The document presents an overview of NFC (Near Field Communication) technology and its applications on the Android platform, highlighting its origins, modes of operation, and various use cases including payment and service discovery. It discusses specifications, device compatibility, and development challenges in integrating NFC into applications, emphasizing the importance of user experience and education. Additionally, it includes information on research applications aimed at assisting visually impaired users and the potential for creating business opportunities within the NFC ecosystem.

1. NFC-based Services for Android
Platform
Android Keynote #3
Vili Törmänen
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

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Biography
Vili Törmänen,
vili.tormanen@vtt.fi, +358 400 941 865
Service Technology team
Mobile Contactless Services research domain
Worked with NFC from 2005
Publications related to NFC: 8
Track B (Research) winner on Touching the Future
– The First European NFC Competition 2007 with
concept SeeingEyePhone
Research Track winner on NFC Forum Global
Competition 2009 with concept Hot in the City
http://hotinthecity.vtt.fi
More information at http://mocs.vtt.fi

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Topics
What is Near Field Communication (NFC)
Applications & Services
NFC programming on Android
Android as a platform

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Near Field Communication
Origins from physical selection paradigms
point me
touch me
scan me
Based on existing short range wireless (RFID) standards
Interoperable with existing (smart card) infrastructure
Distance 0 – 10 centimeter. In practice less than 5 cm
Killer app?

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NFC Modes
NFC has three modes where one can be active at a time
Tag
Reading information from tag
Writing information to tag
Card Emulation
For payment, ticketing, secure applications
Peer-to-peer
Sharing information between devices

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Smart Poster Event ticketing
Connection to
devices
NFC
use cases
Connecting to
services
Exchange business
cards
Payment
Transportation
Service discovery and use

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NFC handset penetration
Source: Frost&Sullivan: Real start for NFC, December 2010

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NFC devices and tags
Phones
History: Nokia 3220 & 5140i with detachable back
cover, 6131 NFC, 6212 NFC
Current: Samsung S5230 Star NFC, Google Nexus S,
very soon Nokia C7
Future: Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Sensation
successor, 2 x BlackBerry, Samsung Bada platform, …
USB readers
Wireless readers
Passive tags

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Google Nexus S
Currently supported NFC features
Read tags
Write tags
Peer-to-peer (limited)

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NFC “Research Applications”
Delivering product information to visually
impaired(SeeingEyePhone)
HearMeFeelMe project is based on the success of
SeeingEyePhone (http://www.hearmefeelme.org)
Explores the possibilities of compensating declined
eyesight with mobile technology
Pilot: Providing medicine information for elderly
visually impaired
Pilot: Blind users get spoken information from tagged
items. They record the message by themselves and
tag whatever item they want
Ibumax 400 mg
1-2 tablets 3 times
a day…

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Other experimented domains
Driver’s log
Food delivery
Grocery shopping
Car parking
Social networking
Medicine information for
visually impaired
Delivering work instructions
Reporting work time / finished
tasks / condition of items
Platform to enable secure use
of web services
NFC Blood Glucose Meter

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Under the hood
NFC first in Android 2.3. Upgraded to 2.3.3 with more features
Read & Write tag
P2P (limited)
Device receiving the data must support com.android.npp
NDEF push protocol, which is optional for Android
devices.
Secure Element (embedded / Single Wire Protocol UICC)
Keys for embedded element (no info released)
SWP in hardware, not yet in software

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Under the hood II
Packages:
android.nfc
High level classes to interact with local device’s NFC
adapter, to represent discovered tags and to use NDEF
data format
android.nfc.tech
Classes to query properties and perform I/O operations on
a tag

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Tips
Antenna location affects user experience and software design
The communication speed has effect on user experience. Maximum
data rate is 424 kbits/s
Do people know how to use NFC? Do they know it works by touch?
If they do, how they know when to touch tag/phone?
Teach the user at least in the first time?
Application can start by touching a tag. Try to use that if it suits your
application
Proved that users like that
We have been using mostly Mifare 1k tags in our experiments
The Catch: Easy User Interface!

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Android as a platform
Google has Android Market, Checkout, Places, Maps, Ads…
Secure: Checkout (payment), Places (coupons)
Open: Android Market, Maps, …
First NFC phone available backed up with ecosystem
= Lucrative for developers
61 hits for NFC at Android Market (remember reduce the ~6
National Football Club applications…)

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Thank you!
For more information
Vili Törmänen
vili.tormanen@vtt.fi
Mobile Contactless Services web page
http://mocs.vtt.fi

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VTT creates business from
technology