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I want to do this: mobile app <-> NFC <-> microcontroller, in order the MCU can communicate with Android or iOS apps via NFC hardware.

I have two options of low-cost NFC chips, these chips don't support the same standards. Supported standards are:

  • ISO 14443, using NFC chip M24SR04

or

  • ISO 15693 and ISO 18000-3, using NFC chip M24LR04E

Which of theses standards is most used in modern smartphones? Or both are supported on most mobiles? I want to make a choose regarding the NFC chip based on that information.

Actually I want to make it via NFC and I don't want any type of RFID, I want to communicate the MCU with the apps via NFC.

This is on Wikipedia:

  • ISO/IEC 14443 Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit cards -- Proximity cards is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it.

  • ISO/IEC 15693, is an ISO standard for vicinity cards, i.e. cards which can be read from a greater distance as compared with proximity cards. Such cards can normally be read out by a reader without being powered themselves, as the reader will supply the necessary power to the card over the air (wireless).

  • ISO/IEC 18000-3 is an international standard for passive RFID item level identification and describes the parameters for air interface communications at 13.56 MHz.

Regards.

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    \$\begingroup\$ ISO 14443 cards too, are powered by the reader/phone. This is not specific to ISO 15693. \$\endgroup\$
    – dim
    Mar 5, 2020 at 12:15

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If you take a look at the page of the NFC-forum https://nfc-forum.org/what-is-nfc/about-the-technology/ you can see that every device that has NFC and the NFC-logo supports both ISO/IEC 14443 and ISO/IEC 15693.

You also mentioned ISO/IEC 18000. This genrally has nothing to do with NFC and refers to RFID.

Back to your two ICs. Both of them will be able to communicate with modern smartphones and even older ones like the Nexus 5. These are the main differences:

  • M24SR has more options for sending an interrupt to the µC
  • M24LR has the added benefit to harvest some energy from the field

Some more information:

If you need energy harvesting (or even if not) there are other ICs you could use as well. The ST25DV-line from ST is the succesor to the M24LR and 'NTAG I2C plus' is an alternative from NXP. But dont expect the availible energy to be much. Depending on the Smartphone and your antenna it will be somewhat around 10mW.

I would suggest you use NDEF-messages for the communication since this will make your life android-wise much easier and wont be to hard to handle for the I²C communication.

One last tip for you: There are eval/demo/discovery-boards for all the ICs with availble source code for both µC and android app.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I will not need energy harvesting, so M24SR would be better I think. In my case, the NFC is only for communication. \$\endgroup\$
    – abomin3v3l
    Mar 6, 2020 at 0:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't see advantages of using ST25DV instead of M24SR. They just seem to do the same things. \$\endgroup\$
    – abomin3v3l
    Mar 6, 2020 at 0:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ The main difference between ST25DV and M24SR is the protocol, that in your case is not that relevant. So both will be fine, unless you need communication distances larger than a few centimeters. In that case the ISO/IEC 15693 would be superior. \$\endgroup\$
    – mais
    Mar 6, 2020 at 7:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ Ok, thanks. And as you said, ISO 15693 will be present on most smartphones with NFC technology, correct? \$\endgroup\$
    – abomin3v3l
    Mar 6, 2020 at 13:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ That is correct! \$\endgroup\$
    – mais
    Mar 6, 2020 at 14:39

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