RFID-Based Students Attendance Management System

Sakshi Daftari, Ruchika Tiwari, Sanya Gandhi, Surabhi Bhutada VII Semester, Electronics Engineering, De artment of Electronics Engineering !nder the guidance of "rof# "anka$ %oshi, De artment of Electronics Engineering Shri Ramdeobaba &ollege of Engineering and 'anagement, (ag ur

Abstract
In recent years, there ha)e been rise in the number of a lications based on Radio *re+uency Identification ,R*ID- systems and ha)e been successfully a lied to different areas as di)erse as trans ortation, health.care, agriculture, and hos itality industry etc# R*ID technology facilitates automatic wireless identification using electronic assi)e and acti)e tags with suitable readers# In this a er, an attem t is made to sol)e recurrent lecture attendance monitoring roblem in de)elo ing countries using R*ID technology# The a lication of R*ID to student attendance monitoring as de)elo ed and de loyed in this study is ca able of eliminating time wasted during manual collection of attendance and an o ortunity for the educational administrators to ca ture face.to.face classroom statistics for allocation of a ro riate attendance scores and for further managerial decisions#

caused students to be less moti)ated to come to the lecture rooms than e)er before# /a0iness on the art of students, nonchalance to school work, e1tra social acti)ities that ha)e no im ortance in aiding the ob$ecti)es of the institution and a lot more, may re)ent students from attending lectures# Se+uel to these, lecturers and administrators in most de)elo ing countries ha)e had to come u with ways to ensure a healthy artici ation from students, and make sure that the student. lecturer interacti)e relationshi is ke t intact# This in some cases ha)e come in sim le forms like roll calls, while in more interesting cases, can be formats like sur rise +ui00es, e1tra credit in class, etc# These strategies are howe)er time consuming, stressful and laborious because the )aluable lecture time that could otherwise been used for lectures is dedicated to student attendance taking and sometimes not accurate# In addition to all these challenges, the attendances are recorded manually by the tutor and therefore are rone to ersonal errors# There arises a need for a more efficient and effecti)e method of sol)ing this roblem# 2 technology that can sol)e this roblem and e)en do more is the R*ID technology# R*ID is an automated

Introduction
The emergence of electronic aradigm for learning com ared to traditional method and a)ailability of almost all information on the information su erhighway,Internet-, nowadays ha)e

identification and data collection technology, that ensures more accurate and timely data entry# R*ID is not actually a new technology3 it only +uickly gained more attention recently because of its current low cost and ad)ances in other com uting fields that o en u more a lication areas# R*ID combines radio fre+uency and microchi technologies to create a smart system that can be used to identify, monitor, secure and do ob$ect in)entory# 2t their sim lest, R*ID systems use tiny chi s called 4tags that contain and transmit some iece of identifying information to an R*ID reader, a de)ice that in turn can interface with com uters # The ability of R*ID systems to deli)er recise and accurate data about tagged items will im ro)e efficiency and bring other benefits to business community and consumers alike in the not distant future# In this a er, we resent an intelligent R*ID based lecture attendance access control and management system tailored around (igerian !ni)ersities5 &ommission ,(!&- olicy of ensuring a 678 course attendance by students for a course before likelihood of writing a semester e1amination for any course# The a lication of R*ID Technology to student course attendance monitoring roblem es ecially in de)elo ing countries in our ro osition will lead to elimination or reduction of the +uality time wasted during manual collection of attendance, creation of a student database management system that is not rone to errors or being mani ulated by anyone and abo)e all aids in better management of classroom statistics for allocation of attendance scores in the final grading of student erformance in a articular course#

Materials and Method

The rimary ur ose of an R*ID system in this a lication area is to detect the resence and absence of the student data to be transmitted wirelessly by mobile de)ice, called a tag, which is read by an R*ID reader and rocessed according to the rogrammed instructions on the ersonal com uter ,"&-# The ease with which R*ID can be integrated into current o erations de ends on the o enness and fle1ibility of the technology infrastructure es ecially the "& that will be used to collect and collate R*ID data# The ro osed system ro)ides solution to lecture attendance roblem through coordinated hardware and software design handshaking data communications between R*ID tag and R*ID reader serially interfaced to the digital com uter system# The de)elo ed attendance management system in this work abides by the following hardware are described as follows#

Fig. Block diagram of the R*ID.Based Students 2ttendance 'anagement System

Hardware Design Considerations

In R*ID systems, an item is tagged with a tiny silicon chi lus an antenna collecti)ely called a tag# The tag can be mobile or stationary and be scanned by stationary or mobile readers res ecti)ely, using radio wa)es# The tag can be encoded with a uni+ue identifier, allowing tagged items to be indi)idually identified by the reader# In each scanning case, a reader must scan the tag for the data it contains and then send that information to a database, which inter rets the data stored on the tag# The tag, reader, and database are the key com onents of an R*ID system# The ro osed R*ID system offer many ad)antages to this design a lication because electronic tags can be embedded into student con)entional means of identification ,student ID card-3 the electronic tag can be read during motion3 no batteries are needed3 no line of sight re+uired for wireless communication between the tag and the reader3 Tags are almost indestructible, can be read e)en if co)ered with dirt or submerged and tags ha)e unalterable ermanent serial code that re)ents tam ering# The TR.R79.:E' reader board erforms all the functions necessary for the R*ID reading station# It continuously reads and

decodes trans onders that are within its reading range# ;hen a trans onder tag asses within range of the reader antenna, the R* magnetic field generated by the reader owers the tag# The data is then sent as a acket using a two wire RS<=< ,or TT/- interface# ;hile the tag remains within reading range, it will be continuously owered and the reader will continuously transmit its data# The reader has two connectors> 2 female DB?, and a <#9mm D& %ack# The female DB? ro)ides the RS<=< serial out ut from the reader# "in < is the transmit signal out ut ,T@D-# It is connected to recei)e ,R@D- signal in ut of the com uter )ia the DB? to !SB interface cable# "in A is the common ground reference signal and is connected to the common ground of the com uter )ia the DB? to !SB interface cable# The D& ower $ack is used to ower the reader# The centre in of the $ack is connected to the ositi)e side of a ?.9<V D& ower su ly# The outer conductor is connected to the negati)e side of the ower su ly ,?V D& battery-# 2 single antenna is re+uired for owering and reading the assi)e trans onders ,tags-# The antenna is used in series resonant circuit, formed by ca acitor, inductor and resistor# The antenna is a s+uare antenna ?cm @ ?cm with B= turns, inductance of 9#ABmC with

97 ohm resistance# The reading range is s herical with the antenna located at the e+uator# 'inimum and ma1imum read range is determined by the surface area of the tag# The system was set u as gi)en below> a# &onnecting the 'ale head of the RS<=< serial cable to the *emale DB? ort of the R*ID reader#

b# &onnecting the !SB end of the serial cable to one of the !SB orts of the com uter system being used# c# &onnecting the ?V dc battery to the 2da ter and then the ada ter to the R*ID reader5s ower $ack# d# Determination of the a ro riate &:' ort of the com uter used, and ensure that it corres onds to the one used within the rogramming code written to control the system

So tware Design Considerations

In the de)elo ment cycle of the system, decisions were made on the arts of the system to be reali0ed in the hardware design and the arts to be im lemented in software# The software is decom osed into modules so that each module can be indi)idually tested as a unit and debugged before the modules are integrated and tested as a software system in order to ensure that the software design meets its s ecification# The rogram was written in 'icrosoft Visual &D rogramming language for the front end while the backend was based on

'icrosoft SE/ Ser)er relational database management system ,RDB'S-#Visual &D was deri)ed from & language and &FF and enables the ra id a lication de)elo ment ,R2D- of gra hical user interface ,G!Ia lications, access to databases using tools such as D2:, RD:, 2D:, and the creation of 2cti)e@ controls and ob$ects# "rogramming in Visual &D ro)ides the user with the ability to utili0e a combination of )isually arranged com onents or controls on a form, s ecifying attributes and actions of those com onents, and writing additional lines of code for more functionality# The software was designed using the flowchart shown in *ig#

Fig. *lowchart showing the mode of o eration of the student attendance R*ID system#

System !"eration# $esting and Discussion

2 careful obser)ation of the trend of usage of R*ID tags leads one to consider the ossibility of its utili0ation for monitoring the attendance of students in educational institutions, with the aid of rogram dri)en com uters# ;hile e)ery student gi)en a s ecific R*ID tag attends the lecture through entrance door, a serial number ,related to each student5s matriculation number- of tag is associated with the student database entry# So e)ery time a student uses hisGher card, the entries will be entered into the database with the time stam # The use of webcam might be o tionally necessary to take a sna of the

erson using the card# ;ebcam reduces ro1y attendance attem ts# This is used to cross.)erify in the e)ent of an undesirable e)ent or dis ute# &onse+uently, the attendance data then can be used to create many ty es of re orts like daily attendance details, monthly, weekly and real time feedback to arents# The attendance score calculation can be automated using the collected data# The tag is acti)ated when it asses through a radio fre+uency ,R*- field ,9<A kC0 in this case-, which is generated by the antenna embedded within the reader bo1# The rogram checks whether the tag is )alid or not# If the tag is )alid, it will continue to the database rogram and registers the student5s attendance for the

course# If the tag is in)alid, the rogram gi)es a notification that the tag has not been registered to any student and re+uires the user to either su ly a )alid tag# Due to the reason of cost and fle1ibility of im lementation, this R*ID attendance design a lication uses a assi)e tag and thus for e)ery class, students would ha)e to bring their tags close to the reader ,about 97 cm from the reader-# :n doing this, the reader reads the tag and the a lication rogram records the student5s arri)al time and when lea)ing the class, students will also ha)e to bring their tags close to the reader again# ;ith records of arri)al and e1it time, a ro riate short message ser)ice is forwarded to the arents5 mobile hone number in real time or as a weekly smsGemail digest through the S'SGE'2I/ gateway Each course lecturer has R*ID tag that ser)es as the control for the beginning and end of classroom lecture with additional time delay for end of class acti)ation to allow ,G!I5s- of the R*ID system a lication control rogram#

e)ery student to record e1it time on the reader# The lecturerGinstructor can call for information o)er any student by using +ueries ro)ided by the a lication# 'ore fle1ibility and unconscious interaction of students to the de)elo ed system can be achie)ed by using acti)e tags# This will increase the o)erall cost of the system# 2t the end of the semester, the lecturer can grade students attendance scores in a articular course based on some s ecific metrics ro)ided in the a lication# The selected metrics could be fre+uency of resence in class, duration of stay in class, unctuality, etc# The rogram gi)es the following out ut> student name, 'atriculation number, tag ID number, de artment, the course in +uestion and the attendance status based on the s ecified metrics# 2 ri)ileged user can de.assign students from their s ecific tag, and reassign the tag to other students if need be as shown in the Gra hical !ser Interfaces ho e that this system can shift the aradigm of students5 lecture attendance monitoring in face.face classroom and ro)ide a new, accurate, and less cumbersome way of taking student attendance in (igerian Cigher Institutions#

Conclusion
2s the R*ID technology e)ol)es, more so histicated a lications will use the ca ability of R*ID to recei)e, store and forward data to a remote sink source# R*ID has many a lications as can be imagined# In this a er, we ha)e utili0ed the )ersatility of R*ID in im lementing functional and automatic student course attendance recording system that allows students to sim ly fill their attendance $ust by swi ing or mo)ing their ID cards o)er the R*ID reader which are located at the entrance of lecture halls with a considerable degree of success and acce tability of usage in our faculty# ;e

Recommendations
E)ery good engineering design inno)ation has limitations# This assi)e R*ID based lecture attendance monitoring system is not without limitation as a data collection technology with accurate and timely data entry# Cence, the limitation of this design would be im ro)ed u on in future by considering the following salient recommendations> By incor orating a facial recognition a lication that would ser)e to further increase the biometric

security of the system against im ersonation by erring students# !sage of Cigh *re+uency ,C*- acti)e R*ID tags against assi)e /ow fre+uency ,/*- R*ID tags for better erformance and fle1ibility of users "erformance e)aluation of combination of thumb rint, facial recognition and R*ID technology to students5 attendance monitoring roblem#

H<I Cenry# S, S# 2ri)a0hagan and /# Ganesan ,<77=-, N*inger rint Verification !sing ;a)elet TransformK, International &onference on &om utational Intelligence and 'ultimedia 2 lications, <77=# H=I'altoni D, D# 'aio, 2# J# %ain, S# "rabhaker ,<77=-, NCandbook of *inger rint RecognitionK, S ringer, (ew Oork," 9=.<7# HMIVictor S, %onathan ', Reece %, and /emire % ,<77=-,KStudent ;olf ack &lub Tracking SystemK, (orth &arolina State !ni)ersity# !S2# Retrie)ed by HAI (ambiar 2#(# ,<77?-,K 2 su ly chain ers ecti)e of R*ID SystemsK, ;orld 2cademy of Science, Engineering and Technology %ournal, Volume L, 9.A#

Re erences
H9I &hitresh, S and 2mit J ,<797-,K2n efficient 2utomatic 2ttendance !sing *inger rint Verification Techni+ue K,International %ournal on &om uter Science and Engineering ,I%&SE-,Vol# < (o# <, <LM.<L?#