NFC is based on the ISO 18092 standard and represents an evolution from the contactless technology (ISO 14443) used in proximity cards for ticketing, access control and payment applications.
Whereas contactless technology puts a passive chip and antenna on a smartcard and requires a separate source emitting an electromagnetic field to be carried in order for it to work, NFC uses active devices that can be used in a cellphone, obviating the need to carry a separate reader/writer and making the phone the instrument for payment transactions and so on. The proximity required for read functions is 10 cm.
The Eindhoven, Netherlands-based company sees various applications for the technology.
In peer-to-peer communications, you can use it to configure a WLAN, with an ISP sending out a smart card in the welcome pack for easy installation, said Sour Chhor, general manager of the company’s identification business line.
In a phone, you can use it to buy tickets for public transport, bringing the phone within reach of a reader on the bus to debit you for a single ticket, Chhor said.
The ability for the phone to generate the electromagnetic field from which another device can read ID information clearly also has applications in access control scenarios.
Another application is reader/writer, for which Chhor used the example of smart posters, whereby a consumer might see a poster with information about a show he or she is interested in seeing, then bringing the phone close to the poster, reads information for booking a ticket over a GPRS or 3G link, from which you’ll download the ticket.
The operators might also want to write to the NFC chip in the phone offering a special discount to the subscriber, he added.
