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Near-Field Communication Contactless near-field data exchange and authentication
via smartphone.

What is NFC?

NFC stands for Near-Field Communication. It is a technology for contactless data exchange in near-field ranges and is based on high-frequency RFID technology (13.56 MHz). Many of today's smartphones support NFC and are therefore capable of simulating contactless cards for authentication. An NFC device can also act as a reader itself, reading both cards and NFC transponders. NFC also supports peer-to-peer communication (P2P) between two active devices. The major advantage of NFC is its extremely low energy consumption.

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Applications

What is NFC used for?

NFC is suitable for the following three types of use.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

This is the data exchange between two devices, such as between a smartphone and a point-of-sale terminal.

Card emulation

An NFC device (a smartphone, for instance) can be used as a contactless identification method and held to an NFC-capable RFID reader for authentication.

Read/write mode

When an NFC device (such as a smartphone) is in an active mode, it can read a passive tag (such as an NFC paper label).

Applications

What is NFC used for?

NFC can be used in a number of applications for secure and convenient contactless authentication. It is also gaining ground in applications for payment systems, exchanging multimedia files and in the retail segment.

Further Applications

Range

What is the range for NFC?

The transmission range of NFC will typically be 10 centimeters but varies significantly depending on the device used. Due to this short distance, in certain applications an established connection is considered consent to a transaction (e.g. for mobile payments).

Speed

How fast is NFC?

It only takes a split second for a connection to be established between two NFC-capable devices. The maximum transmission speed is 424 kbit/s. NFC is therefore ideally suited for mobile payment systems.

Mobile devices

What mobile devices support NFC?

Almost all common smartphones with Android operating systems and many consumer devices support NFC.

Difference RFID/NFC

What is the difference between RFID and NFC?

NFC is based on RFID technology for contactless data transfer. It assigns certain RFID transponder types to appropriate NFC tag types, enabling extensive standardization and compatibility when used with contactless cards. The main difference between NFC and classic RFID is the peer-to-peer connection in which two active NFC devices exchange data directly.

NFC tags

Does ELATEC offer NFC tags?

While ELATEC does not offer its own NFC tags, our NFC-capable readers can read most of the NFC tags available in the market.

Other technologies and exciting topics.

RFID: a brief overview What Radio Frequency Identification has to offer

RFID enables contactless authentication via alternating magnetic fields. Find out why a transponder and reader/writer are needed.

Learn more

BLE: a brief overview How the radio technology works

Bluetooth® Low Energy, or BLE, is a radio technology for longer distances. It is ideally suited for mobile authentication with smartphones and similar devices. Read about how it works.

Learn more

Recipe for success: all-in-one Why our universal technology is revolutionary

With TWN MultiTech, we have developed a technology that can be used to read all of the world’s most common transponder protocols at the same time. Learn about the benefits that presents.

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The right products.

The optimal product for every project Convincing. Flexible. Our portfolio.

We have readers with or without a housing and with or without an integrated antenna. Choose a configuration that suits your individual project requirements and standards.

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