What affect on the range of reading NfcTag? What can I do to make it wider?

Question

I made the app which is writing/reading nfc tags, but I'm not satisfied with the range of reading tags. My stuff which I'm working with is:

• Nexus 10 for read/write Tags,
• this tags.

I searching about info in the net and for example the wiki says that "the maximum working distance is less then 20cm", great result for me would be 10cm, because my goal is to get info from tag, when they are putted in any place on the screen. Now I need to put tag on the surface of tablet where the reader is placed. I used to write my tag in NDEF format so this type with the highest priority of intent.

What can I do to make range of reading wider?

Is there any settings which can improve range? Tech-tags?

Answer 1

What can I do to make range of reading wider?

Build your own device, with an emphasis on extending the range.

Is there any settings which can improve range?

Not at the SDK level. I cannot rule out the possibility that there is something at the OS level, but this would require modifying the OS itself and creating a ROM mod. And I would be somewhat surprised if this would help, as I expect the range will mostly be governed by the NFC receiver hardware, not driver configuration.

Answer 2

The main limitation for NFC reading with a mobile phone is the power consumption of the reader. To act over a wider distance, the reader needs to generate a stronger RF / magentic field, which will have a big impact on the battery life.

In addition, NFC is currently defined for proximity RFID (such as ISO14443), which are meant to work only over short distance (a few cm). Most reader ICs (and most phones) will support also vicinity RFID (ISO15693), which is designed to work over larger distance (a few meters with a large antenna), however the power consumption is the limiting factor in reality.

If someone would beef up the RF output in a phone, then the heat dissipation would come as next challenge.

One option to get at least the maximum out of the given limitations of a phone, would be to select a NFC tag with an antenna which matches the phones antenna in shape and size to get the best coupling possible.