Near-field communications (NFC) may be used in niche contactless ticketing systems, but the killer application in mobile phones has so far eluded suppliers.
This could be about to change with the development of new forms of highly integrated silicon and secure applications software for the Android operating system.
Cirencester-based NFC developer, Innovision Research & Technology is already winning design-ins for its IP in multi-function devices combining NFC with Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi in mobile phones.
“These combo devices will be used in mobile phone designs in 2012, when the mainstream process technology for SoCs will be 40nm,” Innovision Research & Technology’s v-p marketing, Stephen Graham told EW.
According to Graham, these so-called “combo” SoCs, typically combine Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS and Wi-Fi, as well as NFC.
Innovision Research & Technology has just released its second generation semiconductor intellectual property (IP).
The most important feature of GEM 2 IP is that it supports operation at the lower 1.8V which effectively makes it useable in the next generations of 65nm and 40nm SoC devices.
“We have several major global semiconductor companies who are already integrating GEM 2 into their SoCs. This is a very strong indication of the pace at which the market for NFC is developing,” said Graham.
The firm’s GEM 2 semiconductor IP includes NFC reader/writer, peer-to-peer and Card/Tag emulation functionality.
Also, GEM 2 optionally supports a battery-off mode in which the NFC circuits may be powered from the RF field even when the phone’s battery is run down.
The first version of GEM IP operated at 3.3V and was suitable for 130nm and 90nm processes. GEM 2 operates at 1.8V and is also suitable for 65nm and 40nm processes.
With an eye focused on the mobile phone market, STMicroelectronics and NXP are working with software firms Trusted Logic and Stollmann on a common hardware-independent API (application programming interface) for NFC applications on mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system.
The hope is to encourage developers to create NFC applications to be distributed through app stores.
The API is supported by protocol stacks that are compatible with major NFC chip platforms from STMicroelectronics and NXP.
According to Henri Ardevol, general manager of the secure transactions business at NXP, the intention of the group is to “define and standardise a truly open NFC API for Android”.
“Technical collaboration between leading NFC-protocol stack vendors and NFC-chip manufacturers is both a major and necessary step towards massive adoption of NFC in the Android environment,” said Laurent Degauque, telecoms marketing manager at STMicroelectronics.
See: NXP, ST agree smartcard NFC licensing