NFC stands for Near Field Communication. It’s an RFID technology since it allows communication between a tag and a reader by means of radiofrequency waves. Even if all kinds of RFID can work in the near field (definition of the near field is based on the radio wave structure), NFC is a special protocol based on HF (13,56 MHz) RFID standards. Therefore, the reading distance is below 10cm.
Unlike other RFID technologies, NFC proposes a handshake (initialization) that defines who will act as the reader and who will act as the tag. It allows also the peer to peer communication (between two readers) for data exchange.
Beyond the communication protocol, NFC proposes ways to encode data so that the reader knows how to handle it. As an example, if the tag data is a website link, the reader device will know to open up a browser window and connect to the website. If the tag data is a link to a video, it may open up a dedicated application to play the video. If the data is a vCard, it is automatically stored in your contacts.
Today, NFC readers are embedded in quite all smartphones, it can play apart in consumer interaction with advertisements, event kiosks, ticketing systems, and other non-industrial applications. NFC can also ease the pairing of Bluetooth devices.
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