NFCNearField

NFC Near Field refers to the short-range wireless technology used for exchanging data between devices in close proximity by magnetic field induction at 13.56 MHz. It originated from RFID concepts and is standardized to operate within a few centimeters, depending on environmental factors and device construction. The technology is designed for convenient, low-power communication between a reader and a tag or between two devices.

Technically, NFC is built on established standards from ISO/IEC and the NFC Forum. It supports three primary modes: reader/writer, where a device reads or writes data on an NFC tag; card emulation, where a device acts as a contactless card; and peer-to-peer, enabling two devices to exchange data. Common data rates include 106, 212, and 424 kilobits per second, with some implementations supporting higher rates for specific use cases. NFC can operate passively, drawing power from the other device’s field, or actively, with its own power source.

Common applications include contactless payments and ticketing, access control, transit systems, device pairing, and quick data transfer between mobile devices. Security for NFC relies on short range to limit eavesdropping and on additional layers such as secure elements, tokenization, and mutual authentication in payment and access scenarios. Privacy considerations include user consent and control over which applications are allowed to communicate.

Interoperability is supported by NFC Forum specifications, which promote compatibility across vendors. Practical limitations include interference from metals or liquids, orientation sensitivity, and the need for user proximity to complete transactions. NFC Near Field remains widely adopted in mobile devices and embedded chips for fast, convenient first-contact interactions.