Practical Application of NFC and the Future of Technology

NFC is a technology that has found its way into a large number of modern smartphones. Near Field Communication is a technology for wirelessly exchanging data between two electronic devices that are in close proximity to each other.

Thanks to it, users can work with payment systems that do not require direct contact between a credit card and a reader. It is very convenient and there are many who appreciated the comfort of working with this technology, and manufacturers are increasingly introducing appropriate modules, no longer limited only to top-end smartphones.

What else is NFC capable of

But NFC is interesting not only for the possibility of online payments for goods and services. Apple recently announced the Apple Car Reys feature, which allows you to create virtual keys for cars, store them in memory, and then use them to unlock the locks or start the engine by simply holding the device to the contact area. This unlocking method looks safe and secure.

These days, there are many people and businesses uses NFC cards of different purpose. The NFC CARD can be used to serve a different purpose like a business card, visiting card, tags and many more things can be done.

The risk of loss is minimized, and the use of biometric identification of the owner’s personality allows to negate the possibility of unauthorized access to the device and, accordingly, to the inside of the car by unauthorized persons.

But that’s not all that NFC can do. True, this technology does not perform miracles. This is simple low-speed communication. It is not well suited for transferring large files and requires a short distance between compatible devices to work.

Where NFC applies:

The most popular way to use the technology is contactless one-touch payment using payment systems such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay;

• NFC tags and cards that enable a smartphone to read and display certain information. For example, you can read information from a tag in a supermarket, obtaining information about the composition of the product, its history, origin, and price;
• a number of speakers and Bluetooth headphones have an NFC chip. This allows them to be controlled using a smartphone;
• some household appliances have NFC support. For example, this technology can be found in LG washers and dryers. This allows you to quickly activate a given cycle of work;
• have NFC support and a number of gaming applications. For example, it is in the New Nintendo 3DS and in Nintendo’s Amiibo platform to invoke a number of functions;
• more and more NFC support can be found in gyms so that the user can quickly and easily get information about workouts and simulators;
• battery-free temperature sensors — NFC “patches” and ear thermometers for instant body temperature measurements — began to appear on the market.

NFC distribution prospects

The technology itself is interesting and a number of companies intend to further develop it, find the ever-wider application of short-range contactless communication. From time to time we hear that someone is about to make the NFC revolution. So, there are already developments in the digitization of documents and the speed of access to identity cards.

Another promising application for NFC is wireless charging. In May of this year, it was already announced that engineers have found a way to wirelessly charge devices using NFC technology. True, the power is very modest — 1 W. And it is precisely this fact that does not allow us to say that in its current form it is suitable for use in smartphones. But charging a smartwatch or headphones is fine.

In November last year, Huawei introduced the A2 Wi-Fi router with NFC support. The use of contactless data transmission technology allows you to quickly connect your mobile phone to a Wi-Fi network: just activate NFC on your smartphone and touch it to the router. An authorization password is not needed in this case. But such routers have not been widely used at the moment.

And in the long term, it is expected that in the future our smartphones will become real electronic keys that will unlock NFC-based digital locks, help pass turnstiles and pay for public transport.

At the moment, it is only a matter of time when and in what other areas the Near Field Communication technology will find its application.