What's the difference between NFC and RFID?

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), its principle is the non-contact data communication between the reader and the tag to achieve the purpose of identifying the target. As long as it is a radio frequency method, and can be identified in this way, it is counted as an RFID category. According to the frequency, it can generally be divided into low frequency, high frequency, ultra-high frequency, 2.4G and so on. RFID is widely used, with typical applications including animal management, vehicle management, production line automation, asset management, personnel management, and smart medical care.

NFC (Near Field Communication) technology started much later than RFID. It was a short-range wireless communication technology mainly promoted by Philips, Nokia and Sony around 2003. It is a short-distance non-contact communication method. The operating frequency is 13.56MHz, and the communication rate is 106kbit/sec to 848kbit/sec. Through the mobile phone as the carrier, the contactless IC card application is combined with the mobile phone, and the three application modes of card, reader and point-to-point are used to realize mobile payment, industry application, point exchange, electronic ticketing, identity recognition, anti-counterfeiting, advertising, etc.

RFID simply means attaching an RFID circuit containing an RFID radio frequency part and an antenna loop to an item. After the item carrying the RFID tag enters the specific magnetic field set artificially, it will send out a signal of a specific frequency, and the RFID reader can obtain the information written on the item before. This is a bit like the badge hanging around the neck of the staff member, and you are his supervisor. When he enters your line of sight, you can know his name, occupation and other information, and you can rewrite the content of his badge. If RFID is that a person wears a badge so that others can understand him, then NFC is that two people wear badges, and they can arbitrarily change the content on the badge after seeing each other, and change the information received by the other party. NFC and RFID look similar at the physical level, but they are actually two completely different fields, because RFID is essentially an identification technology, while NFC is a communication technology. The specific differences are reflected in the following aspects

1. Operating frequency: NFC frequency is fixed at 13.56MHz, while RFID includes active (2.4G, 5.8G), semi-active (125K, 13.56M, 915M, 2.4G, 5.8G), and passive RFID. The most common is passive RFID, which can be divided into low frequency(125KHz/134.2KHz), high frequency (13.56MHz) and ultra-high frequency (860-960) frequency bands according to frequency.

2. Working mode: NFC integrates contactless card reader, contactless card and peer-to-peer functions into a single chip, while rfid must consist of a reader and a tag. RFID can only realize the reading and judgment of information, while NFC technology emphasizes information interaction. NFC supports both read-write mode and card mode; in RFID, the card reader and the contactless card are two independent entities and cannot be switched. NFC supports P2P mode, RFID does not support P2P mode.

3. Working distance: The working distance of NFC is theoretically 0~20cm, but in the realization of the product, due to the use of special power suppression technology, the working distance is only 0~10cm, so as to better ensure the security of the business; Since RFID has different frequencies, its working distance varies from a few centimeters to tens of meters.

4. Standard protocol: The underlying communication protocol of NFC is compatible with the underlying communication standard of high-frequency RFID, that is, compatible with the ISO14443/ISO15693 standard. NFC technology also defines a relatively complete upper-layer protocol, such as LLCP, NDEF and RTD, etc., while the RFID protocol can support ISO 11784&11785, ISO14443/ISO15693, and EPC C1 GEN2/ISO 18000-6C and other standards according to different frequencies. Although NFC and RFID technology are different, NFC technology, especially the underlying communication technology, is fully compatible with high-frequency RFID technology. Therefore, in the application field of high-frequency RFID, NFC technology can also be used.

5. Application direction: RFID is more used in production lines, warehousing logistics, asset management and other applications, while NFC works in access control, bus cards, mobile payment etc.

Shenzhen Handheld-Wireless Technology Co., Ltd. integrates R&D, production, sales and after-sales service. It has been focusing on providing customized RFID handheld hardware and software services for logistics, warehousing, retail, manufacturing, medical, military and other fields to promote the overall development of the IOT industry for many years.