Journal of Advanced Research in Embedded System

Volume 5, Issue 1&2 - 2018, Pg. No. 14-20

Peer Review Journal
Research Article

RFID Based Attendance System

Saurabh Bansod1, Shraddha Choudhary2, Vijay Prakash Meena3
Dept. of Electronics NIELIT Aurangabad, Maharashtra India.
1,2,3

Abstract
There is a need of constant monitoring of students and employees attendance in small scale industries
and other organizations as the pay of the employee in case of daily wage workers hired by the company,
often the dealer’s plunger the hard earned money so this system acts as the judgment and act of validation
so that all the workers and other wage workers may have a direct account of how many days they have
worked and how many days they need to be paid for, this leads to their empowerment and upliftment
and this is how we can support them in a smallest manner and also there is a need in small schools who
cannot afford a complicated system already available in the market it is a simple, hand and effective tool
to be used in their work places.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic
tag, called RFID tag or label, attached to an object, through a reader for the Purpose of identifying and
tracking the object. RFID technology which is a matured technology that has been widely deployed by
various organizations as part of their automation systems. In this study, an RFID based system has been
built in order to produce a time-attendance Management system. This system consists of two main parts
which include: the hardware and the Software

Keywords: RFID technology, RFID discovery, RFID components, RFID applications, RFID in healthcare

Introduction employee show his card before time then computer show
a present, but same card exit the premises before time
In this particular project we show that how we provide an then same data base is store as absent. Every time when
advance attendance system with time management system. we show the card to the RF reader then LCD connected
In this project we use one hardware circuit with RF reader with the microcontroller show its name. If the card is not
interface and RF passive card for attendance system. RF registered with the data base then LCD display show a sorry
reader system is connected to the PC via COM port. We message. We register the new card entry with software
install visual basic base GUI software in the computer with any time. In/out timing for entry is also to be change
data base in access. Whenever we show any card to the in data RFID, which is an acronym for Radio Frequency
hardware system then reader gets the data of RF card with Identification, is not a new technology. It was first used in
the help of 125 KHz frequencies. Reader gets the data and the late 1960’s, but it has only become more widespread
transfers this data to. AVR immediate processes this data with advances in technology. RFID Systems consist of a
and transfers this data to the PC via com port. PC gets transponder, also known as a tag, which is basically a
this data and compares the data with data base in access. microchip connected to an antenna. The tag is mounted
In data base we already register the Passive card code to an item, such as a pallet of goods in a warehouse, and
number with ID number. For every card we issue a special a device called a reader communicates with the tag via
ID number. In this software we use RTC time interface. In radio waves. Depending on the type of tag that is used, the
the data base system we enter the in/out for entry. If the reader can receive detailed information or it can receive

Corresponding Author: Vijay Prakash Meena, Dept. of Electronics NIELIT Aurangabad, Maharashtra India.
E-mail Id: [email protected]
Orcid Id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3666-3688
How to cite this article: Bansod S, Choudhary S, Meena VP. RFID Based Attendance System. J Adv Res Embed Sys 2018; 5(1&2): 14-20.

Copyright (c) 2018 Journal of Advanced Research in Embedded System (ISSN: 2395-3802)
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data as simple as an identification number. RFID is similar to needed that could solve these problems and for a small
barcode systems in which data, such as a price, is accessed scaled institutions its expensive to make a fingerprint
when the barcode is read. based data base of each student and make them follow
the routine, as per the observations of research it was
How the Low Cost System Works concluded that all the students are issued a photo identity
card in which the institution invests a lot of capital, with
When the transponder, which is battery free, is to be this card the tags could be integrated with less capital,
read, the reader sends out a 134.2 KHz power pulse to the allowing the institution to easily handle any number of
antenna lasting approximately 50ms. The magnetic field students according to their strength.
generated is ‘collected’ by the antenna in the transponder
that is tuned to the same frequency. This received AC The primary purpose of an RFID system in this application
energy is rectified and stored on a small capacitor within area is to detect the presence and absence of the student
the transponder. When the power pulse has finished the data to be transmitted wirelessly by mobile device, called
transponder immediately transmits back its data, using a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed
the energy stored within its capacitor as its power source. according to the programmed instructions on the personal
computer (PC). The ease with which RFID can be integrated
In total 128 bits are transmitted (including error detection into current operations depends on the scores in the final
grading of student performance in a particular course.

Hardware Design and Consideration

The design of an RFID chip is just a small silicon tag, when
the radio wave from the reader hits it the tag responds to
it and sends and encrypted number (tag number) which is
unique for each ID. The tag can be mobile or stationary and
be scanned by stationary or mobile readers respectively,
Figure 1.Block diagram of RFID apparatus using radio waves. The tag can be encoded with a unique
information) over a period of 20ms. This data is picked up identifier, allowing tagged items to be individually identified
by the receiving antenna and decoded by the reader unit. by the reader. In each scanning case, a reader must scan the
Once all the data has been transmitted the storage capacitor tag for the data it contains and then send that information
is discharged resetting the transponder to make it ready to a database, which interprets the data stored on the tag.
for the next read cycle. The period between transmission The tag, reader, and database are the key components of
pulses is known as the ‘sync time’ and lasts between 20ms an RFID system.
and 50ms depending on the system setup.
At a simple level, RFID systems consist of three components:
Ease of use an RFID tag or smart label, an RFID reader, and an antenna.
RFID tags contain an integrated circuit and an antenna,
There already exists many works in the literature, there which are used to transmit data to the RFID reader (also
already areas where RFID’s are widely used like in malls to called an interrogator). The reader then converts the radio
detect theft which is basically a theft intimation/Prevention waves to a more usable form of data. Information collected
system there are places where these are used in the fields from the tags is then transferred through a communications
to detect the movement of animals in farms to locate, interface to a host computer system, where the data can
purchasing and tracking packages in the postal system in be stored in a database and analyzed at a later time.
many countries, the most cheap and efficient used of this
this system is in the field of education as we believe that The proposed RFID system offer many advantages to this
most of the time and energy is invested while a teacher design application because electronic tags can be embedded
takes up attendance of a class, generally it is a long process into student conventional means of identification (student
to collect the daily data of the present students and it takes ID card); the electronic tag can be read during motion; no
a lot of efforts to calculate the present percentage, which batteries are needed; no line of sight required for wireless
is again a criteria in many engineering colleges and schools communication between the tag and the reader; Tags are
to award a child in the basis of how many days they have almost indestructible, can be read even if covered with
been in college, to address these problems a system us dirt or submerged and tags have unalterable permanent
serial code that prevents tampering.

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a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or

a square wave. Oscillators convert direct current (DC) from
a power supply to an alternating current (AC) signal. Here
the circuit is used to create a sine wave as a reference to
which all the operations are performed by the controlling
IC i.e., Atmega 328P,the crystal mechanically vibrates as a
resonator, and its frequency of vibration determines the
oscillation frequency. Crystals have very high Q-factor
and also better temperature stability than tuned circuits,
so crystal oscillators have much better frequency stability
than LC or RC oscillators.

Reset Circuit
The circuit that detects the power applied to the chip and
Figure 2.Basic construction of RFID
generates a reset impulse that goes to the entire circuit
Circuit Designing placing it into a known state, A simple Power on reset uses
the charging of a capacitor, in series with a resistor, to
the circuit is designed to take minimum space but ample measure a time period during which the rest of the circuit
for the circuit to work, similarly it has been taken into the is held in a reset state.
consideration that the product of the final product should
be small enough so that it can be hidden in order to make 64 byte providing the option of creating eight characters
it tamper proof, complete care was taken that the circuit at a time. Each character is eight byte in size.
as well as its enclosure remains as compact as possible
without effecting the functioning of the product on whole. TTL to USB

Converts the output produces in hex format by the reader

module to ASCII format that can be received by the host pc
and can be understood by normal humans for assessment
and correction type of works.

Features

Apart from being reliable in its work the circuit has few
features in its construction, which are as mentioned below:

• Thermally balanced so that it can operate in extreme

conditions such as a hot day.
• All the components chosen have a long life thus giving
Figure 3.Block Diagram of circuit
long life to the circuit and overall product.
Reader section • The circuit is shock proof as the operating frequencies
EM-18 RFID reader is one of the commonly used RFID are harmless to humans, hence there will be no harm
reader to read 125 KHz tags. It features low cost, low if the repairing engineer tries to repair it in operating
power consumption, small form factor and easy to use. (worse case).
It provides both UART and Wiegand26 output formats. • The data collected through this system creates a file
It can be directly interfaced with microcontrollers using which adds a date, time, name of the student and
UART and with PC using an RS232 converter roll number
• Other details of the student can also be added with
Oscillator circuit the help of memory card or through any other sources
which can be included in the circuit.
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces

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Figure 5.Circuit Diagram

LCD Display

Generating custom characters on LCD is not very hard. It requires the knowledge about custom generated random
access memory (CG-RAM) of LCD and the LCD chip controller. Most LCDs contain Hitachi HD4478 controller. CG-RAM is
the main component in making custom characters. It stores the custom characters once declared in the code. CG-RAM
size is additional features that are added in the product are already described before in this paper.

PCB Designing

The PCB is designed considering the final shape and size of the product, in order to design the circuit the components,
care was taken that the circuit takes minimum size and all the rules for the designing criteria were meet with it.

Figure 6.PCB design

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Software Development
Flow chart

Figure 7.Attendance registration through com port

Figure 4.Working circuit (Demo)

Product Development
Although product development is creative, the discipline
requires a systematic approach to guide the processes that
are required to get a new product to market. Organizations
such as the Product Development and Management
The software developed for this project is an open source Association (PDMA) and the Product Development
com port reader which is written in java as well as .NET Institute (PDI) provide guidance about selecting the best
frameworks available on the Internet for free of use, there development framework for a new product or service. A
are many programs available in market/ the web but they framework helps structure the actual product development.
are not sufficient as they can’t be completely trusted as Some frameworks, like the fuzzy front end (FFE) approach,
they work on virtual terminal and this is actually connected define what steps should be followed, but leave it up to
to a communication port of a Host PC, a screen shot of this the team to decide which order makes most sense for the
software is given below. specific product that is being developed. The five elements
of FFE product development are:

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Identification of design criteria - involves brainstorming course attendance recording system that allows students
possible new products. Once an idea has been identified as to simply fill their attendance just by swiping or moving
a prospective product, a more formal product development their id cards over the RFID reader which are located at
strategy can be applied. the entrance of lecture halls with a considerable degree
of success and acceptability of usage in our faculty. such
Idea analysis - involves a closer evaluation of the product a proposed system can shift the paradigm of student’s
concept. Market research and concept studies are lecture attendance monitoring in classroom and provide a
undertaken to determine if the idea is feasible or within new, accurate, and less cumbersome way of taking student
a relevant business context to the company or to the attendance in school. A low cost RFID based attendance
consumer. system prototype can be successfully developed. the
prototype of the system can provide several benefits over
Concept genesis - involves turning an identified product the conventional method of taking attendance.
opportunity into a tangible concept.
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