NRF52 pair to NRF52 using NFC possible?

[zachtos]

I would like to know if it's possible to pair two NRF52832 together using NFC. NOT an android phone to an NRF52, but a central NRF52 standalone connect to a peripheral NRF52 standalone. Can the NRF52 generate RFID tag field for other NRF to read the tag and setup connection, or is there a way to do this?

Engineers have code for button press pairing, which is OK, but does not solve issue for multiple users pairing at same time in close corridors for our product. We really need NFC so they can tap to pair and avoid accidental pairings. Maybe even we create an RFID tag that initiates pairing if read by an NRF52, then it advertises? But does not solve issue of the central not grabbing a different nearby peripheral.

Really just need the central to show its MAC address to the peripheral, then the peripheral connects directly, or vice versa.

[RK]

No because the NFC facility on the nRF52 series is only an NFC listening device, it can't transmit, so you can't use two of them to talk to each other in that way.

[Krzysztof Zaraska]

NRF52 cannot be used as an NFC initiator (scanner), only as NFC target (tag).

However, the SDK contains code for handling the PN532 IC which can be used as both initiator and target.

[zachtos]

If it can only read data, is it possible to have it read a tag that we create at factory that has the MAC address written to the tag, then have it pair to the MAC address it read from the tag, which just happens to match the central device?

[zachtos]

Hmm, the PN532 IC seemed quite expensive per 1000 unit, nearly $4USD?

[Krzysztof Zaraska]

TRF7970 from TI is another option (except no SDK support, so you have to code it yourself). $2.75/pc @ 3000pcs on Digikey (296-29355-2-ND).