The Internet of Things

Near Field Communication is a very short range wireless communication technology, through which mobile devices can interact with each other over a distance of few centimeters only. All types of data can be transferred between two NFC enabled devices in seconds by bringing them close to each other. This technology is based on RFID. It uses variations in the magnetic field to communicate data between two NFC enabled devices. NFC operates over a frequency band of 13.56 MHz, which is the same as high frequency RFID. There are two modes of operation: active and passive. In the active mode, both the devices generate magnetic fields, while in the passive mode, only one device generates the field and the other uses load modulation to transfer the data. The passive mode is useful in battery powered devices to optimize energy use. One benefit of the requirement of close proximity between devices is that it is useful for secure transactions such as payments. Finally, note that NFC can be used for two-way communication unlike RFID. Consequently, almost all smartphones in the market today are NFC enabled.