NCI is a major new specification, created from the ground up, that defines a standard interface within an NFC device between an NFC controller and the device’s main application processor.

The availability of the NCI specification is significant because it makes it easier for device manufacturers to integrate chipsets from different chip manufacturers, and it defines a common level of functionality and interoperability among the components within an NFC-enabled device. Before the development of the NCI specification, device manufacturers had to create their own device-specific interface controllers to manage interactions between the device’s CPU and the NFC chip. With the availability of the NCI, manufacturers will have access to a standard interface they can use for whatever kind of NFC-enabled device they build – including mobile phones, PCs, tablets, printers, consumer electronics, and appliances. This will enable manufacturers to bring new NFC-enabled devices to market faster.

“With the publication of the NCI specification, device manufacturers will be able to integrate NFC controllers into their products quickly and simply,” says NFC Forum chairman Koichi Tagawa.

“This will ease chip sourcing and shorten time to market for new NFC-enabled devices of all kinds. I would like to recognise all of the NFC Forum Technical Committee members for their concerted effort to deliver this important specification.”

The NCI specification allows the control and management of the RF communication functionality offered by a device’s NFC controller. This NFC controller functionality is implemented according to the corresponding NFC Forum specifications. The NCI makes it easier to use NFC controllers from different sources, and it also makes it easier to use NFC controllers with different application processors and different NFC software stacks.

The NCI provides users a logical interface that can be used with different physical transports, such as UART, SPI, and I2C. It also offers a number of partitions that allow an implementer to include different sets of functionality in an NFC Controller. In Listen mode, the NCI supports routing traffic to different secure elements in the device, including those connected using different interfaces — for example, ETSI-HCI or ISO/IEC 7816.

Previously a candidate specification, the NCI specification is the latest of the Forum’s 21 published technical documents, which include Certification and Application Documents as well as Technical Specifications. NCI was adopted after a validation period and subsequent votes by the NFC Forum membership and Board. Access to all available technical documents is found on the Forum’s website.