Near field communication in the real world

Innovision Research and Technology has published the second in its developing series of authoritative white papers on the overall theme "Near field communication in the real world".

Innovision Research and Technology, a leading developer of NFC and short-range RFID solutions, has published the second in its developing series of authoritative white papers on the overall theme "Near field communication in the real world".

The 13-page white paper, titled "Using the right NFC tag type for the right NFC application", highlights the need to ensure that the features and capabilities of the NFC tag meet the needs of the application; and aims to help NFC product and service developers explore the relative merits of the four NFC Forum-mandated tag types for various applications.

IRT explains that: "With four NFC Forum-mandated tag types to choose from, designers need to consider carefully the properties of each before committing to one type or another".

"With initial mass-market deployments likely to be in low-financial value, low-risk applications, it is important that the NFC tags selected meet the application requirements with the right balance of cost and performance".

The white paper reviews four key NFC applications: Smart Poster; SMS or phone number shortcut; MMS or ringtone downloads; and Bluetooth pairing.

The suitability of each NFC Forum-mandated tag type for each application, based on its specific features and capabilities is then assessed.

The paper concludes that: "It is likely that the first mass-market applications for NFC will build on existing infrastructure, initially in relatively simple shortcut, identification, service discovery/initiation or device pairing applications".

"This implies the need for a standardised tag format that is small, low-cost and flexible enough to be successfully integrated into existing form factors and integrated circuitry".

The first White Paper "NFC in the real world - Turning the NFC promise into profitable everyday applications", which took a high-level look at NFC applications, technology and markets is also available NFC is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables simple two-way interactions among electronic devices (such as digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and computers) allowing consumers to perform contactless transactions, access digital content and connect devices with a single touch.

NFC also simplifies set-up of longer-range wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

NFC technology evolved from a combination of contactless identification and interconnection technologies.

NFC operates in the 13.56MHz frequency range, over a typical distance of a few centimetres.

The underlying layers of NFC technology are ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards.

NFC technology is supported by the leading mobile device, infrastructure and technology manufacturers and by all major payment providers, and it is compatible with millions of contactless cards already in use worldwide.

According to ABI Research in 2011, 450 million mobile handsets will ship NFC-enabled.

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