Forum mandates near field comms format

Innovision Research and Technology has developed a low-cost near field communications platform for consumer electronics and mobile applications.

Innovision Research and Technology has developed a low-cost near field communications (NFC) platform for consumer electronics and mobile applications.

Topaz is designed to make NFC applications such a mobile payments, ticketing transactions and access to digital content using NFC-enabled mobile devices possible.

Topaz was last week mandated as the type 1 tag format of the NFC standard as one of only three proprietary tag formats approved by the NFC Forum, which is supported by all of the leading mobile device manufacturers.

Working to the ISO14443A standard, Topaz is targeted for operation with NFC devices in reader/writer mode - which means a "request and answer" communication cycle is set up between the NFC device and Topaz.

As a low-cost option, Topaz is ideally designed for applications requiring a small amount of memory (1-2Kbyte), such as smart poster or one-touch setup applications, as well as general ISO14443A based RFID applications.

"The NFC revolution is here".

"By allowing two devices to communicate wirelessly with one another when in close proximity, communication will become as simple and instinctive as through touching", says to Heikki Huomo, CTO at Innovision Research and Technology.

"It's an exciting time for everyone involved, as it will open up a myriad of opportunities for consumer electronics, PC and mobile phone companies, as well as payment providers, chip manufacturers and systems integrators", Huomo continued.

"We believe Topaz will play an important part in all of this and being one of only four mandated tag formats, alongside Philips, Sony, and other providers, reinforces our position as a leading player in the NFC market".

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