Near Field Communication

While Near Field Communication may sound like alien technology, you may have already seen it on your smartphone labeled as NFC. Commercials for some smart phones have marketed this feature by showing people touching their phones together and instantly sharing a picture. This is a handy feature especially when you want to share a picture in higher quality than a text can hold. But this technology does not even come close to stopping at sharing pictures from phone to phone.


But first...let's see how NFC works in the first place. While it does not use alien technology, NFC uses electromagnetic radio fields. This is different from Bluetooth and wireless which use radio transmissions. A device that has NFC can be either passive or active. A passive device sends out information while an active device both sends and receives information. As we will see later, NFC can be used to transmit sensitive information so it often is transmitted over a secure channel.



Now, let's discuss what possibilities NFC technology opens up for us. First it can be used to replace keys and tickets. It can let you into your car, into a secured parking garage, into your office, onto a bus or subway, or into a concert. It can also be used to pay for things. You can use it with vending machines, and to buy groceries. A third use for NFC is to quickly and efficiently gain information. Scanning a sign in the subway can give you schedules and information about that days routes and scanning museum signs can give you information about that exhibit. Ads and coupons may one day come by NFC. Other uses include clocking in and out of work and keeping track of patients in a healthcare context. Here is an example of how NFC can make life easier. In the airport you can get through security by using NFC to show your identification and plane ticket and then scan to track flight delays or cancellations. If your flight is delayed you can scan in at a flight kiosk to buy your new tickets.  Lastly, NFC can not only send pictures between phones, but games, links, videos, and even money.

While much of this technology hasn't been made available yet, keep your ears open because it sounds like NFC will be making its way into much of the technology of the future. While you wait you can explore what NFC can already do on your phone. Try sending a funny video to a friend or try to prove me wrong and send a text to an alien.