Will Near Field Communication Eliminate Other P2P Wireless Technologies?
Introduction
NFC derives its roots from an existing technology but goes much further to improve communication. The birth of this technology is welcome in the tech world and all stakeholders of the mobile communications ecosystem are positively affected. If thoughts of how and why abound in your mind, read on.
How does NFC work?
NFC uses RFID to facilitate communication between devices placed within 10 cm of each other. Of these devices, NFC allows one of them to take on the role of an active device and emit a radio frequency that locks onto and extracts data from a passive NFC-enabled device or tag. Passive devices can only hold data but cannot browse it. Active devices, on the other hand, can also be programmed to hold and provide data when requested by other active devices.
Security measures such as encryption can be wrapped in communication. It is recommended that devices be equipped with anti-virus software to protect sensitive transactions.
NFC Applications
NFC obviously beats out other wireless forms of communication for the reasons mentioned in the previous sections of this article. It would be interesting to point out the various uses to which this technology can be applied. However, out of an abundance of caution, only one continuous example involving NFC in daily life is narrated.
This example illustrates the amazing things a fictional character named Joe can do with his NFC-enabled smartphone. Joe, a social media consultant, lives in Newton, a leafy residential suburb of Boston, MA. He uses the Amtrak to get to Summer Street, the central business district of Boston. At the station of departure he wants to buy round-trip tickets to Boston. He spots an NFC-enabled vending machine and shows his smartphone near it. After the initiation protocols, Joe proceeds to select and reserve the tickets, and confirmation appears on his smartphone. He gets on the train to Boston. At the request of the Ticket Checker (TC), he shows the smartphone near the TC’s NFC-enabled ticket verification machine, which behaves as an active device to extract the data from Joe’s phone. The reservation is confirmed and the gentlemen exchange courtesies as their devices did moments ago!
Joe disembarks at South Station and heads to his office. Along the way, he sees a newsstand showing a Vangelis concert at the Boston Symphony Hall. He touches his NFC mobile phone to the NFC tag on the funky poster and it extracts data like date, time, participating musicians, theme, etc., into his phone. He reserves seats for the concert with his mobile phone, using mobile communications (eg: SMS, Internet), to receive the complimentary tickets. He informs her wife of hers via text message inviting her to the concert and then to dinner.
At the office entrance, he touches his NFC-enabled mobile phone to the NFC-enabled door to open it.
Lunch time arrives and Joe uses his smartphone again to pay for his meal with a credit card stored on his phone using NFC to touch and use at the POS register at the restaurant.
In the afternoon he meets with members of his new client company. At the end of the meeting, Joe and his clients touch their phones to exchange their business cards stored on their NFC mobile phones.
In the evening, Joe and his wife arrive at Boston Symphony Hall, where he touches his NFC mobile phone to an NFC-enabled turnstile. Their reservations are confirmed and they are admitted to the room.
After enjoying a lively concert, they head to Macy’s where Joe surprises his wife with a platinum necklace. They have a quiet candlelit dinner in Little Italy by the bay. Joe uses an NFC credit card on his phone to make payments in both cases. On the way back, they join a street carnival playing in Quincy. Joe loses his smartphone in the commotion. Noticing him, he immediately calls his mobile service provider to report his mobile stolen and request that they cancel the NFC services on his phone. This would remove sensitive data (especially money related) from his mobile. Joe can reactivate the NFC services if he retrieves the mobile phone from him.
In the illustration, you can see the many uses that can be given to NFC in daily life.
Conclution
NFC is a blessing for the mobile user who is discovering and giving life to many applications that the mobile can perform. From the day when a mobile was used only to make a call to now being used as a mobile wallet, ticket reservation system, security system, etc., the user has taken much advantage of the mobile. NFC provides the impetus to take this excitement to the next level.
NFC is more secure, versatile, and growing in popularity. Good luck crashing!