Ultra-low power sensors with near field communication for mobile applications

Abstract

In this paper, we study the applicability of an emerging RFID-based communication technology, NFC (Near Field Communication), to ultra-low power wireless sensors. We present potential application examples of passive and semi-passive NFC-enabled sensors. We compare their NFC-based implementations to corresponding implementations based on short-range radios such as Bluetooth and Wibree. The comparison addresses both technical properties and usability. We also introduce Smart NFC Interface, which is our general-purpose prototype platform for rapid prototyping of NFC and Bluetooth implementations. Two pilot sensor implementations and an NFC-Bluetooth gateway implementation based on our platform are presented and evaluated. Finally, needs and possibilities for technical improvements of available NFC technology are discussed. © 2007 International Federation for Information Processing.