The PN532 is the most popular NFC chip and is embedded in pretty much every phone or device that supports NFC. It can do almost anything: read and write tags and cards, communicate with phones (e.g., for payment processing), and behave like an NFC tag. If you want to do any kind of embedded NFC work, this is the chip you want to use.

NFC (Near Field Communications) is a way for two devices that are very close to each other to communicate. It is a type of Bluetooth with a very short range that does not require authentication. It is an extension of RFID, meaning that everything you can do with RFID, you can also do with NFC. You can also do more with NFC, such as bidirectional communication with mobile phones.

Since it can read and write tags, you can also use it for RFID tag projects. We offer a few different tags that work well with this chip. It can also work with any other NFC/RFID tag from type 1 to 4.

The PN532 is also very flexible. You can use 3.3V TTL UART with any baud rate, I2C, or SPI to communicate with it. This chip is also supported by libnfc. Just plug in an FTDI cable and use the FTDI serial port device for communication – this way, you can run NFC-Dev with any Linux/Mac/Windows computer! We also have an onboard power LED, a 3.3V regulator, and an FTDI header, so you can connect an FTDI friend or FTDI cable and use it with libnfc.

Included are: the PN532 breakout board with a tuned 13.56MHz stripline antenna, 0.1 headers, 2 jumpers/shunts, and a 4050 level shifter chip. We also include a 13.56MHz 1K card!.