Near Field Communication
Benefits
All it takes is a tap.
Every day millions and millions of people use NFC technology to connect to things and the world around them. It’s the super-fast and secure way to pay for things, ride the train, unlock a door, start your car, and even connect to the brands we all love.
What is NFC?
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enable two electronic devices, one of which may be a portable device such as a smartphone to establish communication by bringing them together.
NFC incorporates a number of different HF based technologies. Two of these are widely used, NFC type 2 for proximity and type 5 for vicinity applications. The type 2 technology was developed with payment and personal identification in mind, where having a big read range is actually a disadvantage and very high levels of security require high speed data exchange. Type 5 was developed for longer read range applications, where higher levels of security were traded for bigger read range.
Applications
The big advantage that NFC has over any other RFID technology is that smartphones have integrated NFC readers. These readers nowadays support both type 2 and type 5, but as the reader antenna is very small due to the limited space that is available in a smartphone, read range is always limited.
NFC type 2 is mainly used for payment applications, ticketing, access control abd brand protection. NFC type 5 is used in many applications requiring longer read range, one of which is for Libraries with check-in and check-out of books fully automated and anti-theft (EAS) implemented by means of the RFID tag.
We are also seeing more and more smart marketing applications. NFC enabled phones can read a NFC tags to gain access to interactive content. This gives brands a new way to communicate and egange with their clients.
NFC label, tag or stickers
Leading RFID labels manufacturer, Paragon ID can provide products using NFC technology such as NFC tags, labels, or smartcards.