Near Field Communication – NFC

NFC stands for Near Field Communication. It is a wireless communication protocol based on high-frequency radio frequency identification technology (13.56 MHz).

It supports three different operating modes:

• Point-to-point data exchange between two devices

• Simulation Card – A smartphone can be used as a contactless ID card

• When the device is in read/write mode, it can read pre-saved information (i.e., NFC paper label) like a smartphone.

NFC covers a wide range of applications, from payment to exchanging multimedia files and continuously adding new
functions. It can also be integrated into business cards and deployed in museums, educational facilities, retail, and
other environments.The communication range of NFC is limited to about 10 cm/4 inches, and it is very low power compared
to other contactless technologies. It only takes a fraction of a second to establish a connection between two
NFC-enabled devices, with a transmission speed of 424 kbit/s.

This advantage makes the technology very suitable for mobile payments and supports almost all current Android smartphones.