NFC
what is it and what is it for?

Although NFC has more and more applications in daily life, it is a wireless technology that has been around for several years.

Do you want to know what NFC is and what it is for? At Bionix Technologies we tell you everything about it.

NFC, what is it?

The term NFC stands for Near Field Communication. NFC is a high-frequency wireless technology that operates in the 13.56 MHz band and is derived from the RFID tags present in transport tickets or security systems in physical stores.

NFC is a type of RFID technology, but with a very low radius of action.

Uses of the NFC, much more than just mobile payment

NFC is a technology that has many uses, one of the most important and well-known is payment by mobile phone, which is possible thanks to this technology, but there is more:

Your mobile as a personal identifier

This practice is not yet widespread, but it covers a wide range of situations in which we can use our mobile phone as a personal identifier: from accesing to a concert or congress, accessing content or even using public transport.

Although these situations that we have discussed are not very widespread in the use of NFC technology, the one that has become an essential and in recurrent use has been the possibility of identifying ourselves at the ATM without the need to carry the card, as well as paying at any establishment by bringing our mobile closer to the POS.

Much more than bluetooth

It is clear that the bluetooth connection is the best known when it comes to transferring multimedia content or synchronizing devices. The service that bluetooth offers us is also provided by NFC technology either to connect our mobile phone to headphones or speakers, or even to share multimedia content such as photos, videos or music between devices without the need to resort to email accounts, cloud storages, etc.

Facilitate your routines and actions

Coming home, putting on your favorite playlist and activating the airplane mode of our mobile phone will now be automatic thanks to the use of NFC tags that you can place strategically in your home or wherever you want. It is enough only that our mobile with NFC detects them to carry out the action that you have previously configured.

Another way to facilitate actions is the opening of our vehicle thanks to the NFC technology that is already available in some car models. Bring your phone to the door, and voila! As with the cards for opening doors in hotel rooms.

And, as we anticipated at the beginning of this section, the NFC is much more than the payment through the mobile phone although this is still the majority use that is given to this technology that, despite being novel, has been among us for many years .

Differences between NFC and RFID

Both RFID and NFC are used to transmit data remotely, but there are differences between the two technologies. RFID refers to radio frequency wireless identification technology as a whole. Instead, NFC devices are dedicated exclusively to short-range wireless communication using proximity cards.

We could say that NFC systems are part of and derived from RFID technology and can be considered as a subgroup within RFID technologies.

The main difference between the two systems is that the components of RFID technology (devices, software and tags) can operate and communicate with each other at a much greater distance. That is why its use is intended for different areas.

RFID, what is it?

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a data storage and retrieval system. This technology uses devices, tags and software for the identification of objects.

RFID tags have several advantages over NFC tags:

• Chip. The chip of the NFC tags cannot be recoded, with which we cannot add, modify or delete the information contained, something that can be done in the chip of the RFID tags, which allows a longer useful life.
• Identification. RFID can identify a large number of objects, while each NFC tag must be read one by one.
• Reading range. RFID tags are much easier to read than NFC tags, as they do not need the RFID devices to be in a closer reading range to be able to read the tag.

RFID technology has various applications that are very interesting for companies in the retail, industrial, health and automotive sectors. You can discover the facilities and advantages that RFID provides to companies in our post on the sectors where to implement RFID solutions.

RFID Applications

RFID systems are very useful in logistics environments to organize loads, packages and inventories, collecting statistics and relevant information on the traceability of items.

In physical stores in the retail and e-commerce sector it is very beneficial to identify the garments and their location, streamlining the daily operation and establishing an extra security measure.

You can find out how RFID works in other sectors.

Automotive

RFID technology offers full traceability of components and the car once manufactured. The automotive industry thus achieves a total optimization in the management of the stock, the shipments to the customer and the control of packaging and its recirculation in the plant.

Industry

RFID is very important during the manufacturing and logistics processes. RFID technology allows industrial automation and process optimization, as well as full traceability of items, as is the case in the automotive sector.

The movement of goods, making use of RFID technology, is much simpler, improving efficiency and productivity and generating a reduction in costs.

Retail

One of the sectors where RFID is most important due to the accelerated consumption that currently exists, due to the concern of customers for sustainability and the concern of companies to manage logistics times and reduce costs.

Health

In the healthcare sector, RFID allows the control and monitoring of patients, the control of access to certain restricted areas and the control of medical supplies. RFID allows this sector so demanding in manufacturing times and expiration dates to comply with current regulations.

Furthermore, thefts and problems with stock management can also be controlled thanks to RFID.

Do you want to implement RFID solutions in your supply chain? At Bionix Technologies we are experts in RFID and we adapt to the needs of all our clients. Contact us and discover what we can do for you.

Start revolutionizing your supply chain!