Near Field Communication (NFC), the technology that powers contactless payments and data transfer, will get a significant upgrade over the next few years. The NFC Forum, the organization that develops and maintains NFC standards, has published its technology roadmap through 2028, outlining its key goals for the future of NFC technology.
NFC is a wireless technology that allows devices to communicate and exchange data over short distances. It’s used in smartphones, smartwatches, payment terminals, transit cards and other devices. However, the technology also has limitations that have been addressed in the roadmap, which covers the span of the upcoming five years — until 2028.
Increased range
One of the most significant drawbacks of NFC is that it functions in a very short range. NFC devices need to be within 5mm of each other to establish a solid connection, like when you’re using your smartphone to tap and pay on a terminal. The NFC Forum is working on increasing the range of NFC by four to six times, which would upgrade it to about 30mm. This would make contactless transactions and actions faster and easier.
Faster NFC wireless charging
NFC can also be used to wirelessly charge some small devices like earbuds. However, the limitation here is that NFC only supports 1 watt of power, which is not enough for many devices. The NFC Forum plans to increase this to up to 3 watts, making it easier to charge small accessories and devices via NFC wirelessly.
Multiple-purpose tap
NFC currently supports one action per tap. For example, if a user wants to buy a ticket for a concert and also join a loyalty program, they would need to tap twice on different terminals. The NFC Forum wants to enable multiple actions with a single tap, which will improve the contactless user experience and offer more convenience and efficiency. For instance, a user could buy a ticket, join a loyalty program, and receive a receipt, all with just one tap.
Device-to-device communication
NFC can also be used for device-to-device communication, such as turning smartphones into payment terminals. This feature allows businesses or individuals to receive payments anywhere without needing additional hardware or software. The NFC Forum aims to make this functionality native in the NFC standards, so that any NFC-enabled smartphone can act as a payment terminal.
The NFC Forum will present its technology roadmap in more detail during a public webinar on June 27th. Until then, you can learn more about its roadmap here.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Source: NFC Forum Via: AndroidAuthority
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