What is NFC? How does it work?

Payment Through NFC
Image Source: Getty Images

     

      NFC or Near Field Communication is a technology that makes use of high frequency wireless communication fir transferring data over a shorter distance which ranges from 5 cm -10 cm. This technology makes your life more convenient by making it very easy to share data between devices and perform transactions.

     In simple words, NFC is a technology that makes it able to pass data between two devices, generally your smartphone and an another device, so that you can share data, perform transactions or even get discount offers by tapping your smartphone on smart discount coupons.

•      How does NFC work?

     NFC also work on the principle of sending information over radio waves just as WiFi, Bluetooth and some other technologies. NFC makes use of Radio frequency Identification (RFID) technology which used electromagnetic induction to transfer information.

  

     This is one of the main differences between NFC and Bluetooth or WiFi technologies. In NFC, the passive devices or the devices with the information has to be transferred such as NFC tags, do not require their own power source. They can rather be powered by the electromagnetic field produced by the active devices in this case, your smartphone.

     

      The data transfer frequency for NFC is 13.56 MHz. It can transfer data at either 106, 212 or 424 Kbps (kilo bits per second). 

       The NFC standard has three modes if operation: the first one is the Peer to Peer mode, which helps to share information between two devices. It uses your smartphone which can receive as well as send data. Your smartphone becomes an active device while send data and becomes passive while receiving data.

        The second mode is the Read/write mode. This mode is used for one way transmission of data. In this mode, the active device which most probably your smartphone, gets linked up with the passive device such as NFC tags, in order to read information.

       The third mode is the card emulation. In this mode, the NFC device such as your smartphone can function or act as a contact less credit card and make payment as a normal credit card.

• What are the uses of NFC?

       Now that we have seen what NFC is and how does it work, let's see some of the uses of NFC or Near field communication.

      The NFC technology can be used for transferring data, information, or even media files between two devices. Here, the two devices can be your smartphone with NFC feature. 

Contact less Commerce

      The most important function of NFC is the feature of "Contact less Commerce". You can use your smartphone instead of your debit or credit card for making payments. Can you imagine how easy it might become for making payments? 

       

     The NFC tags can be used in posters and advertising which can provide extra content when connected as in the case of QR codes but in much faster way. It can also be used in discount coupons so connecting to the coupon can give discount to the buyers on the product. It can also be used in movie posters which when linked to the poster, can redirect to the movie trailer on YouTube. You can also use NFC tags by customizing them and sticking them at your office desk, so that when you tap your smartphone on that tag, it will automatically turn your mobile on silent mode and will let you work without disturbing.