Yesterday I was trying to send some videos
with 200 MB data to another mobile. Though it happened smoothly, one question
came to my mind. I have used this technology every day, but did not try to
understand about it yet.
It made me very happy too since I got my topic!!
It made me very happy too since I got my topic!!
Infrared, Bluetooth and now NFC – all
these technologies had done its part in different period. I used to remember
keeping 2 Nokia phones in the straight line to transfer an image. Now it’s just
a tap away. Here are some details about each technology – one is outdated, one
is widely used and we yet to know the potential of last one.
Infrared
As the name indicates, the communication
is established via infrared signals. This technology is used by most of the
remote controls. This technology is device specific and there should be direct
line of sight between (max 3 feet) transmitter and receiver. This communication
is more secure since it can be intercepted by a device and it’s one-to-one.
I’m not going to more details about this
technology since it is not used in mobile devices anymore
Bluetooth
Compared to infrared, Bluetooth devices
can work together, its omni-directional. Current devices can transfer in the
range of 30 feet. Bluetooth uses radio frequency and hence transmission is
possible through walls or other objects and hence it is widely used in
computers, PDA, headsets, mobile handsets etc. These devices can communicate
with each other irrespective of the manufacturer since it is using standard 2.4
GHz frequency (ISM – Industrial Scientific and Medical devices - band).
History – it is named to honor Denmark ’s king Harald
Bluetooth who ruled in 900s. The name was given to indicate the importance of
Nordic region companies for the telecommunication industry. BT was created by
Ericson in 1994, as an alternative to RS-232 data cables
Bluetooth communication does not need user
intervention and uses very little power: - we connect devices such as phone,
car GPS, mobile, PC and control them smartly (it automatically switches to the
appropriate devices – handsfree is an example, if you setup devices in car
audio and home land phone, the call switched automatically to these devices
…pretty cool rite?). Current devices can transfer data up to 3Mbps (2.0
devices).
As I said earlier, it works in RF and lot
of other devices such as cordless phones, baby-monitors, garbage door openers
too are using same ISM band. Bluetooth uses very weak signal of 1 milli-watt to
avoid interference and hence limits the range to 30 feet. Also it can connect 8
devices simultaneously and uses spread-spectrum frequency hopping method to
avoid interference with each other (too technical, so no details).
Like other wireless network, Bluetooth
also faces security issues since hackers can try to grab your data or interfere
with signals with same frequency. Bluetooth offers several security options to
avoid this – allowing only trusted devices, making the devices
non-discoverable, pairing etc. Similar to hacking there is bluejacking –
sending a business card as text message, contact added in address book by
mistake and the hacker gets the control of the address book and phone.
BT communication can be done with a
computer and other devices using a USB-dongle (most laptops have added this
in-built)
NFC
Near Field Communication a.k.a NFC is the
current hot topic in the smartphone market and it takes communication to the
next level. I don’t think it is a replacement for BT, but NFC is preferable in
some places.
In simple words, BT is like a phone
communication – sender and receiver should be available and NFC is like an
e-mail – we can transfer some information to a device (called tags) and then
this can be used in any other device
As the name (near field) indicates,
maximum distance for communication is only 4 centimeters. NFC can interact with
other device with a single wave and it’s faster compared to BT (needs only 1/10
seconds to establish).
It also reduces the security risk
specified in case of BT and NFC needs minimal power compared to BT. The speed
of NFC is only 424 kbit/s and it can be used in combination with BT to speed up
the process.
NFC can make use of un-powered chip called
as tag to communicate – that’s why I said, its like an e-mail. Many vendors are
creating these tags and X-peria smart tags are one of the popular one. You can
save your phone settings, or browser bookmarks to a tag and this can be restored
in any other NFC powered devices. NFC is similar to RFID (radio frequency
identification) technology.
Android
and NFC
Android uses NFC technology as
Android-beam and this was launched in Android 4.0 ICS. They have customized the
technology and made data transfer a dream – just swipe or touch the devices. It also supports technology called Wi-Fi
Direct, previously known as Wi-Fi P2P. As the name shows, your mobile device
can do peer-to-peer networking and transfer data. I think this is the coolest feature
of NFC (torrent in smartphone?)
Samsung has again customized this and introduced S-beam, all-share to make payments or transfer images, videos etc and launched in Galaxy III.
NFC, Android beam, S-beam have so-many
features and I have to include them in another article. We can expect more stuff
in NFC since it’s in growing stage and Android 4.1 jelly bean is already
started hitting the market. I pity I-phone users since they can’t try these
stuffs in near future
The
End
I guess you got an overall idea about some
of the most important communication/transfer technologies we have used so far.
If you like it, post your comments and keep reading!!! Thanks
Reference
good one da... keep writing
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