Near Field Communication or (NFC) is a relatively new innovation (although the first NFC enabled phone was released in 2006) which is gaining in popularity amongst some mobile users. Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar portable devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity. Generally a distance of less than 10 cm.
NFC came out of radio-frequency identification (RFID). RFID, is the technology used by stores to keep track of products. It uses electromagnetic induction in order to transmit information. NFC is a similar technology, but standardised for consumer smartphones. NFC standards are defined by a group called the NFC Forum, which includes companies such as Nokia, Sony and Philips. At this stage, Apple phones do not support NFC outside of the Apple Pay system.
The tags can be programmed by you with an NFC enabled smartphone or tablet. Whilst the chips are not easily obtained from a physical store, they are fairly easy to find online. A quick search of eBay and Amazon.com found many examples that could be purchased for $1 to $2 each. NFC chips available from Amazon.
The advantage of this type of technology is that has the ability to disguise an advertisement as an opportunity to make a discovery. People tend to be curious. People want to see what happens when they tap the “Tap here” image. In comparison to the advent of the QR code, NFC has many advantages. It is much easier for instance as long as your phone is NFC enabled. Consumers tended to be confused with QR codes as they required you to interact with your device by having to install a dedicated app and then launch and scan the code.
View the following video. It gives you a demonstration of how to make your NFC-enabled phone do all kinds of tricks with cheap, programmable NFC tags.
So how could I use this in my Design and Technology or Multimedia Major Design Project?
– Used to show maps of how the reach the destination with the quickest route possible from current position
– Links for more information on particular subject/topic
– For events, NFC chips can be used to give a list of the running times, information about the event and things required to bring to the center
– Links to community information, updates on community issues, etc
– To bring up music on the go
– Be used in middle of a games table or at either end to open an app to keep score
– used to control lighting
– once table has been converted to a coffee table a chip used to open the remote control app to turn on/off the tv an change channel
– Advertising: Put on bottom of posters which links them to a video demonstrating the product
– Programmed to bring maps
– For fitness reasons, when scanned it turns on fitness apps to track steps, time and distance traveled
– Link to preliminary designs/ Slides which show evidence of creativity