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NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION

Ankit Chobdar
P.V.P.P.C.O.E, Mumbai University
ankitchobdar@gmail.com

Ashutosh Jaiswal
Y.T.C.E.M, Mumbai University
jaiswalashutosh541@gmail.com

Abstract-NFC is essentially a subset of RFID (Radio Frequency Communication), which makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to make transactions, exchange digital content and connect electronic devices with just a touch. It is the technology with the radio frequency which allows communication between two devices that are near. NFC helps customers to exchange between themselves data in a more simple and comfortable way by means of a simple touch. In this paper we have focused on how NFC has made customers life easier and how it will prove to be a better technology in the future. Keywords- RFID, online payment, secure payment, Wireless connection, sniffing data

expected to surpass 1.2 billion by 2015. Moreover NFC will have the global penetration of 30% by 2015. [4]

I. INTRODUCTION Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 cm distance.NFC is an upgrade of the existing proximity card standard (RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. It allows users to seamlessly share content between digital devices, pay bills wirelessly or even use their cell phone as an electronic traveling ticket on existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation. The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is the shorter set-up time. Instead of performing manual configurations to identify Bluetooth devices, the connection between two NFC devices is established at once (under a 1/10 second). Due to its shorter range, NFC provides a higher degree of security than Bluetooth and makes NFC suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) might otherwise prove impossible.NFC can also work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, etc.).[1] NFC is the next big thing in terms of payment services Mobile payment users are expected to reach 375 million wherein NFC chip shipments are

Fig.01 NFC enabled Phone

II.

NFC TECHNOLOGY

In the recent years new standards referring to RFID technology are imposed and among them surely the NFC is important. It is the technology with the radio frequency which allows communication between two devices that are near. They allow the exchange of information or performance of security payment. The designers claim that NFC will simplify to its extreme the way of interaction between the consumers device and guarantee a fast and secure information exchange. Possible applications are many folded: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Paying by mobile devices like cell phones Credit card integration into a mobile device Electronic money integrating with prepaid cards Electronic ticketing for transport usage Personal electronic document Download of data from kiosks such as railway time table Flight and hotel booking Music and photos download from camera, cell phones, multimedia readers Connections P2P (peer to peer) for an easy information transmission between wireless devices

From the technical point of view NFC technology is an extension of ISO 1443 (which defines the standard of RFID tag Mifare at 13.56 MHz) and both of ECMA and ETSI standard, it combines the integration of one smart card with one device or terminal. All NFC devices allow the reading and writing of information of high speed (424 Kbits/s). NFC connection happens when, so to say, they make a wireless connection which is compatible with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Since the way of function is highly limited it guarantees safe communication avoiding sniffing data. One NFC device can communicate either with already present readers and cards ISO 1443 as well as with other NFC devices. So it is already compatible with the existing infrastructures RFID for payments and public transport. The NFC integration into cell phones and multimedia readers is already being tested, as the iPod can be, which enables buying and transferring of multimedia material. [2] III. NFC ON SMART PHONES

There is a class of useful applications that can be classied as attachments to traditional NFC payment and ticketing transactions. The products we pay for or the events we attend provide the context, the device we connect with via NFC can supply us with additional information relevant to the context. For example, the bill associated with my payment can be transferred via NFC to my phone so that my phone can later submit it to my employer for reimbursement. B. Virtual tokens NFC can be used to replace various applications involving physical tokens: from getting a claim check for valet parking to getting loyalty cards from restaurants for attracting repeat customers. By using NFC on the phone, we do not have to worry about misplacing physical tokens; furthermore, these virtual tokens can be entered into our databases and tracked automatically. Here, the token grantor provides the context that dene the relevant interaction. We need to dene a secure protocol that protects the interests of both the grantor and grantee of the tokens. C. Junctions Friends can also take advantage of NFC to have their phones interact in peer-to-peer multi-party applications. For example, people may want to play a peer-to-peer game, share their playlists, or exchange photos. It is simple and direct if we can just launch an application, touch our phone with our friends, and have their phone automatically run the same application (after user conrmation). To facilitate this class of applications, we propose the notion of a Junction URI, which provides the context necessary for a device to join a peer-to-peer application in progress. Because phones do not have static IP addresses, a Junction URI species a (secure) channel, consisting of the chat session on a rendezvous server and an ID for the session. From the Junction URI, a device can also and out where the application can be downloaded. [7] V. KEY BENEFITS OF NFC

Availability of NFC on smart phones presents an exciting opportunity for system and application designers, because not only can phones scan in information, but also programmatically generate new information to be presented for scanning. Furthermore, information received can be processed by the many available applications on the phone, facilitated by NFCs RTD architecture [12]. The ubiquity of mobile phones means that most consumers in the future will have access to this technology. The programmability means that many applications can be developed to facilitate peer interactions. They can communicate directly without requiring a third-party server. The eortless connection of NFC opens up many opportunities for the phones to be used to enhance physical social encounters. With NFC, we can touch another phone (or any other NFC device) and we can run all kinds of applications without having to nd the application of interest and painstakingly type in URLs or any other parameters. IV. NFC APPLICATIONS ON THE PHONE

Analyzing the many applications we came up with using NFC, we have identied three important classes of CAI: A. Transaction attachments

NFC provides a range of benefits to consumers and businesses, such as: 1. 2. Intuitive: NFC interactions require no more than a simple touch Versatile: NFC is ideally suited to the broadest range of industries, environments, and uses

3.

4.

5. 6. 7.

Open and standards-based: The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards Technology-enabling: NFC facilitates fast and simple setup of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth ,Wi-Fi, etc. Inherently secure: NFC transmissions are short range (from a touch to a few centimeters) Interoperable: NFC works with existing contactless card technologies Security-ready: NFC has built-in capabilities to support secure applications. [3] VI. WORKING OF NFC

TABLE I Comparison with Bluetooth

NFC

Bluetooth

Bluetooth Low Energy

RFID com ISO 18000-3 active patible

active

Standardiz ISO/IEC ation body

Bluetooth SIG

Bluetooth SIG

NFC is a short-range, standards-based wireless connectivity technology, based on RFID technology that uses magnetic field induction to enable communication between electronic devices in close proximity. It provides a seamless medium for the identification protocols that validate secure data transfer. This enables users to perform intuitive, safe, contactless transactions, access digital content and connect electronic devices simply by touching or bringing devices into close proximity. NFC operates in the standard unlicensed 13.56MHz frequency band over a distance of up to around 20 centimeters. Currently it offers data transfer rates of 106kbit/s, 212kbit/s and 424kbit/s, and higher rates are expected in the future. For two devices to communicate using NFC, one device must have an NFC reader/writer and one must have an NFC tag. The tag is essentially an integrated circuit containing data, connected to an antenna that can be read and written by the reader. There are two modes of operation covered by the NFC protocol: active and passive. In active mode, both devices generate their own radio field to transmit data. In passive mode, only one device generates a radio field, while the other uses load modulation to transfer data. The NFC protocol specified that the initiating device is responsible for generating the radio field in this case. The passive mode of communication is very important for battery-powered devices like mobile phones and PDAs that need to prioritize energy use. The NFC protocol enables such devices to be used in power-saving mode, so that energy can be conserved for other operations.[6] VII. COMPARISON WITH BLUETOOTH

Network ISO 13157 Standard etc.

IEEE 802.15.1

IEEE 802.15.1

Network Point-toType point

WPAN

WPAN

Cryptogra not with phy RFID

available

available

Range

< 0.2 m

~10 m (class 2)

~100 m

Frequency 13.56 MHz

2.4 2.5 GHz

2.4 2.5 GHz

Bit rate

424 kbit/s

2.1 Mbit/s

~1.0 Mbit/s

Set-up time

< 0.1 s

<6s

< 0.006 s

Power < 15mA consumpti (read) on

< 15 mA varies with (transmit class or receive)

VIII.

APPLICATIONS

A. Receipts, reimbursements, and money management As an add-on to contactless payments, we imagine the transaction results in a receipt being sent to the users phone. The receipt may be transmitted as part of an enhanced standard for contactless payments, or may occur as an additional transaction during the same NFC scan. The phone keeps a local database of transactions and receipt objects, and allows programmatic access to them (with appropriate security restrictions). This will enable, for example, an application for managing receipts. Another application can help le reimbursement claims. After a business trip, a user could select purchases from a list of gathered receipts over some span of time. With a few clicks, she can email this list to le a reimbursement claim. The receipt data is stored privately on the phone, and is only released at the users discretion. B. In Situ check-ins Check-in services such as foursquare and Facebook Places have grown in popularity. If a user makes a payment at a restaurant, for example, the phone can receive details about that users whereabouts. If a user labels an establishment as a favorite, the check-in may occur automatically, or an application can make the check-in available with the press of a button. Using NFC for contextual awareness is a much lower-power solution than using GPS and is also more accurate. We also imagine dedicated NFC tags that a business may put out explicitly for making check-ins easy. C. Reviews Our phones will be able to determine the products we buy, the restaurants we visit, and the movies we see the data can be kept privately, and applications can request permission to view dierent classes of data. If the user has a movie application installed, it may request access to movie related events from the users activity stream. This allows the user to plug into any of her favorite sites. D. Sporting events We can use our NFC-enabled smart phones as a ticket for entry into sporting events. After scanning in, the phone launches an application associated with the event. It is loaded knowing the users seat, and can be used to order concessions for delivery.

Payment can occur through the application as well for a smoother user experience. The application can also better connect the user to the event, providing video replays and letting them interact with events occurring on the venues big screen, such as trivia, polls, or shout-outs. E. Public transportation An NFC device can be used to access a public transportation system, be it train, bus, or subway. Again, scanning into the system can invoke an application. This program can provide the user with a real-time schedule, customized to their current stop, and can alert the user when their destination nears. [7] IX. SECURITY ASPECTS

Although the communication range of NFC is limited to a few centimeters, NFC alone does not ensure secure communications. In 2006, Ernst Haselsteiner and Klemens Breitfu described different possible types of attacks, and detail how to leverage NFC's resistance to Man-in-the-middle attacks to establish a specific key. Unfortunately, as this technique is not part of the ISO standard, NFC offers no protection against eavesdropping and can be vulnerable to data modifications. Applications may use higherlayer cryptographic protocols (e.g., SSL) to establish a secure channel. Ensuring security for NFC data will require the cooperation of multiple parties: device providers, who will need to safeguard NFC-enabled phones with strong cryptography and authentication protocols; customers, who will need to protect their personal devices and data with passwords, keypad locks, and anti-virus software; and application providers and transaction parties, who will need to use anti-virus and other security solutions to prevent spyware and malware from infecting systems. A. Eavesdropping The RF signal for the wireless data transfer can be picked up with antennas. The distance from which an attacker is able to eavesdrop the RF signal depends on numerous parameters, but is typically a small number of meters. Also, eavesdropping is highly affected by the communication mode. A passive device that doesn't generate its own RF field is much harder to eavesdrop on than an active device. One open source device that is able to eavesdrop on passive and active NFC communications is the Proxmark instrument. B. Data modification

It is relatively easy to destroy data by using an RFID jammer. There is no way currently to prevent such an attack. However, if NFC devices check the RF field while they are sending, it is possible to detect attacks. It is much more difficult to modify data in such a way that it appears to be valid to users. To modify transmitted data, an intruder has to deal with the single bits of the RF signal. The feasibility of this attack, (i.e., if it is possible to change the value of a bit from 0 to 1 or the other way around), is amongst others subject to the strength of the amplitude modulation. If data is transferred with the modified Miller coding and a modulation of 100%, only certain bits can be modified. A modulation ratio of 100% makes it possible to eliminate a pause of the RF signal, but not to generate a pause where no pause has been. Thus, only a 1which is followed by another 1 might be changed. Transmitting Manchester-encoded data with a modulation ratio of 10% permits a modification attack on all bits. C. Relay attack Because NFC devices usually include ISO/IEC 14443 protocols, the relay attacks described are also feasible on NFC. For this attack the adversary has to forward the request of the reader to the victim and relay back its answer to the reader in real time, in order to carry out a task pretending to be the owner of the victims smart card. For more information see a survey of practical relay attack concepts. One of libnfc code examples demonstrates a relay attack using only two stock commercial NFC devices. It has also been shown that this attack can be practically implemented using only two NFC-enabled mobile phones. D. Lost property Losing the NFC RFID card or the mobile phone will open access to any finder and act as a single-factor authenticating entity. Mobile phones protected by a PIN code acts as a single authenticating factor. A way to defeat the lost-property threat requires an extended security concept that includes more than one physically independent authentication factor. E. Walk-off Lawfully opened access to a secure NFC function or data is protected by time-out closing after a period of

inactivity Attacks may happen despite provisions to shutdown access NFC after the bearer has become inactive. The known concepts described primarily do not address the geometric distance of a fraudulent attacker using a lost communication entity against lawful access from the actual location of the registered bearer. Additional feature to cover such attack scenario dynamically shall make use of a second wireless authentication factor that remains with the bearer in case of lost NFC communicator. Relevant approaches are described as an electronic leash or its equivalent, a wireless key. [5] X. CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have presented our vision of how smart phone applications will change when NFC becomes commonplace. NFC will allow what we term contextual application invocations. Applications can be invoked as a side-eect (attachment) of another transaction that provides it meaningful context. Applications can also be launched to exchange tokens, with our phones responding to the context of the token grantor. Finally, one phone may provide context to another to create a junction between them, allowing them to partake in a crossdevice activity. We have implemented the Junction platform and written several applications for it, demonstrating the usefulness of programmable NFC on smart phones. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] GSM Arena http://www.gsmarena.com/glossary.php3?term=nfc http://www.rfid-nfc.eu/what-is-nfc NFC Forum http://www.nfc-forum.org/aboutnfc Cerebral Businesshttp://www.cerebralbusiness.com/nfc/about.asp Wikipedia the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication NFC Forum Resourceshttp://www.nfcforum.org/resources/white_papers/Innovision_whitePaper1.p df Ben Dodson Hristo Bojinov Monica S. Lam, Computer Science Department, Touch and Run with Near Field Communication (NFC) in Stanford University.

[7]

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