making sense of wireless technologies

Making Sense of Wireless Technologies

NFC & RFID

“Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices

to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more

than a few centimeters”

NFCNear-Field Communication

QR-Like usage is common, unfortunately.

This is a USB NFC device

This is a NFC device

NFC can communicate across devices...

.. or by reading inexpensive tags

Tags store 1kb of data

That’s 1024 characters, 0-9, a-z, A-Z

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

NFC communication is exclusive between two devices

Examples

We used NFC to gamify the Wet’n’Wild theme park

Small PC’s with USB readers built in to a kiosk

Each tag contained an ID stored against a user in the cloud

DDB used it to make the ordinary, extraordinary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ATOgEcR1U&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLE6F981827267E6AE

Here are some basic costs

$0.2(per band)

$56(per USB reader)

Exciting, isn’t it?Now, RFID.

“Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless non-contact use of radio-frequency fields to transfer data using tags. The tags contain electronically stored information”

RFIDPatented in 1983, used in cattle identification

Sydney E-Toll

Electronic Passports

RFIDImplanted Tags

RFID is not NFC (but kinda is)

RFID (1983) – Precursor to NFC- Operates at various frequencies (tag and readers)- Different scanning distances- Readers sense multiple tags

NFC (2004) – Refined version of RFID- Fixed frequency (13.56 MHz)- Fixed scanning distance (5 – 10 cms)- Two way communication

How it works

A ‘Tag Reader’ and a ‘Tag’ is all that is needed.

Laptop & RFID USB Reader RFID TagRadio Signal

TagsThere are two kinds of tags, passive and active.

Passive tags are powered by the Readers signal thus have a low distance when it comes to reading < 2m.

Active tags use a small battery and have much larger read distances.

Active RFID Tag

Battery

Passive RFID Tag

Reader Signal

Tag UsageTags have different usage abilities: Read & Write, Read, Write Once

Laptop & RFID USB Reader

RFID Tag


RFID Tag

Tag Content1kb of data limit on passive tags, so not much data storage.

Sadface

Makes use of RFID passive tags pretty much limited to housing a unique string of data as a unique identifier, but this is fine...

RFID Tag

10001101001001011010000010001101001001001101000000001000110100100100110100000000 1000110100100101101000000001000110100100100110100001010011011101

010101

ID Linkage… as we can link each unique Tag ID number to an

account, i.e. Facebook.

Process: Tag -> Swipe -> Account Action

RFID Tag

10001101001001011010000010001101001001001101000000001000110100100100110100000000 1000110100100101101000000001000110100100100110100001010011011101

010101


Account

RFID Frequencies

Various Distances, Various FrequenciesCan get confusing but offers flexibility with scanning ranges.

120-150 kHzUp to 10 cm

13.56 kHzUp to 1 m

865 – 868 MHz1 - 2 m

902 – 928 MHz1 - 2 m

3.1 – 10 GHzUp to 200 m

433 MHz1 - 100 m

Example Account ActionsWhen the reader interprets the signal, it sends the ID to the laptop

Which then performs actions, such as:

Activate software (game, photo booth)

Social Network connect

Increment read counts for tracking

Connect to other shared accounts for the ID

Survey / Voting mechanics

Contests

Location Based (more to come)

Diet Plan?

As an example. Imagine having your dietary plan put online buy your nutritionist and a

corresponding ID to your RFID tag.

The next restaurant you enter has a digital menu.

It senses your tag is 30cm away and reads your tag, collects your dietary requirements and then filters

out foods that will not suit your dietary needs.

This is entirely possible.

Privacy concerns, lots.

Costs

Simple Wristband13.56 kHz – 10cm read$0.30ea bought in bulk

Simple Reader13.56 kHz USB – 1m read

$30 - $70

Real-Time Trilateration Fancy name for positioning using multiple readers.

Triangulation. Possible, but not very accurate.


RFID Tag



Real-Time Trilateration Measuring the movement

http://www.openbeacon.org/




Diolch!(Thanks in Welshland)

making sense of wireless technologies

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