Advantages of NFC

NFC-based communication involves an NFC-enabled card and a card reader. The card reader generates a radio frequency field in the 13.56 MHz frequency that can communicate to the card which can be either self-powered or can power itself from the RF waves generated by the reader. This gives the card the flexibility to be either active or passive, depending upon its use. In the active mode, the two devices can engage in a dynamic transfer of data (collection and transmission). In the passive mode, the card reader will be powered only when it makes contact with an active NFC reader. This flexibility allows the card/device holding the passive tag to take a simple and cost effective form factor, just like any other RFID tag.

NFC is also more secure than other wireless connectivity protocols like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc. A connection can be enabled only if the two devices are brought close to one another. This property makes a transaction or data exchange less prone to hacking by a third party. Hence, NFC as a wireless standard will be more acceptable to companies involved in money transactions than other wireless technologies.

NFC is more intuitive, and hence, more suitable for transactions like ticketing and money transfers. It just needs the card and the reader to be brought close to one another. That is more convenient and easy to understand than swiping, choosing from a menu or entering a password. Since it is also based on universally followed standards like the ISO and ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute), interoperability with other existing wireless technologies is not a problem. In fact, NFC, which is inherently more secure, can be used as the identification and authentication procedure for a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection to be established for higher data transfer speeds. Craig Ochikubo from Broadcom calls it “Simplified Connectivity”

Another advantage of NFC is that it was purposefully built with lower transfer speeds of 106 kbps to 424 kbps so it consumes less battery. Hence, this is much more practical for devices for which power consumption is an overriding priority. For example, NFC can be a natural choice for an implantable medical device which needs to communicate to an outside device.

The time taken to establish a connection through NFC is on the order of 100 milliseconds, which is much better than other competing technologies which take a few seconds to establish a connection.