1What are NFC, BLE, and UHF RFID?
NFC stands for Near Field Communication. BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy. UHF RFID stands for Ultra High Frequency Radio Frequency Identification. They are the proximity ID technologies that are powering the new and disruptive Internet of Things.
Each can be used differently, mainly because of the proximity between devices needed to communicate. NFC requires devices to be very close, almost touching, to communicate. BLE has a range of about 50 feet. This makes NFC great for when you want communication to be activated by touch, and BLE fantastic for exchanging information once devices are nearby. UHF RFID is great because tags are inexpensive and never die. These basic functions can enable awesome micro-location applications like indoor navigation or keyless entry.
2What can be communicated?
Anything! The uses of these technologies are endless, but lets start with some of the basics until we get the hang of it.
- Sharing media between devices – You might have seen commercials where people tap their phones together to share photos. They are using NFC. In fact, you can share tons of different kinds of information such as photos, contact information, websites, and links to your social media feeds. Some tech savvy people are putting NFC technology in their business cards to give out digital versions of their contact information.
- Controlling your phone – Many people use NFC stickers, like our Zapps, to automate certain actions. For example, you could put an NFC sticker in your car that would have your phone automatically turn on your GPS, activate car mode, and open a navigation app to direct you home. Others are using NFC stickers beside their beds to automatically silence their phone and set their morning alarm. Some businesses are putting NFC stickers by their registers that open social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Foursquare so that their customers can share their experience with their friends.
- Making purchases – Services like Google Wallet and Apple Pay allow people with NFC enabled phones to pay for items simply by tapping their phone to the register. In fact NFC + UHF RFID have been enabling fast transactions behind the scenes for years. The metro cards that you tap to fare gates and the windshield mounted speed-passes for highway tolls are NFC + UHF RFID in action.
- Providing information – BLE + NFC are great for providing information about your surroundings. Apple is now using BLE technology in 254 of their stores to tell customers more information about the products they are looking at. For example, if you were standing by the iPhones then you might receive information about the different models.
3Where does Flomio come in?
Three ways: helping businesses, helping individuals, and building a Proximity ID community
For Businesses we offer customized proximity ID technology to enhance events. We have created PhotoCast, which allows photos from events to be associated with the participants in them. Contact us to find out more we can do for you. The possibilities are pretty wild.
For Individuals we have created the FloJack and the FloBLE which plug into your Smartphone and allow them to start using NFC and BLE.
For Proximity ID Community we love exploring the uses of proximity ID and pushing the technology further. We offer lots of products in our Shop that will help you get started with your tinkering. Curious how something works? Awesome! We’re committed to helping people build stuff. We are lickity-quick at responding to questions on our Forums