All that You Need to Know About Near Field Communication (NFC)

What is Near Field Communication (NFC)?Near Field Communication or what is popularly known as NFC is the newest form of contactless communication that allows two devices (smartphones and tablets) with NFC compatibility to send and receive information. Wondering why it’s so quickly becoming a rage among users? NFC’s main unique selling point is that, the connection between the two devices is established only by a simple wave of the phone next to the other device. In other words NFC allows easy contactless communication between devices without the need of setting up connections through multiple steps manually.

Technology Behind NFC Near Field Communication can be used by devices which has an NFC chip inbuilt in it or can read an external NFC chip/reader. These NFC chips basically create a radio frequency through radio frequency identification (RFDI) which communicates with other devices compatible with NFC devices are brought closer to one another they are both able to send and receive information. For a better and technical knowledge of the working of NFC it can be said that - "Near Field Communication is a short-range wireless connectivity standard (Ecma-340, ISO/IEC 18092) that uses magnetic field induction to enable communication between devices when they are touched together, or brought within a few centimeters of each other." So if your phone is NFC enabled all you would need to do is go to the ‘Settings’ option and click on ‘More’. It’s here that you can see the NFC option which you would need to tap/toggle (depending on your phone) to turn it on. This would also automatically turn on the ‘Android Beam’ as well, and you can then start sending/receiving small amount of data to another device nearby (max 10 cms away) with NFC mode turned on. Just in case the Android Beam does not automatically turn on, do so manually and you are good to go. When two devices use HFC to transfer information it’s known as a ‘two-way communication.’ However, when a powered device like a tablet, phone or a card reader reads and writes to an NFC chip it’s known as a ‘one-way communication.’

Using NFC for PaymentsIf your phone is NFC compatible then you would have to launch the paymentapplication on your phone and then tap it on the credit card /debit card terminal.With that done a connection is instantly established through NFC after which youwould have to enter a passcode or scan your finger as per your phone’s settings.Then the transaction process is validated through a separate chip known as thesecure element or SE. With the help of SE authorization is carried out and then the payment is finished processing. Yes a one tap payment method without the need of swiping your card. It’s pertinent to mention here that, the payment transaction through NFC is totally secure due to the SE which holds all the authorization power. Also, the chip (SE) is tamper proof as it’s protected by a unique digital signature.

Ways to use NFCThe first and the most common way of using NFC as stated above is for transferring data between two devices (phones/tablets etc.) But here are some really cool and innovative ways of using NFC. To begin with using NFC tags for example would be a real cool way to enable wi-fi, enabling bluetooth, opening remote blind etc. So simply stick a NFC tag nearby to these devices and let it do a series of tasks for you without hassle, and a simple tap on the tag would make it disabling the Wi-fi, bluetooth, closing the remote blinds etc. NFC tags of info tags are nothing but RFID tags which has a bit of storage memory, along with a radio chip attached to an antenna. NFC tags don’t have power of their own. They draw power from the device that reads them with the help of magnetic induction. So when a reader gets close to a tag it gets energised transfer data from that tag.

Driving can become a lot easier with those small NFC tags. For example sticking an NFC tag near your dashboard or your car’s music system would make it increase or decrease volumes, control the ac and even the wi-fi in your car. So once your tag is programmed with your music player, wifi and/or bluetooth enabled headphones everything is controlled just by a tap.

Your daily workout sessions can get all the more exciting with these NFC tags. Stick an NFC tag in your workout armband and programme it to set an alarm for you helping you to keep a tab on the time. They can even activate airplane mode for your phone and disable it once you are done with your workout. Also set up your favourite workout playlist once and your NFC tag fires it up each time you start working out. Ain’t that so cool?

Shaistha Farheen a Digital Marketing Executive & tech writer at a href ="http://www.cumulations.com/"Cumulations Technologies - Leading Mobile App Development Company in India & Usa.