RFIDRFID - or Radio-Frequency identification - is used increasingly for both identification and tracking of assets, and has contemporary usage in passports and payment systems such as London's "Oyster Card".
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NFCNFC - or Near Field Communications - is a short-range, high frequency wireless communications technology - a sub group of RFID with its own standard.
It really is "near" field communications - with distances of about 10cm being involved.
NFC is primarily aimed at mobile phone use, the only problem being that there are hardly any phones with NFC capability.
This will all change early in 2010 with the arrival of a retrofit RFID NFC antenna for mobile phones, along with the RFID software for applications.
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RFID vs BarcodeIs RFID going to perform vs the barcode, and will RFID NFC be a replacement for the Barcode? The answer is a classical "Yes and No" - and, in many instances, they may be complementary.
It has been suggested, that pallet level tracking could be done by RFID, but package level handling would be by barcode. With the advent of 2d barcodes which can contain more data and have more varied content than traditional barcodes, and the ability of an increasing number of mobile phones to scan 2d barcodes (either coming with the software, or it being available for download), barcodes are certainly "fighting back".
Up till now, the lack of availability of mobile phones able to act as RFID reader has limited the market penetration of phones in this area. The availability of a retrofit RFID Antenna for mobile phones is likely to change this dramatically, as it simplifies RFID implementation, and lowers the cost of nfc technology.
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RFID Asset TrackingIt's one thing to put RFID tags on your assets, you then need an RFID reader to read the information. Up till now, this has meant a separate device to be purchased, maintained and kept charged (and carry around!).
With the availability of a retrofit RFID antenna for mobile phones, the need for a separate RFID reader evaporates, saving acquisition cost, maintenance cost, and one less thing to carry around and keep powered up.
The RFID tag is now in the SIM slot of the device (which may or may not be a mobile phone) and thereby allows easy implementation of RFID asset tracking.
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RFID AntennasThere are two components in an RFID system: the integrated circuit for storing and processing information, and the RFID antenna for transmitting and receiving the signal.
The RFID antenna has required a battery or mains power to provide the power source for the transmissions. In the case of the well-known Oyster card, the power is in the ticket gate.
In early 2010, we will see the availability of a simple retrofit RFID antenna for mobile phones, so mobile phone batteries will provide the power for RFID antennas.
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RFID SoftwareWith the advent of an RFID NFC antenna available for the literally billions of GSM mobile phones around the world, the next key thing is to have the RFID Software available to exploit this exciting variation of existing technology.
We are working with one of the foremost mobile phone software development companies who has suitable rfid software in development so that the RFID NFC technology can link to a mobile phone to provide an rfid wallet for example, as well as provide other applications - or, indeed, provide custom software applications for RFID usage.
Please Contact us if you have your own custom NFC RFID requirements.
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NFC PhoneUp till now, there have been few models of NFC phone available - such as the Nokia 6131. With the 2010 arrival of the retrofit NFC device, every GSM phone can become an NFC phone, opening up the market to NFC RFID implementation of a multitude of applications.
More details will appear here in due course, so please bookmark the page and check back.
If you want to be kept informed of progress on the NFC Phone, use this link to contact us.
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