Implementations, simplifications and evaluations around Nfc on Android

Abstract: Near field communication (Nfc), a contact-range and short-lived message exchange technology, has in recent years become popular in relation to payment-cards, key-cards and ski-passes. With the release of, in particular, the Google Nexus S, which is capable of reading and writing Nfc tags as well as exchanging messages between devices by touch, the roles of consumers have changed from carriers of passive cards to that of active readers. This publicly available hardware technology, embedded into relatively cheap connected smartphones, creates a new field of possibilities in which a complete and complex Nfc-based system can be developed solely by means of software. In this thesis work, the research is in relation to the field of Nfc, ranging from the physical characteristics of the technology to the design of the Nfc API on the Android platform. Nfc-based apps, library and systems are designed, developed and evaluated in terms of performance. The Android apps which are implemented are WiFi and Bluetooth connectors as well as an Nfc-sensor value visualizer. Additionally, two full systems are developed which consists of an Android app, backend server, database and web or PC-client frontend. These two systems are: a web-based high-performance live statistical visualizer of Nfc sensor values and an Nfc-scan based product endorsement, Like-event, presenting the picture and name of a user endorsing a product on the in-store advertisement displays on top of the ads. The system for scanning, distributing and presenting statistics on sensor-values from a specially crafted NfcV-enabled sensor is evaluated in terms of performance along the chain of events starting at the Nfc tag introduction and being dispatched on the mobile phone and ending with the calculations and plot-generation carried out by the browser connected to the backend via a WebSocket. The evaluations show that in a use-case in which the user holds a tablet in one hand and an Nfc-enabled smartphone in the other, the user would experience a mean-delay of 515 milliseconds between putting the device against an NfcV-sensor and seeing the statistical plot, containing the last 1000 values, updated in the browser on the tablet. Additionally, the user would experience a mean-delay of 74 milliseconds between the values being presented on the mobile device itself until they are presented on the tablet in the case of constant streaming from an NfcV connected sensor. The conclusion is that this delay of 74 milliseconds is sufficiently low for the user to feel that the devices are tightly coupled, making it natural to pay attention to the tablet when scanning sensors. Possible use-cases for this include a technician walking between built-in passive NfcV sensors on the factory floor or a nurse walking between patients wearing bandages with built-in passive health-sensors. Finally, the work is discussed in terms of ethics and social impact as development in the tele-healthcare field continues, and a set of Nfc-based applications are suggested including Nfc-tags for interactive product customization, company car management and app deployment.