NFC and DASH7 to Open a World of Opportunities

If you think your phone is really smart, wait till it gets Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, then it will truly be smart. That's the promise of 2 emerging RFID based mobile technologies called NFC and DASH7.

Near Field Communication (NFC) holds great promise as an enabler of mobile payments. DASH7 is a wireless sensor networking standard that complements NFC-it will enable services like advanced location based services, long distance mobile advertising, and mobile coupons.

A year from now, basically every new phone sold, will have NFC. It's a 2 way, bio-directional RFID communication link that makes this device work as a tag or reader. This will enable phones to take on other roles, such as the keys for your car or house, or a credit card or concert ticket.

The mobile phone market is forecast to grow from 1.4 bn units in 2011 to 1.8 bn units in 2015 at a CAGR of 7%, according to IMS Research, a market research firm. In 2011, NFC enabled phone models are expected to gain pace and the ratio of mobile phones with NFC capabilities is expected to reach 26% in 2015.

On the other hand, DASH7 could play at the intersection of location based services, social networking, building automation smart energy, tire pressure monitoring, and in-transit temperature monitoring of perishable goods.

From now on, customers are able to identify information of each item by using their mobile phones. It is because of RFID reader imbibed into mobiles. The information identified by the RFID reader is transmitted to the manufacturer's server via 3G network or Wi-Fi network. Customers can get a lot of information on each item such as the country of origin, expiration date, and destination of delivery.

Ericsson is working with a utilities company that has 700 separate unmanned facilities and around 15,000 keys-a logistical nightmare it wants to eliminate via the use of RFID enabled mobiles.

Leading chip maker Samsung Electronics has announced an NFC chip with embedded flash memory intended for use in mobile handsets. This would allow developers to upgrade software or firmware.

NFC only operates at upto 10 cm or 4 inches distance, but can play role as a contactless smart card in use for public transportation payments for bus and subway fares and mobile banking payments. It can also read RFID tags in retail stores or on outdoor billboards for data access.

Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, BenQ already deploy NFC and the first NFC Android applications have appeared in Google's Android market.

Recent announcement of SK Telecom's NFC trial partnership with KDDI and SoftBank is expected to contribute significantly to the development of Korea's NFC marketplace.

It is expected that many new NFC models will hit the market in 2011 as the GSMA association of mobile operators has finalized the specification for NFC based mobile payment and asked the mobile phone manufacturers to start producing NFC phones according to this specification.

Many of the world's leading operators, including America Movil, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, MTS, Orange, Qtel Group, Soft bank Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor and Vodafone, have voiced their commitment to implementing Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, and intend to launch commercial NFC services in select markets by 2012.

Both NFC and DASH7 will soon be a part of your mobile phones-they'll enable mobile payments, building access, advanced location based services, ticketing, and much more.

Akanksha Singh
akankshas@cybermedia.co.in