NFC Forum Unveils First NFC Wearable Device Class

The NFC Forum unveiled a new NFC Device Class which provides device manufacturers and OEMs a miniature, low-cost, sustainable solution for wireless wearable devices.

The Card Emulation (CE) Device class is the first of its kind answering an industry need for wearable devices that provide basic functionality and longer battery life in a tiny footprint while maintaining interoperability with the NFC eco-system. Wearables are electronic devices that are physically worn by individuals or embedded into clothing and can provide a variety of services such as health monitoring and payment.

The CE Device works by emulating a contactless card and providing connectivity into an existing framework like a payment or access application.  Typical use cases along with the emulation of contactless banking cards for payment include fitness trackers and sports watches, smart glasses and smart clothing, public transport contactless tickets, smart rings, key fobs, gate access or anywhere card emulation functionality is required.  The Car Connectivity Consortium released an NFC CE compliant specification in version 2.0 of its Digital Key Specification.