Dot-Facts

Tapping into the Future: Exploring the Wonders of NFC Technology

NFC or Near Field Communication, is a popular wireless technology that allows you to transfer data between two devices that are in close proximity. It's often used as a faster and more secure alternative to QR codes for other short-range applications like mobile payments.

That's not much to the technology - you have electronic reader devices that allow you to read data from various NFC tags.

NFC tags are surprisingly versatile and tend to be useful in situations where you might want to transfer a small amount of data effortlessly. After all, tapping the surface takes less time and effort than using Bluetooth pairing or entering Wi-Fi passwords. It operates on the principles of radio frequency identification (RFID) and works on the 13.56 MHz frequency.

NFC technology was first developed in the early 2000s, a collaborative effort between Nokia, Philips, and Sony. It aimed to create a simple and secure method for contactless data transfer.

Key Features of NFC:

• Contactless Communication

• Security

• Peer-to-Peer Communication

Applications of NFC:

• Contactless Payments

• Access Control

• Smart Marketing

• Healthcare

• Asset Tracking

Future Possibilities:

• Internet of Things (IoT)

• Digitals IDs

• Healthcare Innovations

• Environmental Initiatives

How do NFC tags work?

NFC tags come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The simplest ones are often built in the form of a square or circular sticker. They consist of a thin copper coil and a small storage space on a microchip.

The coil allows the tag to wirelessly receive power from the NFC reader through a process known as electromagnetic induction. Essentially, whenever you bring a powered NFC reader near the tag, the latter gets energized and transmits any stored data within its microchip to the device. Take hotel keycards or office access cards in general. These are also typically just plastic cards with some copper windings and some memory on a microchip. The same principle applies to NFC-equipped credit and debit cards. NFC tags come in various form factors, ranging from small stickers to credit card-like plastic cards.

NFC Types:

There are five sub-types of NFC, conveniently labeled types 1 through 5. Type 1 tags are the least advanced, as they only store less than one kilobyte of data to hold a URL or Wi-Fi password. Whereas type 5 tags are capable of holding 32KB in memory. They can transfer data roughly four times faster than type 1 tags.

These tags allow for both read and write operations, so you can reuse them as you see fit.

How do NFC readers work?

So far, we've only discussed NFC tags, but what about NFC readers? Well, we've already established that NFC readers supply power and read data from the NFC tags. To achieve this, NFC readers need a power source to pass an electric current through a coil of their own.

Once the tag gets the power from the reader through inductive coupling, the actual data transfer process is rather simple.

A technique known as Manchester Coding is used to determine the binary values (zeros and ones) from the electromagnetic pulses. Finally, the binary values get converted into human-readable text.

With a rewritable NFC tag, you can program it to do anything you want. Apps like NFC Tools will allow you to write a contact, Bluetooth pairing information and website link to a tag. For a more advanced example, you could combine NFC tags with an automation app like Tasker on Android or Shortcuts on iOS to perform actions like turning on a light.