Using NFC Technologies

Patrol-IT system makes extensive use with NFC technologies

What is NFC?

NFC stands for Near Field Communications technology.  Essentially, it is a wireless communication standard which enables components to “speak” to one another over short ranges (of about 2 inches).  NFC technology is embedded in almost every smartphone released today, and many different industries use it for day to day applications such as digital wallets, public transportation cards, NFC based locks and more.

How do we use it?

The technology is based on placing a mobile phone close to another object.  Once the two come in contact, the NFC component “comes to life” and data communication begins.

NFC in Patrol-IT

Patrol-IT makes use in NFC technologies as follows:

• Each employee (field worker) has his personal NFC tag.  With this tag the employee can login to the system with his smartphone simply by attaching the tag to the device.  The application reads the NFC’s unique ID and identifies the employee.  This procedure replaces the manual entry of the employee’s username and password on each login activity
• Each location or checkpoint, has a personal NFC sticker installed locally.  In order to verify employee’s physical arrival at the right location during their visit, the employee simply reads the checkpoint’s NFC tag with their smartphone or Patrol-IT enabled device.  The system then reads the NFC tag’s unique ID and checks and verifies whether or not the checkpoint is the right location for the visit