Near field communication - to the masses!

    Good afternoon!

    Recently, I was combing through Habr’s archives in search of information on NFC technology, which has been actively discussed for several years among innovative and very desirable developments. But, to my sincere surprise, I found only scattered and outdated short articles on the topic of wireless payments ... I decided to rectify the situation, especially since the topic is truly interesting; A lot of things have been developed, integrated and still planned to be implemented in mobile (and not only) devices.

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    So, Near Field Communication, aka NFC (“near field communication”), is a short-range wireless high-frequency communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices located at a distance of no more than 20 centimeters. The operating frequency of the NFC is in the licensing-free range allocated for industrial, medical and other special equipment, and is 13.56 MHz. The data transfer rate is low by today's standards: a maximum of 424 Kb / s with a distance between devices of up to 4 cm. As you move down to the limit of 20 cm, this parameter decreases to 212 and 106 Kb / s. NFC technology is a simple extension of the contactless card standard that integrates the smartcard and reader interface into a single device. Any gadgets those using NFC technology can communicate with existing smart cards and readers, as well as with other devices that support NFC. Thus, absolute compatibility with the existing contactless card infrastructure is achieved, which has long been used in our buses, metro and payment systems.

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    What is the day ahead preparing for us?

    Currently, NFC technology is mainly aimed at use in mobile phones. There are three main areas of its application: card emulation (an NFC device behaves like a real contactless card), reader mode (an NFC device on board is active and reads a passive RFID tag, for example, for interactive advertising), P2P mode (two NFC devices communicate and exchange information with each other.

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    NFC technology can give us all a lot of “goodies” and significantly simplify some everyday tasks, which normally take a lot of time. There will no longer be the need to turn out pockets in search of little things on the bus pass or defend long lines for an electric train ticket: mobile purchase of tickets in public transport will relieve this headache. In addition, a device with NFC support will be able to replace payment cards: held by a mobile phone on the reader - paid for purchases. The concept of an “electronic bulletin board” will come into widespread use: a mobile phone will be used to read RFID tags from street bulletin boards in order to receive information on the go about a new sushi bar or for rent odnushka.

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    NFC will “pair” with Bluetooth: in the future, to connect Bluetooth 2.1 devices that support NFC, it will be enough to bring them closer to each other and accept the connection. That is, the process of activating Bluetooth on both sides, searching, waiting, connecting and authorizing will be replaced by a simple “touch” of mobile phones.

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    If you look into an even more distant future (at least in the realities of our mother Russia), NFC will give us such technological benefits as electronic purchase of tickets (air tickets, concert tickets, etc.), electronic money, traveler cards , identification cards, mobile commerce, and, salvation for those who like to lose or forget keys at home - their electronic counterparts: car keys, house / office keys, hotel room keys, etc. Among other things, NFC can will use to configure and initialize other wireless connections such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Ultra-wideband.

    A patent licensing program for NFC is currently under development at Via Licensing Corporation, an independent subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories.

    Founding Fathers

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    NFC Forum.A non-profit association founded by Samsung, Sony, NXP Semiconductors, Nokia, Philips, and Microsoft to promote the use of NFC in consumer electronics, mobile devices, and personal computers. The NFC Forum will promote the implementation and standardization of NFC technology to ensure productive collaboration between devices and services. In March 2011, Google joined the NFC Forum as a leading contributor. This is the second oldest role in the NFC Forum. It allows you to vote on marketing, standards and technologies related to the implementation of NFC in the future, as well as test equipment for compliance with NFC Forum standards in your own laboratories, without revealing the trade secrets of the equipment manufactured. Thus, Google received the same rights like CSR and Intel. However, the status of Google in the NFC Forum is not as high as that of Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung, which are the full initiators of the project.

    GSMA GSM Association is a global trade association representing 700 mobile operators in 218 countries of the world. To date, they have filed two initiatives:

    Mobile NFC Initiative. Fourteen mobile network operators, which together represent 40% of the global mobile communications market. All of them actively support NFC technology and collaborate with each other to develop applications for NFC. Among them: Bouygues Télécom, China Mobile, AT&T, KPN, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, SFR, SK Telecom, Telefonica Movies España, Telenor, TeliaSonera, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), Vodafone and others. On February 13, 2007, they published an NFC datasheet to give mobile operators a point of view on the technology ecosystem.

    Pay Buy Mobile Initiative.It seeks to define a common global approach to using NFC technology to connect mobile devices with payment and contactless systems. To date, 30 mobile operators have joined this initiative.

    StoLPaN. Store Logistics and Payment with NFC is a European consortium supported by the European Commissions and Information Society Technologies program. StoLPaN will explore the potential yet to be reached with the aim of harmonizing new types of local wireless interfaces, NFC and mobile communications.

    NFC vs. Bluetooth & wifi

    As a data transfer channel, NFC is not a competitor to wireless technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but it can complement them perfectly. NFC Forum ideologists call this "harmonization." For example, when two NFC devices are in contact, in a split second it will automatically establish a connection between them, after which a faster channel can be used to transmit information. A simple touch on a printer with NFC and Wi-Fi Direct functions allows you to send a document to print, and a light touch on a Wi-Fi router allows you to instantly configure your smartphone to work in a home or office wireless network. In order to play a movie from your phone on the big screen, just put the device next to the TV, select the desired content and enable viewing via Wi-Fi / UPnP.

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    The maximum NFC data transfer rate is 424 kbps. This is significantly less than Bluetooth (2.1 Mbps). The radius of action of NFC is significantly less than that of the "Blue Tooth" (about 20 cm versus 10 meters). Big minus, you say? Not at all: this provides a greater degree of security and makes NFC more suitable, for example, for crowded spaces, where correlation of the signal with the physical device that transmitted it might otherwise be simply impossible. Unlike Bluetooth, NFC is compatible with existing RFID structures. A very big plus of NFC technology: data exchange will work even when one of the devices is not equipped with a power source (for example, a phone that can be turned off, a contactless credit smart card, etc.).

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    There are other communication standards that are somehow involved in NFC. Among them:

    ETSI / SCP - a smart card platform needed to establish communication between a SIM card and an NFC chipset;
    Single Wire Protocol - the ETSI standard for a protocol for exchanging data between a SIM card and NFC physical level chips;
    GlobalPlatform - designed to determine the multi-application architecture of a secure chip;
    EMVCo - Affects EMV payment applications.

    NFC Danger


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    Although the NFC communication radius is limited to a few centimeters, this does not at all guarantee the complete security of the connections. In 2006, Ernst Haselsteiner and Klemens Breitfuß described various types of possible attacks.

    Eavesdropping.The wireless RF signal may be intercepted by antennas. The distance from which an attacker is able to eavesdrop on a radio frequency signal depends on many parameters, but in any case it is only a few meters. In addition, eavesdropping is extremely affected by the communication mode. Obviously, a passive device that does not create its own RF field will be much harder to eavesdrop than an active device. The NFC standard alone does not offer protection against eavesdropping. In theory, the protocol stack should use cryptographic algorithms on top of NFC to protect data.

    Data modification.Data destruction is relatively easy to implement by electronic warfare (EW), that is, RFID jammers. There is no way to prevent such an attack, however, its only result will be the inability to establish a connection. To penetrate into the data inside the message by the attacking device in practice is unrealistic.

    Relay attack.For such an attack, the attacker must send the reader a request from the victim and transmit his response in real time to the reader. This is done in order to perform a task simulating the possession of a victim’s smart card. However, in practice, such an attack is rather difficult due to strict time limits on the response of the requested device. In some cases, we can talk about microsecond tolerances (for example, when performing the mandatory anti-collision procedure).

    The ice has broken!

    In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about the implementation of NFC technology in the world and in Russia in particular.
    It should be recognized that the topic of prospects for the development of NFC has been exaggerated for more than a year, and attempts to use it in practice have been made repeatedly. But, in most cases, it didn’t go beyond exemplary test systems. Although there are pleasant exceptions to the rules.

    For example, back in 2007, Japan began to introduce NFC at local gas stations and in the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants. Discount coupons and promotions for regular customers are very popular in the States. Despite such “oases of high technology”, until recently it seemed that the widespread dissemination of technology was still far away.

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    Nevertheless, it is already obvious that serious changes are coming soon in the global NFC market. NFC support is already included in Android 2.3, and new phones from Google, Samsung, LG have NFC chips that are not yet unlocked. Microsoft also plans to add a short-range radio sensor to Windows Phone 7-based phones, and RIM announced plans to launch NFC-based BlackBerry phones within a year. Many expect that an NFC-enabled iPhone will appear in this or in 2012, in particular, Apple's patent applications convince of this. However, the apple company is still cautious, looking closely at the potential of the new technology and considering the possibilities of its integration into its ecosystem. HTC did the same: the first device from them with NFC support will appear only in the third quarter of this year. The company believes

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    The scope of NFC-modules is not limited to mobile phones. The technology will be appropriate in laptops, tablets and stationary household devices. So, Lenovo has already announced its intention to embed NFC adapters in all laptops of its ThinkPad business series.

    Not so long ago, Samsung and Visa announced a joint project to equip London with enough NFC terminals by 2012, when the Olympic Games will open in the UK. In total, over 60 thousand terminals will be commissioned in London, with the help of which it will be possible to make various payments. Moreover, Samsung will release a special “Olympic” phone equipped with an NFC-module. Of course, any other NFC-enabled phone will also work.

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    In Russia, for the promotion of NFC technology, among other companies, i-Free is responsible - one of the leaders in the market of additional mobile services and content in Russia and the CIS countries - also a member of the NFC forum. You probably know about plans to introduce a universal card for the residents of Russia - it will support NFC.

    Already now, thanks to the implementation of the Aeroexpress project, tickets for electric trains from train stations to Moscow airports can be purchased using a mobile phone with NFC functionality. NFC service is being introduced as an add-on to the existing Aeroexpress automated ticket sales and control system.

    As far back as last fall, the Russian mobile operator MTS provided 300 holders of special SIM-cards (including company employees and metro workers) the opportunity to test the fare payment system in the Moscow metro using NFC technology.

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    In St. Petersburg, too, they are not idle: in June, Beeline together with the Petersburg Metro launched their project - paying for travel using a mobile phone using NFC technology.

    According to IMS Research analysts, 1.8 billion cell phones will be released in 2015. One in four of them will support NFC.

    Video demonstration of NFC technology in action:

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