, Softbank and Korean SK Telecom have implemented NFC support in ATMs, shops, restaurants, taxis, and car gas stations in test mode. The development of an international ticket booking system with NFC support was reported by DoCoMo in cooperation with Korean corporations KT and Samsung, although their technology is somewhat different from the international standard and is not consistent with GSMA.
At the end of 2010, TelefĂłnica, La Caixa and Visa launched a pilot project covering about 1,500 European users and 500 stores with NFC support. In the United States, at the end of 2010, AT & T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless teamed up to create ISIS, an all-American payment system using NFC. The implementation plan for the system is designed for 18 months.
In Russia, the new technology has also found its distribution.
About NFC technology now does not say just lazy. All the more strange is the fact that there is almost no complete and interesting information about this attractive technology at Habré. Nokia was at the head of the NFC Forum, which was created to promote the use of NFC in mobile devices and consumer electronics, which means we have something to tell.
NFC (Near Field Communication, “Near Field Communication” or “Short Range Communication”) is a short-range wireless high-frequency communication technology that provides data exchange between devices at a distance of several centimeters. It combines the interface of a smart card and reader into a single device. In other words, an ordinary NFC user can quickly transfer a contact or video from one smartphone to another with a simple touch of these devices, as well as make contactless payments, replacing bank cards. How it will look at the example of Nokia smartphones, you can see in the following video:
')
In fact, the applications of NFC technology can find a whole mass. With such a chip (and with the appropriate software), the smartphone can now replace bank cards, transport tickets, discount cards and access smart cards, movie tickets and parking cards. When spreading NFC technology, interactive billboards (so-called smart posters) will also be used, when interacting with smartphones, they will be able to read information from them. In the near future, the initialization of the Bluetooth connection between devices can be accelerated thanks to NFC: a tenth of a second (against six seconds) - and the devices found each other. Having brought a smartphone to the TV in the same way, it will be possible to quickly establish a connection for streaming videos or photos to the big screen. Looking ahead at all (if you are not afraid of futuristic views), we can say that with the widespread use of NFC, smartphones will be able to replace your home and car keys . By the way, some car manufacturers (for example, BMW) are already engaged in the development of keys using NFC technology.

For security reasons, many are unlikely to want to entrust the functions of a bank card and a house key to a smartphone, especially at the same time. But let's first try to figure out the technology specification and its history, and after that judge NFC.
- In the bearded year 1983, the NFC story begins. On May 17 of that year, Charles Walton, an electrical engineer, received a patent for a "portable radio frequency radiator-identifier". This is the very concept of RFID.
- On March 18, 2004, Nokia, Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation will organize the NFC Forum, a non - profit association to promote and standardize NFC technology for use in consumer electronics, computers, and mobile devices .
- In 2006, the initial specification of NFC tags appeared and the first commercial phone with an NFC chip , the Nokia 6131, was released .
- In May 2009, the NFC Forum introduces peer-to-peer mode for transferring various information between devices with NFC chips: links, contacts, and data to establish a connection via Bluetooth.
- In March 2011, Google joins the NFC Forum.
- In May 2011, Google announced Google Wallet, a mobile application for linking bank cards to smartphones with NFC chips. Soon, users will be able to replace credit cards with their smartphones .
- In August 2011, Nokia announces that all upcoming Symbian-smartphones will be equipped with NFC chips.
As you can see, the NFC Forum has a huge impact on the development of NFC technology, but other participants stand behind its development. Thus, the global trade association of mobile operators GSM Association (about 800 operators represented in 219 countries of the world) launched two significant NFC initiatives:
1) Mobile NFC Initiative. As part of this initiative, the main operators controlling almost half of the global market described (pdf) their vision of NFC technology.
2) Pay Buy Mobile Initiative. This time, the operators tried to define (pdf) a global approach to the use of short-range communication technology in mobile devices for interaction with payment systems.
In addition to the GSMA, the European consortium StoLPaN (Store Logistics and Payment with NFC), created to explore the possibilities of integrating NFC, wireless data networks, and mobile information sharing, participates in the life of NFC.
NFC technology is a logical continuation of RFID technology, and its main difference from the latter is a limited range. While the reading distance of active RFID tags can reach several hundred meters, NFC tags are only available within 5-10 centimeters. The operating frequency of NFC chips is in the unlicensed radio frequency range of the ISM band, used for industrial, medical and scientific purposes, and is 13.56 MHz, and the information transfer rate can be equal to 106, 212 or 424 kbaud / s.
NFC supports RFID standards ISO 14443 / Mifare, FeliCa and ISO / IEC 18092. The cards made according to ISO 14443 are popularly referred to as BSK - contactless smart cards - they are used in our metro; FeliCa technology is used for mobile payments and payment of tickets in public transport in China and Japan. As in the ISO 14443 / Mifare standard in NFC, communication is supported by mutual induction of coil antennas. As you can see, the technology fully fits the previously established infrastructure of transport cards and mobile payments.

NFC Forum has identified three communication modes of NFC chips:
- Peer-to-peer mode . In this case, the two devices communicate with each other to exchange information with each other. With the help of p2p, contacts between smartphones with NFC chips are transferred, the settings are instantly transferred from the WiFi router to the mobile device (yes, that is also possible!). In this mode, you can combine smartphones to create multiplayer games. For Nokia, there are NFC-versions of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja hits, some of the levels in which are opened only when connected via NFC with another smartphone.
- Reader mode . In this mode, your smartphone acts as a scanner for modern barcode counterparts - NFC tags containing various additional information. By the way, lately, NFC-tags are increasingly replacing bar codes: they can be found on food products in supermarkets (to quickly find out the expiration date and composition), as well as billboards in order to quickly convey advertising information.
- Card emulation mode . This mode is most often associated with NFC technology. Thanks to the card emulation mode, your smartphone can “pretend” to your bank card or travel ticket on the subway, thereby narrowing the thickness of your wallet (in the literal sense, and not in a portable).
By the way, the card emulation mode is the most interesting, especially considering the Google Wallet release the day before yesterday.
Google Wallet is the first mass smartphone app for contactless one-touch payments. To achieve this, of course, it was possible through the use of NFC-chips in smartphones. Despite the fact that the application is available only to American users of the operator Sprint with a Google Nexus S 4G smartphone, which, moreover, must be Citi Bank customers with MasterCard cards, its potential is enormous. In the future, Google plans to add support for other payment networks (Visa, Discover and American Express have already announced cooperation with a search engine) and a number of new smartphones with NFC chips. And there will be plenty of them: the recently announced Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 will be with NFC chips; the already-released Nokia C7 will also receive NFC support with Symbian Belle; Moreover, all subsequent Symbian-smartphones will be equipped with NFC-chips.
There is no need to worry about the security of shopping through Google Wallet. First, bank card data is not stored in the phone’s memory, but on a special PN65 chip. This chip is used in EMV standard cards; The following details speak about its security: the chip encrypts all data, has autonomous power, removes all information when trying to physically hack. Secondly, the NFC antenna does not work if the phone is turned off or locked, and data exchange with the bank is carried out using the FirstData technology, which ensures maximum security. Thirdly, until the user has entered a PIN code, it is impossible in principle to read any data from the device.
In the rest of the world, NFC technology is also gaining momentum.
Mobile device manufacturers are increasingly embedding NFC. Nokia is the undisputed leader - all new smartphones based on Symbian will be equipped with these chips. However, other manufacturers are also trying to keep up, not counting HTC and Apple, which are still ignoring the introduction of technology into their devices.
NFC will appear in laptops and netbooks very soon. At a BUILD conference a week ago, Microsoft announced support for NFC in the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Tablet computers created for visitors with Windows 8 preinstalled already had NFC onboard.
In Japan and South Korea, Japanese KDDI, Softbank and Korean SK Telecom have implemented NFC support in ATMs, shops, restaurants, taxis, and car gas stations in test mode. The development of an international ticket booking system with NFC support was reported by DoCoMo in cooperation with Korean corporations KT and Samsung, although their technology is somewhat different from the international standard and is not consistent with GSMA.
At the end of 2010, TelefĂłnica, La Caixa and Visa launched a pilot project covering about 1,500 European users and 500 stores with NFC support. In the United States, at the end of 2010, AT & T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless teamed up to create ISIS, an all-American payment system using NFC. The implementation plan for the system is designed for 18 months.
In Russia, the new technology has also found its distribution.
- While MTS is testing the passage through the turnstiles in the Moscow metro using mobile phones, Megafon and Beeline are doing the same in St. Petersburg. By the way, all these solutions from mobile operators are implemented on the basis of peripheral devices that add NFC support to phones without the device’s initial support for the relevant technology. These peripherals are made in MicroSD and UICC SIM cards with embedded wireless chips that comply with the ISO 14443 / Mifare contactless card standard. Such devices are both with built-in and without built-in antenna. And, although due to their form factor, they are far from being suitable for every mobile device, thanks to such peripherals, NFC technology can be enjoyed before the mass appearance of phones with integrated technology support.
- AmbikTek SPb and State Organizer of Transportation are introducing Podorozhnik travel cards in the northern capital, which allow paying for travel on land transport, as well as working on integrating store discount cards and bonus systems.
- At the end of 2010, we started the test implementation of the NFC payment system at Moscow Express — Sheremetyevo and Sheremetyevo — Moscow at the end of 2010 with the company “Processing Technologies”. In this case, Nokia phones are used, NFC support in which exists initially. Peripherals are not needed for this; all that is required from the user is to install a special application on the Nokia phone for fare payment.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/129007/
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