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NFC / RFID

Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology used to provide short-range wireless connectivity to carry two-way interactions between electronic devices. It is a flavor of RFID (radio-frequency identification), but it additionally has a specific set of standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and ISO/IEC 15693 to ensure interoperability of NFC-enabled equipment. NFC uses inductive coupling between two devices and operates at 13.56 MHz. An NFC device can draw power from the RF field generated by another NFC device enabling devices to run without a battery or power supply and thus fit into particularly small form factors such as tags, stickers, key fobs or cards. Even when supplied, NFC requires very little energy and is thus ideally suited for battery-powered devices such as smartphones. Because the transmission range is so short, NFC-enabled transactions are inherently more secure than those conveyed using other wireless technologies. ST offers a comprehensive set of solutions including NFC / RFID tags and readers, dynamic NFC tags, NFC controllers and secure elements supported by a rich development ecosystem. Read more