Near Field Communication (NFC)

From Theory to Practice

Vedat Coskun, Kerem Ok, Busra Ozdenizci

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781119971092
• eBook ISBN: 9781119966906
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Mobile & Wireless Communications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This book provides the technical essentials, state-of-the-art knowledge, business ecosystem and standards of Near Field Communication (NFC)by NFC Lab – Istanbul research centre which conducts intense research on NFC technology.

In this book, the authors present the contemporary research on all aspects of NFC, addressing related security aspects as well as information on various business models. In addition, the book provides comprehensive information a designer needs to design an NFC project, an analyzer needs to analyze requirements of a new NFC based system, and a programmer needs to implement an application. Furthermore, the authors introduce the technical and administrative issues related to NFC technology, standards, and global stakeholders. It also offers comprehensive information as well as use case studies for each NFC operating mode to give the usage idea behind each operating mode thoroughly. Examples of NFC application development are provided using Java technology, and security considerations are discussed in detail.

Key Features:

• Offers a complete understanding of the NFC technology, including standards, technical essentials, operating modes, application development with Java, security and privacy, business ecosystem analysis
• Provides analysis, design as well as development guidance for professionals from administrative and technical perspectives
• Discusses methods, techniques and modelling support including UML are demonstrated with real cases
• Contains case studies such as payment, ticketing, social networking and remote shopping

This book will be an invaluable guide for business and ecosystem analysts, project managers, mobile commerce consultants, system and application developers, mobile developers and practitioners. It will also be of interest to researchers, software engineers, computer scientists, information technology specialists including students and graduates.

1

Executive Summary

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a new technology and ecosystem that has emerged in the last decade. NFC technology is a short range, high frequency, low bandwidth and wireless communication technology between two NFC enabled devices. Communication between NFC devices occurs at 13.56 MHz high frequency which was originally used by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Although RFID is capable of reception and transmission beyond a few meters, NFC is restricted to within very close proximity. Currently, integration of NFC technology into mobile phones is considered as the most practical solution because almost everyone carries one.

NFC technology enables communication between an NFC enabled mobile phone at one end, and another NFC enabled mobile phone, an NFC reader or an NFC tag at the other end. Potential NFC applications and services making use of NFC technology include e-payment, e-ticketing, loyalty services, identification, access control, content distribution, smart advertising, data/money transfer and social services. Due to its applicability to a wide range of areas and the promising value added opportunities, it has attracted many academicians, researchers, organizations, and commercial companies.

The changes or improvements on RFID to expose NFC technology can be described as:

• Short range communication, where RFID may use long range especially for active tags that contain embedded energy.
• Passive tag usage only (actually occurs only in reader/writer mode) whereas both active and passive tags are possible in RFID.
• Inherent secure data exchange because of short range communication.
• Implicit matching of pairs that express their willingness to perform NFC communication by bringing themselves close to each other.
• Interest from companies to integrate many services such as payment with debit and credit cards, loyalty, identification, access control and so on, because of the secure communication and implicit matching as described in the previous item.

Technology usage is now in the pilot phase in many countries. Usability issues and technology adoption are being explored by many academicians and industrial organizations. Many mobile phone manufacturers have already put their NFC enabled mobile phones into the market. As NFC enabled mobile phones spread and commercial services are launched, people will be able to pay for goods and services, access hotel rooms or apartments, update their information in social networks, upload their health data to hospital monitoring systems from their homes, and benefit from many more services by using their NFC enabled phones.

The success of NFC technology is bound to advances in other fields as well. Over-the-Air (OTA) technology among ecosystem actors is definitely a prerequisite to operate NFC systems satisfactorily. Secure Element (SE) is also a requirement to store valuable digital information and to provide concurrent execution of multiple NFC services on the same smart card securely. Dependence on other technologies is one of the challenges that NFC currently faces now.

Another important challenge is about the potential stakeholders in the NFC ecosystem. NFC has a complex and dynamic environment with high number of participating organizations. They have already recognized the possible added values, and each party is trying to maximize the value of their stake. The ownership and management of the SE is a dominant factor in getting a greater share, because each transaction has to use some applications installed on the SE, and the owner can always demand a higher share. Currently Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) own and issue the UICC as SE on mobile phones, and alternative SE ownerships are being negotiated among MNOs financial organizations, and even smart card manufacturers.

Please note that this chapter is an executive summary of the book and hence references are provided at the end of the related chapters.

1.1 Towards NFC Era

NFC is a technology that simplifies and secures the interaction with the automation ubiquitously around us. The NFC concept is designed from the synergy of several technologies including wireless communications, mobile devices, mobile applications and smart cards. Server side programming, web services, and XML technologies also contribute fast improvement and the spread of NFC technology. Many daily applications, such as credit cards, car keys, and hotel room access cards will presumably cease to exist because an NFC enabled mobile phone will suffice to provide all of their functionalities.

Currently, NFC is one of the enablers for ubiquitous computing. Therefore the origin of the idea is closely related to ubiquitous computing. In order to understand the relation of NFC and ubiquitous computing, we need to start with the history of ubiquitous computing.

1.1.1 Ubiquitous Computing

The essence of modern computers is automated calculation and programmability. The history of modern computers includes the work of pioneers over almost two hundred years. Personal Computers (PCs) are an important step after early computers, changing the way that a user interacts with computers by using keyboards and monitors for input and output instead of punch cards, cables and so on. The mouse has also changed the way humans and computers interact because it enabled users to input spatial data to a computer. The hand became accustomed to holding the mouse, and the pointing finger became accustomed to clicking it. The movements of the pointing device are echoed on the screen by the movements of the cursor, creating a simple and intuitive way to navigate a computer’s Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Touch screens changed the form of interaction dramatically. They removed the need for earlier input devices, and the interaction was performed by directly touching the screen, the new input device. In the meantime, mobile phones had been introduced, initially for voice communication. Early forms of mobiles contained a keypad. Mobile phones with touch screens can be assumed to be the state of the art technology as the same screen is used as both the input and output unit, allowing the user to act more intuitively.

Ubiquitous computing is the highest level of interaction between humans and computers, where computing devices are completely integrated into everyday life and the objects around, and are simple to use. Ubiquitous computing is a model in which humans do not design their activities according to the machines they need to use; instead, the machines adjust to human needs. Eventually, the primary aim is that humans using machines will not need to change their normal behaviors and also will not even notice that they are performing activities with the help of machines.

1.1.2 Mobile Phones

A mobile phone is an electronic device which is primarily used to make voice calls while the user is mobile. The user of the mobile phone must be registered to a mobile phone network where the service is provided by a MNO. The call can be made to or received from any other phone which is a member of either the same or another mobile phone network, a fixed line network, or even an internet based network. Mobile phones support the anytime, anywhere motto. Mobile phones are also referred to as mobiles.

Mobile phones are very convenient to use and handy. Therefore in addition to the voice call capability, a vast amount of additional services are bundled to it, and many new future services are still on the way, such as NFC technology. Currently supported mobile phone communication services can be viewed based on whether they are wired or wireless services. Mobile phones also include a vast amount of integrated services.

USB and PC synchronization are the most significant wired services. The phones are connected to the computers to enable data transfer, synchronization and so on.

The amount of wireless services, on the other hand, is much greater. GSM communication is obviously the primary service that a mobile phone provides. As a matter of fact it was the one that the pioneer phones provided. Later, Short Messaging Service (SMS) was introduced. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) could be enabled only after high data transfer rates between the base stations and the mobile phones. Moreover, users can experience mobile radio and television services with mobile phones. Localization services, specifically Global Positioning System (GPS), allowed phones to enable applications such as navigation and social media interaction. One added communication capability to mobile phones is via several peer-to-peer services such as Infrared, Bluetooth, and finally NFC. Infrared requires line of sight, NFC requires very close interaction, namely touching, and Bluetooth requires communication within small distance. Wi-Fi connectivity allowed mobile phones to access the Internet with low bandwidth. Electronic mail (e-mail) enabled users to access their inboxes or send e-mails while mobile.

Storing contact and communication details are the most important integrated services, since they simplify Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). There are other integrated services that are not related to GSM, at least not directly. Instead, the main objective of those services is to eliminate additional devices and integrate all into one device. Calculator is one primitive function and eliminates the physical need for a calculator. Gaming is the one that most people like to have in their mobiles. Taking photos and videos, and even editing them using additional applications are simple to use so that additional cameras or video recorders are not required. Music and video playback are two other attractive facilities. Moreover, clock and alarm capability has removed the need for watches.

Some major wireless services currently enabled by mobile phones are GPS Navigation, Wireless Internet services, GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC technologies.

1.1.3 Technological Motivation of NFC

The main motivation for NFC is the integration of personal and private information such as credit card or debit card data into mobile phones. Therefore, security is the most important concern, and the wireless communication range provided even by RFID technology is considered too long. Mechanisms such as shielding are necessary to prevent unauthorized people from eavesdropping on private information because even non-powered, passive tags can be read over 10 m. This is where NFC comes in.

1.1.4 Wireless Communication, RFID, and NFC

Wireless communication refers to data transfer without using any cables. When communication is impossible and impractical for cable usage, wireless communication is the solution. The communication range may vary from a few centimeters to many kilometers. Wireless is generally mobile, and mobile is essentially wireless. We also distinguish nomadic communication from mobile. Devices that allow nomadic communication may perform either wireless or wired communication at a given time. An example of nomadic communication is the laptop.

The direct consequence of wireless communication is mobility. Mobility allowed people to be flexible, since they can be reached anywhere. It is obvious that mobility increased productivity, since mobile communication enabled people to be reached at anytime and anywhere. This has a big impact on our daily lives. People become reachable not only for commercial purposes, but also for social reasons. The currently available mobile communication services that support mobility are GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and ZigBee.

1.2 Evolution of NFC

NFC can be taught as an extension to RFID that also uses smart card technologies’ interfaces. To understand NFC technology, we need to have a brief knowledge of the forerunners of NFC technology: the barcode as an earlier form of RFID technology, RFID, and the magnetic stripe card as an earlier form of smart cards and smart card technologies.

1.2.1 Earlier Form of RFID: Barcode Technology

A barco...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• List of Acronyms
• Chapter 1: Executive Summary
• Chapter 2: Towards NFC Era
• Chapter 3: NFC Essentials
• Chapter 4: NFC Operating Modes
• Chapter 5: Developing NFC Applications
• Chapter 6: NFC Security and Privacy
• Chapter 7: NFC Business Ecosystem
• Chapter 8: Secure Element Management
• Chapter 9: NFC Cities and Trials
• Index