Near field communication A summary of near-field communication An NFC-enabled mobile phone interacting with a SmartPoster A ticket stamping machine of the Austrian Federal Railways that can be used to purchase mobile tickets (“Handy-Ticket”). Near-field (or nearfield) communication (NFC) is a form of short-range wireless communication where the antenna used is much smaller than the wavelength of the carrier signal (thus preventing a standing wave from de- veloping within the antenna). In the near-field (approx- imately one quarter of a wavelength)[1] the antenna can produce either an electric field, or a magnetic field, but not an electromagnetic field. Thus NFC communicates either practice a metre or more. If the antenna is just a few by a modulated electric field, or a modulated magnetic centimetres long, it will only set up the ‘near-field’ around field, but not by radio (electromagnetic waves). For ex- [2] itself, with length, width and depth of the field roughly the ample, a small loop antenna (also known as a magnetic same as the dimensions of the antenna. Very little energy loop) produces a magnetic field, which can then be picked will radiate away, it is essentially a stationary electromag- up by another small loop antenna, if it is near enough. netic field pulsating at 13.56 MHz. If another similarly Magnetic NFC has a useful property of being able to pen- small antenna comes into this field, it will induce an elec- etrate conductors[3] that would reflect radio waves. tric potential into it, alternating at the same frequency. Many mobile phones now use electric-field NFC (oper- By modulating the signal in the active antenna, one can ating at a frequency of 13.56 MHz, corresponding to a transmit a signal to the passive, receiving antenna. wavelength of 22.11 m) for certain special transactions Present and anticipated applications include contactless because the very short range of NFC makes it difficult to transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more eavesdrop on. To efficiently generate a far-field, which complex communications such as Wi-Fi.[4] Communica- means to send out radio waves of this wavelength, one tion is also possible between an NFC device and an un- typically needs an antenna of a quarter wavelength, in powered NFC chip, called a “tag”.[5] 1 2 1 USES devices,[5] it is also capable of replacing earlier one-way applications. 1.1 Commerce NFC devices can be used in contactless payment sys- tems, similar to those currently used in credit cards and electronic ticket smartcards, and allow mobile payment to replace or supplement these systems. With the release of Android 4.4, Google introduced a new platform support for secure NFC-based transactions through Host Card Emulation (HCE),[6] for payments, loyalty programs, card access, transit passes, and other custom services. With HCE, any app on an Android 4.4 device can emulate an NFC smart card, letting users tap to initiate transactions with an app of their choice. Apps can also use a new Reader Mode so as to act as readers for HCE cards and other NFC-based transactions. On September 9, 2014, Apple also announced support for NFC-powered transactions as part of their Apple Pay program.[7] Apple stated that their version of NFC pay- ment is more secure than competitors because Apple Pay An NFC enabled parking meter label used by the city of San implements tokenization of its data in order to encrypt it Francisco for payment and phone reminders of time remaining. and protect it from unauthorized use.[8] Developed by Cellotape/Tap4Mor. 1.2 Bootstrapping other connections NFC offers a low-speed connection with extremely sim- ple setup, and can be used to bootstrap more capable wireless connections.[9] For example, the Android Beam software uses NFC to complete the steps of enabling, pairing and establishing a Bluetooth connection when do- ing a file transfer, disabling Bluetooth automatically on both devices once the desired task has completed.[10] Nokia, Samsung, BlackBerry and Sony[11] have used NFC technology to pair Bluetooth headsets, media play- ers, and speakers with one tap in its NFC-enabled de- vices. The same principle can be applied to the con- figuration of Wi-Fi networks. This only works between Android devices version Jelly Bean and above. Samsung N-Mark Logo for NFC-enabled Devices Galaxy devices have a feature named S-Beam, an exten- sion of Android Beam that uses NFC (to share MAC Address and IP addresses) and then uses WiFi Direct to 1 Uses share files and documents. The advantage of using WiFi Direct over Bluetooth is that it permits much faster data NFC builds upon RFID systems by allowing two-way transfers, having a speed of up to 300Mbit/s for sharing communication between endpoints, where earlier sys- large files.[12] tems such as contactless smart cards were one-way only. It has been used in devices such as Google Nexus since the Nexus S, but wasn't really used until Android 4.0 1.3 Social networking Ice Cream Sandwich was released with a feature called "Android Beam" which was first introduced with the NFC can be used in social networking situations, such as Galaxy Nexus. sharing contacts, photos, videos or files,[13] and entering Since unpowered NFC “tags” can also be read by NFC multiplayer mobile games.[14] 3 1.4 Identity and access tokens • 2009 In January, NFC Forum released Peer-to-Peer standards to transfer contact, URL, initiate Blue- The NFC Forum promotes the potential for NFC-enabled tooth, etc.[22] devices to act as electronic identity documents and keycards.[9] As NFC has a short range and supports en- • 2010 Samsung Nexus S: First Android NFC phone cryption, it may be more suitable than earlier, less private shown[23][24] RFID systems. • 2010 The city of Nice in Southern France launches the “Nice City of contactless mobile” project, pro- 1.5 Smartphone automation and NFC tags viding inhabitants with new NFC generation mobile phones and bank cards, and a real “bouquet of ser- Smartphones equipped with NFC can be paired with vices” for their daily lives covering transportation, NFC Tags or stickers which can be programmed by NFC tourism and student’s services apps to automate tasks. These programs can allow for a change of phone settings, a text to be created and sent, an • 2011 Tapit Media launches in Sydney Australia as app to be launched, or any number of commands to be the first specialized NFC marketing company executed, limited only by the NFC app and other apps on • the smartphone. 2011 Google I/O “How to NFC” demonstrates NFC to initiate a game and to share a contact, URL, app, These applications are perhaps the most practical current video, etc.[13] uses for NFC since it does not rely on a company or man- ufacturer but can be utilized immediately by anyone any- • 2011 NFC support becomes part of the Symbian where with an NFC-equipped smartphone and an NFC mobile operating system with the release of Sym- tag.[15] bian Anna version.[25] • 2011 Research In Motion is the first company for its 1.6 Gaming devices to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide, the functionality of PayPass[26] See also: List of gaming NFC platforms • 2012 March. EAT., a well-known UK restaurant NFC has been used in video games starting with chain, and Everything Everywhere (Orange Mobile Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. With it you buy figurines Network Operator), partner on the UK’s first na- which are customizable and contain personal data with tionwide NFC-enabled smartposter campaign, led each figure, so no two figures are exactly alike. The Wii by René Batsford, head of ICT for EAT., also U is the first system to include NFC technology out of the known for deploying the UK’s first nationwide con- box. tactless payment solution in 2008. A specially cre- ated mobile phone app is triggered when the NFC enabled mobile phone comes into contact with the [27] 2 History smartposter. • 2012 Sony introduces the “Smart Tags”, which use NFC traces its roots back to radio-frequency identifica- NFC technology to change modes and profiles on tion, or RFID. RFID allows a reader to send radio waves a Sony smartphone at close range, included in the to a passive electronic tag for identification, authentica- package of (and “perfectly paired” with) the Sony tion and tracking. Xperia P Smartphone released the same year.[28] • [29] • 1983 The first patent to be associated with the ab- 2012 Samsung introduces TecTile; a set of breviation RFID was granted to Charles Walton.[16] MIFARE NFC stickers and a companion applica- tion for Android to read and write the TecTile stick- • 2002 Sony and Philips agreed on establishing a new ers, and design macros that can be triggered by them. technology specification and created a technical out- line on March 25, 2002.[17] • 2013 Samsung and Visa announce major partner- ship to develop mobile payments. • 2004 Nokia, Philips and Sony established the Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum[18] • 2013 IBM Scientists from Zurich, in an effort to curb fraud and security breaches have come up with • [19] 2006 Initial specifications for NFC Tags a new mobile authentication security technology • 2006 Specification for “SmartPoster” records[20] based on Near-Field Communication (NFC). IBM’s new technology works on similar principles to that • 2006 Nokia 6131 was the first NFC phone[21] of a dual-factor authentication security measure.[30] 4 3 STANDARDS • 2014 Apple Inc. announces Apple Pay, an NFC pay- NFC tags contain data and are typically read-only, but ment feature for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and may be rewriteable.