Technology is changed in many ways. From normal TVs to LCDs, from walkman to iPods and mobile phones are no longer just for communication. In every electronic, be a laptop, a camera, a mobile or anything else features for entertainment options are now a must. Another technology which is to be popped up soon in is Near Field Communications (NFC). NFC is basically a short range, standards-based wireless connectivity technology based on RFID.
UNDERSTANDING NFC
Wireless technologies have always been known for wide area coverage, ranging from many meters to kilometers, but a revolution is underway at the short-range in the form of NFC. While Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have a range between 33 ft and 300 ft, NFC is designed for shorter distances with ranges in inches.
The technology could be used in smartcards to be added to a whole range of electronic devices, including mobile phones, digital cameras, and game consoles. Once an NFC chip is integrated into these devices, they would be ready for e-commerce, digital rights management, or online entertainment. NFC builds on existing systems and makes accessing and sharing media content and using services convenient and intuitive.
NFC holds great promise for operators and device manufacturers. It generates opportunities for new services that would add revenues. It makes existing services and content simpler and easier to use. The process of shopping, playing games, storing content, and accessing and sharing information and media becomes simple with the use of NFC enabled devices.
NFC works when two devices that are brought near to each other within few centimeters. Users can use it by touching their phones and there is no need for them to manually configure their devices for use, scan the vicinity for similar devices, no need to enter passwords and change settings. The connection usually takes few milliseconds, which is instant for the human eye. Setting up network connections between devices is often complex, but it becomes amazingly simple with NFC enabled devices. Just get them close enough to each other and NFC enabled devices will transmit configuration data to each other. Once the communication is established, the device would remain in peer-to-peer network, enabling communication continuity for longer range and faster protocols such as Bluetooth, Ultra-wideband, and Wi-Fi, allowing NFC devices to intuitively initialize wireless networks.
THE WORKING
The NFC protocol covers two modes of communication-—an active device and a passive one. Both devices generate radio fields of their own in active mode, whereas only one device generates a radio field in passive mode and the other device makes use of load modulation to transfer data. The initiating device generates radio field in the passive mode. The passive mode is ideal for battery-powered devices like mobile phones and PDAs, and they can be used in power-saving mode for NFC communications.
NFC can facilitate communications in three broad ways. In card emulation, the NFC device behaves like an existing contactless card. In the reader mode, the NFC device is active and reads a passive RFID tag, for example, in-smart posters and interactive advertising. In the peer-to-peer mode, two NFC devices communicate together and exchange information.