Near Field Communication

Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimetre (around 4 inches) distance.Fact|date=July 2008 The technology is a simple extension of the ISO 14443 proximity-card standard (contactless card, RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. An NFC device can communicate with both existing ISO 14443 smartcards and readers, as well as with other NFC devices, and is thereby compatible with existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation and payment.NFC is primarily aimed at usage in mobile phones.

Essential specifications

*Like ISO 14443, NFC communicates via magnetic field induction, where two loop antennas are located within each other's near field, effectively forming an air-core transformer. It operates within the globally available and unlicensed radio frequency ISM band of 13.56 MHz, with a bandwidth of almost 2 MHz.
*Working distance with compact standard antennas: up to 20 cm
*Supported data rates: 106, 212, or 424 kbit/s
*There are two modes:
** Passive Communication Mode: The Initiator device provides a carrier field and the target device answers by modulating existing field. In this mode, the Target device may draw its operating power from the Initiator-provided electromagnetic field, thus making the Target device a transponder.
** Active Communication Mode: Both Initiator and Target device communicate by alternately generating their own field. A device deactivates its RF field while it is waiting for data. In this mode, both devices typically need to have a power supply.

* NFC employs two different codings to transfer data. If an active device transfers data at 106 kbit/s, a modified Miller coding with 100% modulation is used. In all other cases Manchester coding is used with a modulation ratio of 10%.
* NFC devices are able to receive and transmit data at the same time. Thus, they can check the radio frequency field and detect a collision if the received signal does not match with the transmitted signal.

Uses and applications

NFC technology is currently mainly aimed at being used with mobile phones. There are three main use cases for NFC:
* card emulation: the NFC device behaves like an existing contactless card
* reader mode: the NFC device is active and read a passive RFID tag, for example for interactive advertising
* P2P mode: two NFC devices are communicating together and exchanging information.

Plenty of applications are possible, such as:

* Mobile ticketing in public transport — an extension of the existing contactless infrastructure.
* Mobile payment — the device acts as a debit/ credit payment card.
* Smart poster — the mobile phone is used to read RFID tags on outdoor billboards in order to get info on the move.
* Bluetooth pairing — in the future pairing of Bluetooth 2.1 devices with NFC support will be as easy as bringing them close together and accepting the pairing. The process of activating Bluetooth on both sides, searching, waiting, pairing and authorization will be replaced by a simple "touch" of the mobile phones.

Other applications in the future could include:
* Electronic ticketing — airline tickets, concert/event tickets, and others
* Electronic money
* Travel cards
* Identity documents
* Mobile commerce
* Electronic keys — car keys, house/office keys, hotel room keys, etc.
* NFC can be used to configure and initiate other wireless network connections such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Ultra-wideband.

A patent licensing program for NFC is currently under development by Via Licensing Corporation, an independent subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories.

NFC "vs" Bluetooth

NFC and Bluetooth are both short-range communication technologies which have recently been integrated into mobile phones. The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is the shorter set-up time. Instead of performing manual configurations to identify Bluetooth devices, the connection between two NFC devices is established at once (under a tenth of a second). To avoid the complicated configuration process, NFC can be used for the set-up of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth.The maximum data transfer rate of NFC (424 kbit/s) is slower than Bluetooth (2.1 mbit/s). With less than 20 cm, NFC has a shorter range, which provides a degree of security and makes NFC suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) might otherwise prove impossible. In contrast to Bluetooth, NFC is compatible with existing RFID structures. NFC can also work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, a smart poster, etc.).

tandardization bodies and industry projects

tandards

It was approved as an ISO/IEC standard on December 8 2003 and as an ECMA standard later on.

NFC is an open platform technology standardized in ECMA-340 and ISO/IEC 18092. These standards specify the modulation schemes, coding, transfer speeds and frame format of the RF interface of NFC devices, as well as initialization schemes and conditions required for data collision-control during initialization-for both passive and active NFC modes. Furthermore, they also define the transport protocol, including protocol activation and data-exchange methods. Air interface for NFC is standardized in:ISO/IEC 18092 / ECMA-340 : Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-1 (NFCIP-1) [ [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-340.htm Ecma International: Standard ECMA-340, Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol (NFCIP-1)] , December 2004] ISO/IEC 21481 / ECMA-352 : Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol-2 (NFCIP-2) [ [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-352.htm Ecma International: Standard ECMA-352, Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol –2 (NFCIP-2)] , December 2003]

NFC incorporates a variety of pre-existing standards including ISO 14443 both A (normal) and B (banking/short range), ISO 15693, and FeliCa. NFC enabled phones thus show basic interoperability with the preexisting reader infrastructure. Especially in "card emulation mode" a NFC device should at least transmit a unique ID number to a pre-existing reader.

NFC Forum has in addition defined a common data format called [http://www.nfc-forum.org/specs/ NDEF] , which can be used to store and transport different kinds of items, ranging from any MIME-typed object to ultra-short [http://www.nfc-forum.org/specs/ RTD] -documents, such as URLs.

NDEF is conceptually very similar to MIME. It is a dense binary format of so-called "records", in which each record can hold a different type of object. By convention, the type of the first record defines the context of the entire message.

NFC Forum

The [http://www.nfc-forum.org/ NFC Forum] is a non-profit industry association founded on March 18, 2004 by NXP Semiconductors, Sony and Nokia to advance the use of NFC short-range wireless interaction in consumer electronics, mobile devices and PCs. The NFC Forum will promote implementation and standardization of NFC technology to ensure interoperability between devices and services. In September 2007, there were over 130 members of the NFC Forum.

GSMA

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing 700 mobile phone operators across 218 countries of the world.

They have launched two initiatives:
* the Mobile NFC initiative: fourteen mobile network operators, who together represent 40% of the global mobile market back NFC and are working together to develop NFC applications. They are Bouygues Télécom, China Mobile, AT&T, KPN, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, SFR, SK Telecom, Telefonica Móviles España, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), Vodafone and 3 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6168222.stm Mobiles hope to be 'smart wallet'] , "BBC News Online", 21 November 2006] On 13 February 2007, they published a white paper on NFC to give the point of view of mobile operators on the NFC ecosystem. [ [http://www.gsmworld.com/news/press_2007/press07_22.shtml GSMA Publishes White Paper On Near Field Communications (NFC)] , "GSM Association", 13 February 2007]
* the Pay buy mobile initiative seeks to define a common global approach to using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to link mobile devices with payment and contactless systems. [ [http://www.gsmworld.com/news/press_2007/press07_21.shtml GSM Association Aims For Global Point Of Sale Purchases by Mobile Phone] , "GSM Association", 13 February 2007] [ [http://www.gsmworld.com/news/press_2007/press07_33.shtml Momentum Builds Around GSMA's Pay-Buy Mobile Project] , "GSM Association", 25 April 2007] To date, 30 mobile operators have joined this initiative.

StoLPaN

StoLPaN (‘Store Logistics and Payment with NFC’) is a pan-European consortium supported by the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies program. StoLPaN will examine the as yet untapped potential for bringing together the new kind of local wireless interface, NFC and mobile communication.

Other standardization bodies

Other standardization bodies are involved in NFC:
* ETSI / SCP (Smart Card Platform) to specify the interface between the SIM card and the NFC chipset.
* GlobalPlatform to specify a multi-application architecture of the secure element.
* EMVCo for the impacts on the EMV payment applications.

ecurity aspects

Although the communication range of NFC is limited to a few centimeters, NFC alone does not ensure secure communications. In 2006, Ernst Haselsteiner and Klemens Breitfuß described different possible types of attacks. [Ernst Haselsteiner, Klemens Breitfuß: PDFlink| [http://events.iaik.tugraz.at/RFIDSec06/Program/papers/002%20-%20Security%20in%20NFC.pdf Security in near field communication (NFC)] , "Philips Semiconductors", Printed handout of Workshop on RFID Security RFIDSec 06, July 2006]

NFC offers no protection against eavesdropping and is also vulnerable to data modifications. Applications have to use higher-layer cryptographic protocols (e.g., SSL) to establish a secure channel.

Eavesdropping

The RF signal for the wireless data transfer can be picked up with antennas. The distance from which an attacker is able to eavesdrop the RF signal depends on numerous parameters, but is typically a small number of meters [Gerhard P. Hancke [http://www.rfidblog.org.uk/research.html#eavesdrop2008 Eavesdropping Attacks on High-Frequency RFID Tokens.] 4th Workshop on RFID Security (RFIDsec'08), pp 100--113, July 2008] . Also, eavesdropping is extremely affected by the communication mode. A passive device, which does not generate its own RF field is much harder to eavesdrop on than an active device.

Data modification

Data destruction is relatively easy to realize. One possibility to perturb the signal is the usage of an RFID jammer. There is no way to prevent such an attack, but if the NFC devices check the RF field while they are sending, it is possible to detect it.

Unauthorized modification of data, which results in valid messages, is much more complicated and demands a thorough understanding. In order to modify the transmitted data an intruder has to deal with the single bits of the RF signal. The feasibility of this attack, i.e., if it is possible to change the value of a bit from 0 to 1 or the other way around, is amongst others subject to the strength of the amplitude modulation.If data is transferred with the modified Miller coding and a modulation of 100%, only certain bits can be modified. A modulation ratio of 100% makes it possible to eliminate a pause of the RF signal, but not to generate a pause where no pause has been. Thus, only a 1 which is followed by another 1 might be changed.Transmitting Manchester encoded data with a modulation ratio of 10% permits a modification attack on all bits.

Relay attack

Because NFC devices are usually also implementing ISO 14443 functionality, the relay attack described are also feasible on NFC. [Gerhard P. Hancke: [http://www.rfidblog.org.uk/research.html#relay A practical relay attack on ISO 14443 proximity cards] , February 2005.] [Timo Kasper, Dario Carluccio, Christof Paar: PDFlink| [http://www.crypto.rub.de/imperia/md/content/texte/publications/conferences/embedded_system.pdf An embedded system for practical security analysis of contactless smartcards] . Workshop in Information Security Theory and Practices 2007, Springer LNCS 4462, pp. 150–160, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, May 2007] For this attack the adversary has to forward the request of the reader to the victim and relay back its answer to the reader in real time, in order to carry out a task pretending to be the owner of the victim’s smart card.

Current trials

Europe

*
** Mobilkom Austria, University of Applied Sciences of Upper Austria, Samsung, NXP [ [http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2851/1/1/ Austrian University Begins NFC Trial] , "RFID Journal", November 28 2006]
*
** University College of Antwerp, NXP, Alcatel-Lucent, [http://www.buzy.be/basis.php?lang=english BUZY.BE]
*
** [http://www.sepbulgaria.com/ SEP Bulgaria]
*
** Orange, Groupe LaSer and Vinci Park, Samsung, NXP in Caen [ [http://www.francetelecom.com/en/group/rd/news/thematique/dossier_mois/ddm200512/pages/page3.html France Télécom] Dead link|date=June 2008]
** Bouygues Telecom, RATP, Gemalto, NEC, [http://www.insidecontactless.com Inside Contactless] in the Paris Métro [ [http://www.contactlessnews.com/news/2005/10/26/first-in-france-axalto-and-bouygues-telecom-integrate-navigo-travelcard-into-mobile-phone/ First in France: Axalto and Bouygues Telecom integrate Navigo Travelcard into mobile phone] , "Contactless News", October 26 2005]
** NRJ Mobile (MVNO), Crédit Mutuel, CIC, Master Card, Gemalto, Sagem, Inside Contactless in Strasbourg [ [http://www.nfc-forum.org/news/pr/view?item_key=79fa5767f2ec5ee4f40d3efd1ac8210f2bebf9cd France to Host First EMV Contactless Mobile Commerce Pilot] , "NFC Forum", 6 November 2006]
** SFR, Crédit Mutuel, CIC, Master Card, Gemalto, Sagem, Inside Contactless in Strasbourg [fr icon [http://www.generation-nt.com/sfr-partenaire-du-projet-de-paiement-mobile-sans-contact-du-cic-actualite-40466.html SFR partenaire du projet de paiement mobile sans contact du CIC] , "Génération Nouvelles Téchnologies", 2 February 2007]
** Bouygues Télécom, SEMITAG, Transdev, Gemalto, Sagem, Inside Contactless in Grenoble [fr icon [http://www.institutionnel.bouyguestelecom.fr/actu/c1_2.aspx?fUrl=/actualite/communiquesdepresse/cpdetail_2800.html Voyager à Grenoble en toute simplicité grâce à son mobile] , "Bouygues Télécom", 12 February 2007]
** Orange, Veolia, Clear Channel, Laser Cofinoga in Bordeaux [ [http://www.cardtechnology.com/article.html?id=2007071959ICODPX Orange Attempts To Kick-Start NFC Market With Announcement Of Rollout Plans] , "Card Technology", 2007-07-19]
** Pegasus: multi-operator (Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR), multi-bank (BNP Paribas, Groupe Crédit Mutuel-CIC, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale) with MasterCard, Visa Europe and Gemalto for mobile payment in two cities: Caen and Strasbourg [fr icon [http://www.mobilemediamag.com/actualites/les-dernieres-informations/?actualite_id=32 Duex nouveaux adhérents à Pégasus] , "Mobile Media" magazine, 21 March 2007]
*
** City of Oulu, VTT [ [http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/informationstechnologie/bericht-75041.html In the Europewide SmartTouch project, NFC technology is successfully piloted by the City of Oulu, Finland] , "Innovations Report", 29 November 2006]
** Elisa, Gemalto [ [http://www.elisa.com/english/index.cfm?t=7&o=7120.00&did=13997 New easy-to-use and safe NFC-enabled services from Elisa] , "Elisa", 21 May 2007]
*
** Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund (public transport authority), Vodafone, Nokia, NXP, Philips,
** [http://www.touchandtravel.de Touch&Travel:] Vodafone, Deutsche Bahn, Motorola, Giesecke&Devrient, ATRON electronic, Germany
*
** AFF Entry System, [http://www.affgroup.eu AFF Group]
*
** NEDAP NV Healthcare
** JCB, KPN, CCV Holland B.V., Gemalto, Nokia, PaySquare, NXP Semiconductors, ViVOtech.
** Roda Stadium, KPN, Philips, Bell ID, SmartPoint
** Rabobank, Rabo Mobiel (MVNO), KPN, NXP, Albert Heijn
*
** Polkomtel, mPay — mobile payments [pl icon [http://di.com.pl/news/17517,W_Polsce_juz_mozna_placic_komorka.html W Polsce już można "płacić komórką"] , "Dziennik Internautów", 11 September 2007]
*
** [http://www.adamsoft.si/en/NFC-mobile-solutions Adamsoft] , Loyalty club cards, NFC wallet, Attendance evidence, security services
*
** BBVA, Nokia and Ingenico
*
** [http://www.teliasonera.com TeliaSonera] and [http://www.västtrafik.se Västtrafik] (public transport authority) testing ticket and traffic information via NFC. [ [http://www.teliasonera.com/press/pressreleases/item.page?prs.itemId=304418 TeliaSonera and Västtrafik tests new mobile technology in Gothenburg] , "Press release", 2008-10-08]
*
** Over-C, Welbeing Domicilary Care. [ [http://www.over-c.com/webpage.asp?pid=69&page=Over-C%20improves%20the%20delivery%20of%20Domiciliary%20Care&NewsID=69] Dead link|date=June 2008]
** Manchester City Football Club, Orange, Barclays, TfL Oyster card [ [http://www.cardtechnology.com/article.html?id=200608306K5P5YCW British Football Club Launches NFC Trial] , "Card Technology", 2006-08-30]
** O2, Consult Hyperion at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park (wristband format) [ [http://www.theregister.com/2007/06/05/o2_nfc_wireless_festival/ O2 trials one off the wrist for VIP access] , "The Register", 5 June 2007]
** Transport for London, smart poster [ [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/5832.aspx Smart posters show passengers the way] , "Transport for London", 22 August 2007]
** Cheshire County Council, [http://www.staffplan.co.uk/products/connect StaffPlan Connect] time recording and point of care system

North America

*
** Mobile Transit Trial: Sprint, First Data, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Jack In The Box, Western Union Speedpay
** Cingular Wireless, Citigroup, New York subway, MasterCard Worldwide, Nokia, Venyon
** ZTar (MVNO), Discover Financial Services, Motorola, NXP, Inside Contactless that can be used with phones, cards, key fobs, and other devices.
** 7-Eleven, Master Card in Dallas
** Nokia, Philips, FlyBy at the Philips Arena in Atlanta

Asia

*
** Telstra, National Australia Bank [ [http://www.cardtechnology.com/article.html?id=20070830SL9A2ZQO NFC Payment Trial Planned For Australia In Early 2008] , "Card Technology", 2007-08-30]
*
** China Mobile, Philips, Nokia and Xiamen e-Tong Card
*
** Delta Technologies
*
** SKTelecom and Philips [ [http://www.nxp.com/news/content/file_1237.html Philips and SKT join forces to simplify NFC development around the world] , "NXP", May 17, 2006]
*
** Visa, Maybank, Maxis and Nokia.
*
** Taiwan Mobile, MasterCard, Taipei Fubon Bank and Vivotech
** Chunghwa Telecom, EasyCard, BenQ, NXP [ [http://www.cardtechnology.com/article.html?id=2007082970W619L3 Taiwanese Telco To Test New NFC Phone] , "Card Technology", 2007-08-29]
** [http://www.toro-asia.com Toro]
*
** Ez-link, Samsung, Cassis
** Singtel, NETS [http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62031790,00.htm]
*
** Thai E-purse Order (for seven-eleven markets and loyalty programs), Giesecke & Devrient, Germany; Thai Smart Card Group (TSC) [ [http://www.actcda.com/resource/0508.htm ACTion newsletter, August 2005] , "ACT Canada", August 30, 2005]

See also

* Near and far field
* Object hyperlinking
* RFID
* Felica

References

External links

* [http://www.nfc-forum.org NFC Forum]
* [http://www.stolpan.com/ StolPaN]
* [http://www.nearfield.org/ Touch project]
* [http://www.nfc-research.at NFC Research Project of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences]
* [http://www.nfcmagazine.com/ NFC Magazine]
* [http://smartnfc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=29&lang=en SmartNFC further information about NFC]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6168222.stm BBC: Mobile phones hope to be 'smart wallet']
* [http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=38578&ICS1=35&ICS2=100&ICS3=10 ISO/IEC 18092:2004]
* [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070911.wgtnearfielf0911/BNStory/PersonalTech Near Future of Near Field by Joe Rayment, The Globe and Mail]
* [http://www.bsi.de/fachthem/rfid/RIKCHA_englisch.pdf Oertel, Wölk, Hilty, Köhler, Kelter, Ullmann, Wittmann: Security Aspects and Prospective Applications of RFID Systems, Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, Bonn, 11. January 2005]
* [http://www.crypto.rub.de/imperia/md/content/seminare/itsss07/near_field_communication_in_cell_phones.pdf Seminar Near Field Communication]