One small tap for mankind Exploring NFC and Host-based Card Emulation 

NFC Near field communications - a short range wireless standard using small antennae. (Produces modulated E or M waves). Developed on the basis of RFID devices. NFC brings 2-way communication and reading of unpowered ‘tags’ Used today for payments, identification, ticketing, social media checkins, hotel room checkins. 

NFC : the history 2004 : Nokia, Philips and Sony form NFC Forum 2006 : Nokia 6131 - First ever NFC phone 2009 : NFC Forum releases peer-to-peer sharing protocols 2010 : First Android NFC phone - Nexus S 2011 : Google I/O - “How to NFC” 2012 : NFC Based payment solutions emerge. Google Wallet. 2013 : Visa, Mastercard start working on NFC solutions. 2014 : Apple Pay, Poynt, IBM 2-factor NFC Authentication 

NFC : pros ➔ Pairing not required ➔ Versatile. Can be incorporated in many devices ➔ Minimal power usage ➔ Minimal user interaction ➔ Seamless procedure 

NFC : cons ➔ Compatibility issues ➔ Low speed ➔ Absence of security in HW layer ➔ Barebone communication channel (without flow or error control) 

NFC on Android ● Read NFC Tags or Cards ● Use Mobile as Wallet (inbuilt Secure Element) ● Beam data from one Mobile to another ● Emulate a card (HCE) ● Reader mode to read emulated card 

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NFC on Android : Tag me out ! ACTION_NDEF_DISCOVERED Well defined NDEF data received. Easiest way to read tags (given they send a proper NDEF message on energizing them) ACTION_TECH_DISCOVERED Fall back from above. If no app has NDEF discovery filter, or the data from the tag is not in NDEF format ACTION_TAG_DISCOVERED Last resort. Gives only info that tag is discovered. No data available. Can be rarely used for meaningful application. 

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NFC on Android : Beam of hope ★ Introduced in Android ICS 4.0 ★ Unidirectional data transfer (short bursts) from one device to another. ★ Needs both devices to have unlocked lockscreens and tapped together. ★ Using SNEP (Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol) ★ Communication initialised only after “Tap to Beam” 

NFC on Android : Beam of hope ★ Vast functionality additions in 4.1 ★ Larger data (Images/Videos/Audio) transfer possible. ★ For larger data, actual sending takes place over Bluetooth. NFC is used for pairing. ★ Samsung S-Beam uses Wifi-direct instead 

Android NFC : Host-based Card Emulation ★ A term coined by SimplyTapp in 2011 ★ First official implementation via collaboration of SimplyTapp with CyanogenMod ★ Added in Android officially in Kitkat 4.4 ★ Allows apps on an Android phone to emulate a NFC Tag (i.e. software emulation) without usage of Secure Element ★ Support from Visa and MasterCard poured in 

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Android NFC : Host-based Card Emulation ➔ Each packet is called “APDU”. ➔ APDU is 256byte or 64Kb in size - Check isExtendedLengthApduSupported() and getMaxTransceiveLength() ➔ Select AID : [Class | Instruction | Parameter 1 | Parameter 2] ➔ Get/Put AID : [Class | Instruction | Parameter 1 | Length | Data] ➔ Each emulated card is presented as an object of class IsoDep 

Android NFC : Host-based Card Emulation READER CARD onTagDiscovered ← SELECT_AID → Card App with given AID started Confirm AID ← App starts, channel opened GET_DATA → Parse command payload, Use data as needed ← Send back appropriate data PUT_DATA → Parse command payload Receive OK status ← Modify data, send ACK/NAK back 

Android NFC : Host-based Card Emulation Host based card emulation allows 2-way sustained communication between Android devices. Key to bi-directional data transfer is iteration over multiple GET_DATA, PUT_DATA calls, and sending information in packets. Communication will be half-duplex. With a practical speed limit of ~10Kbps 

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Android NFC : Current Usages ❏ Payments/Commerce ❏ Enabling/pairing other connections ❏ Social networking ❏ Ticketing ❏ Identity and Access Tokens ❏ HealthCare ❏ Automation 

Android NFC : Challenges & Limitations ❏ Nascent stage in industrial application ❏ libnfc lacks uniformity across vendors ❏ NXP chips not having extended APDU and HCE support. ❏ Lack of support for all tag data formats (NDEF, APDU) in standalone readers 

TAPPY HAPPING 

HAPPY TAPPING