Wireless Fingerprint Attendance System

Based on ZigBee Technology

LI Jian-po, ZHU Xu-ning, LI Xue, ZHANG Zhi-ming

Ji-sheng SUI

Information Engineering College

Northeast Dianli University
Jilin, China
jianpoli@163.com

Jilin Electric Power Co. Limited

Changchun, China
zhuxuning2005@126.com

AbstractAiming at the disadvantages of traditional wire

attendance system, a design method of wireless fingerprint
attendance system based on ZigBee technology is proposed. The
system includes terminal fingerprint acquisition module and
attendance management module in computer. It can realize
automatically such functions as information acquisition of
fingerprint, processing, wireless transmission, fingerprint
matching, and attendance management. Considering the fact and
topology of ZigBee network, the system designs wireless local
area network which is cluster tree network. To resolve the
problem of time delay when the image is transmitted by ZigBee
technology, the traditional transmission mode is improved. The
experiment results show the transmission time is saved over one
third and transmission efficiency is improved greatly. It realized
low-cost and high-performance wireless fingerprint attendance
function, which provided a new wireless fingerprint attendance
system for enterprises and institutions.
Keywords-ZigBee technology; Fingerprint
Attendance System; Wireless communication

I.

identification;

INTRODUCTION

Attendance management is one of the most basic and

important management links. It can reflect truly staff
attendance, which provides references for competent
authorities. It plays an important role in improving the
enterprises management efficiency and level. Currently, the
magnetic card attendance system is widely used. This pattern is
flexible and practical. But it has some disadvantages. For
example, the card is easy to lost and damage. The fingerprint
has a lot of advantages, such as unique, permanent, good
anti-fake and easy to use. So it is recognized increasingly by
people [1]. ZigBee technology is an emerging technology
developed in recent years. Comparing with some existing
wireless communication technologies, ZigBee has advantages
in low-power and low-cost. It is very suitable for application to
wireless sensor networks [2]. Aiming at the disadvantages of
traditional wire attendance system, a design method of wireless
fingerprint attendance system based on ZigBee technology is
proposed. It achieves attendance management by fingerprint
identification. At the same time, the system combines ZigBee
wireless technology and attendance management. It realized
low-cost, low-power and high-performance fingerprint
information acquisition, transmission and recognition function,
which provided a new attendance way for enterprises and
institutions.

II.

SYSTEM STRUCTURE

The system consists of fingerprint acquisition module,

transmission and receiving module, and attendance
management workstation. Fingerprint acquisition module is
used to realize fingerprint collecting and pre-treatment.
Transmission and receiving module is used to send the
fingerprint image to upper computer. Attendance management
workstation is used to realize fingerprint extraction and
matching in order to realize attendance function. The system
structural model is shown in Fig.1.
III.

ZIGBEE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY

ZigBee is a synonym for IEEE 802.15.4 protocol, which is

a hot topic research in short-distance wireless communication
technology. Its main advantages are low-power, short-distance,
low-complexity, self organization, low-speed, low-cost, and so
on. It is widely used in building automatic control, industry
autoimmunization, monitoring and control of hospital and
home and other fields [3].
A. Zigbee Network Topology
Different network topologies built up by ZigBee devices
are star topology, cluster tree topology and mesh network.
They are shown in Fig.2. For all network topologies applies
that there can only be one coordinator in each network [3, 4].
Fig.2 (a) is a star topology. In the star topology a
coordinator is responsible for the network. All other devices
are end devices and communicate directly with the coordinator.
This topology is suitable for networks with a centralized device
and for time critical applications.
Fig.2 (b) is a cluster tree network. In tree network
coordinators are still responsible for the network initiating and

Fingerprint Collector

RS-232

Fingerprint Collector

Upper workstation
Fingerprint Collector

Receiver

Fingerprint Collector

Figure 1. Structural model of attendance system

978-1-4244-5874-5/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

(a) Star network

(b) cluster tree network

(c) Mesh network

Figure 2. Zigbee network topology

maintenance. But routers can be used to extend the network.

Routers control the flow of data by using hierarchical routing
strategies in the network. They also may imply beacon enabled
network defined in IEEE 802.15.4 for periodical data
transmission.
Fig.2 (c) is a mesh network. In mesh network coordinators
are still responsible for the network initiating and maintenance.
Routers can be used to extend the network. A mesh network
shall allow full peer-to-peer communication. This does not
include communication between RFD-RFD which is not
possible. Routing of data is decentralized in mesh network
where the different devices perform the routing in the network.
A mesh network is in this way self healing so that if a node
fails another route is used for the delivery [5, 6].
B. Network Structure Design
Wireless fingerprint attendance system combines wireless
transmission technology and fingerprint recognition
technology, which are in two different areas. The main idea of
fingerprint recognition technology is using advanced
algorithms to improve the success rate of fingerprint matching
and reduce the false acceptance rate and rejection rate of
fingerprint images. The wireless transmission technology
attaches importance to the validity and reliability of data
transmission. The main technology is improving bandwidth
utilization rate to realize reliable data transmission through
efficient modulation and coding. Because ZigBee technology
uses 2.4G free frequency band, its transmission rate is greatly
curtailed. So it is necessary to maximize its payload. The
application object of the system is used to enterprise staff
attendance. The network range is small. The structure is
simple. The node number is not too much. The system requires
the node expansion, move, maintenance easily. Considering the
actual situation and the ZigBee characteristics, the system uses
a cluster tree network structure.
ZigBee cluster tree network is established using an office
building. The model is shown in Fig.3. The office building has
five storeys. Each storey has eight rooms. The room width is
about five meters. There is a fingerprint acquisition terminal in
each room. The network coordinator is placed in main control
room on the third floor. Because ZigBee transmission distance
through walls is about ten meters, in the middle of every four
terminals there is a router in the corridor on each storey. The
router is used to forward and transmit the image data to
increase the signal transmission distance. The routers on

Figure 3. Network schematic diagram

adjacent storey can transmit data with each other. The routers
on the same storey can also communicate with each other. The
communication distance can reach between 30 and 70 meters if
there is no barrier.
Take example for a room on the fourth storey, when the
fingerprint acquisition module collects the fingerprint data. It
transmits them to the neighbor router. The router will look for
the best path for transmission, passing the data to the router on
the third storey. According to the same model, the router passes
the data to the router on the second story. Then the router
passes the data to the coordinator of this network. This is a
complete fingerprint data acquisition process.
C. Improvement of Transmission Mode
In traditional ZigBee transmission mode, the system adopts
waiting and confirming mode during data transmission. After
the transmission equipment sends a data frame every time. If
the receiving device accurately receives the frame, it will
generate and return a confirmation frame. The transmission
equipment will continue sending data after the confirmation
frame is received. Otherwise, the transmission equipment will
resend the data frame. In this system, transmission data is
image, which has greater data quantity. It will cost a lot of time
using the traditional transmission mode. So the system is
improved as following. Firstly, fingerprint is stored in the
cache. The transmission equipment starts to send a control
signal, waiting for receiving module ready or not. If the
receiving module is ready, the transmission equipment sends
data constantly. When all the image data is transmitted, the
receiving module will return a confirmation message. If the
information shows attendance is successful, it will close the RF
transceiver. If it shows attendance fails. The transmission
equipment will resend the image data again until it is
successful. The improved method can greatly enhance data
transmission speed.
This paper selects Network Simulator (NS) as the
simulation software. It is an open source simulation platform.
Users can develop an object module by inheriting NS class [7,
8]. Network model is shown in Fig.3. For example, the image
size of a fingerprint is 91.5Kb, which is collected from each
storey. It is sent to the coordinator in the third storey. Through

Time(s)

A. Fingerprint Acquisition Module

Fingerprint acquisition equipment mainly has three kinds:
optical fingerprint sensors, semiconductor fingerprint sensors
and ultrasonic fingerprint sensors. Because the semiconductor
fingerprint sensors have the character of small-size, low-cost,
and easy-integration. The system adopts the fingerprint sensor,
FPS200, which is a new generation of semiconductor
fingerprint sensors developed by Verdicom Company [9]. The
product combines the different fingerprint ridge, valley and
other texture information. Even if the fingerprint is dry, wet or
rough, it still can choose an optimal image from multiple
fingerprint images of the same finger and store the image in
memory. The fingerprint resolution reaches 500dpi. The
connection between FPS200 and TMS320C5409 adopts
microprocessor interface mode. The connection circuit is
shown in Fig.6. INTR is an external interrupt of DSP. When a
finger is pressed on the sensor, it will generate an external
interrupt for DSP. FPS200 reads automatically fingerprint data.

The average time of transferring a fingerprint image

8
o
TT
6
IT
+
o
4
+
o
2
+
o
+
0
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Jump

Figure 4. The simulation results of two kinds of transmission

TABLE I.

THE AVERAGE TIME OF TRANSFER A FINGERPRINT IMAGE (S)

Transmission

1-Jump

2-Jump

3-Jump

4-Jump

Traditional transmission

1.44

3.05

4.81

6.12

Improved transmission

0.92

1.92

3.06

4.06

The improvement in speed

35.8%

37.2%

36.4%

33.7%

the simulation experiment, the fingerprint image, which is

obtained from each storey, is sent to the coordinator. The
simulation result is shown in Fig.4 and table1. In Fig.4TT
indicates the traditional transmission, IT indicates the improved
transmission.

B. ZigBee Transmission Module

ZigBee reduce-function node mainly uses ZigBee
technology to send data to the upper full-function node in time
and receive the transmitted signals of full-function node.
ZigBee reduce-function node mainly uses RF communication
module, which is shown in Fig.7. MC13192 is a RF transceiver
chip, which accords with ZigBee standard, developed by
Freescale Company [10]. Because the RF signals of MC13192
use differential mode and the inverted F-antenna is
single-ended antenna, a balanced-unbalanced impedance
conversion circuit should be used between the chip and antenna
in order to achieve the best sending and receiving.

The result in table1 and Fig.4 shows using the improved

transmission mode can save time over one third when
transmitting the same fingerprint image. The transmission
efficiency of the system is greatly increased.
SYSTEM HARDWARE DESIGN

IV.

The wireless fingerprint attendance system based on

ZigBee technology mainly consists of processors, fingerprint
acquisition module, ZigBee transmission module, power
management module, memory module, and so on. Fingerprint
acquisition module and ZigBee transmission module is the
system core. The system principle diagram is shown in Fig.5.

VCC
DSP
DATA
WR

HR/W

Clock Circuit

R/W
A0

Power module

CLKR0

RAM

JTAG emulator

INT0

RD
A0

WAIT
1NTR
CS0

MSTRB

FLASH

Transmission module

Fingerprint module

I/O Interface Circuit

CS1

FPS
200

MODED
MODEI
AIN

WR

XTAL1
XTAL2
DM
DP
ISET
FSET

RD
A0
WAIT
1NTR
CS0

Figure 6. Principle diagram of FPS200 interface module

Figure 5. Principle diagram of acquisition and transmission module

27

3
4

XTAL2

6.8pF
PAO_M
MC13192

5
3

L2
VCCA
2
10pF
3

3
5

10pF

INT_P
INT_M

6.8nH

RFIN_P
XTAL1
PAO_P
X1

8.2nH

16MHz

6.8pF
24

RFIN_M

2
1
LDB212G4020C

10pF 1

OUT1

VDD

OUT2

IN

GND VCONT

6
5

10pF

UPG2012TK
1

10pF

LDB212G4020C

Figure 7. Principle diagram of wireless transmission

ANTENNA

8.2nH

0.5pF

C. ZigBee Receiver Module

ZigBee receiving module is used to receive and upload the
terminal fingerprint data. It is a full-function device as a
network coordinator. In addition, it requires a RS-232 interface
connected with PC to achieve fingerprint attendance record.
Other structures are similar to reduce-function device.
V.

SYSTEM SOFTWARE DESIGN

ZigBee receiving module needs to work firstly as a network

coordinator. It initializes firstly protocol stack after power-on
and detects energy to select the appropriate channel and starts
coordinator. Now the receiving module allows ZigBee devices
connecting with it. It receives fingerprint image data from
every terminal and transmits them to PC. Then it sends the
matching result to the terminal. Fingerprint acquisition terminal
scans the channel after power-on to look for the network
coordinator. Then it will establish connection with the
coordinator. After connection is successful, it will synchronize
with the coordinator through beacon which is sent by
coordinator. It begins to collect fingerprint images and send
them to the coordinator. The software flow chart is shown in
Fig.8 and Fig.9.
VI.

CONCLUSION

Aiming at the disadvantages of traditional wire attendance

system, a design method of wireless fingerprint attendance
system based on ZigBee technology is proposed. The paper
gives the system hardware circuit and software flow chart.
Considering low-rate and short-distance characteristic of
ZigBee technology, ZigBee network structure and transmission
mode is improved. The transmission time is saved over one
third and transmission efficiency is improved greatly. The
system realized low-cost, low-power, efficient and stable
attendance function. It has important reference and practical
value for security, finance, credit consumption, immigration
management and the other fingerprint recognition field.

Figure 8. The receiving coordinator flow chart

Figure 9. The fingerprint collection terminal flow chart

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