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
In this particular project we show that how we provide an
advance attendance system with time management system.
In this project we use one hardware circuit with RF reader
interface and RF passive card for attendance system. RF
reader system is connected to the PC via COM port. We
install visual basic base GUI software in the computer with
data base in access. Whenever we show any card to the
hardware system then reader gets the data of RF card with
the help of 125 KHz frequencies. Reader gets the data and
transfers this data to. AVR immediate processes this data
and transfers this data to the PC via com port. PC gets
this data and compares the data with data base in access.
In data base we already register the Passive card code
number with ID number. For every card we issue a special
ID number. In this software we use RTC time interface. In
the data base system we enter the in/out for entry. If the
employee show his card before time then computer show
a present, but same card exit the premises before time
then same data base is store as absent. Every time when
we show the card to the RF reader then LCD connected
with the microcontroller show its name. If the card is not
registered with the data base then LCD display show a sorry
message. We register the new card entry with software
any time. In/out timing for entry is also to be change
in data RFID, which is an acronym for Radio Frequency
Identification, is not a new technology. It was first used in
the late 1960’s, but it has only become more widespread
with advances in technology. RFID Systems consist of a
transponder, also known as a tag, which is basically a
microchip connected to an antenna. The tag is mounted
to an item, such as a pallet of goods in a warehouse, and
a device called a reader communicates with the tag via
radio waves. Depending on the type of tag that is used, 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: Vijaymn38@gmail.com
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
barcode systems in which data, such as a price, is accessed
when the barcode is read.
How the Low Cost System Works
When the transponder, which is battery free, is to be
read, the reader sends out a 134.2 KHz power pulse to the
antenna lasting approximately 50ms. The magnetic field
generated is ‘collected’ by the antenna in the transponder
that is tuned to the same frequency. This received AC
energy is rectified and stored on a small capacitor within
the transponder. When the power pulse has finished the
transponder immediately transmits back its data, using
the energy stored within its capacitor as its power source.
In total 128 bits are transmitted (including error detection
Figure 1.Block diagram of RFID apparatus
information) over a period of 20ms. This data is picked up
by the receiving antenna and decoded by the reader unit.
Once all the data has been transmitted the storage capacitor
is discharged resetting the transponder to make it ready
for the next read cycle. The period between transmission
pulses is known as the ‘sync time’ and lasts between 20ms
and 50ms depending on the system setup.
Ease of use
There already exists many works in the literature, there
already areas where RFID’s are widely used like in malls to
detect theft which is basically a theft intimation/Prevention
system there are places where these are used in the fields
to detect the movement of animals in farms to locate,
purchasing and tracking packages in the postal system in
many countries, the most cheap and efficient used of this
this system is in the field of education as we believe that
most of the time and energy is invested while a teacher
takes up attendance of a class, generally it is a long process
to collect the daily data of the present students and it takes
a lot of efforts to calculate the present percentage, which
is again a criteria in many engineering colleges and schools
to award a child in the basis of how many days they have
been in college, to address these problems a system us
Bansod S et al.
J. Adv. Res. Embed. Sys. 2018; 5(1&2)
needed that could solve these problems and for a small
scaled institutions its expensive to make a fingerprint
based data base of each student and make them follow
the routine, as per the observations of research it was
concluded that all the students are issued a photo identity
card in which the institution invests a lot of capital, with
this card the tags could be integrated with less capital,
allowing the institution to easily handle any number of
students according to their strength.
The primary purpose of an RFID system in this application
area is to detect the presence and absence of the student
data to be transmitted wirelessly by mobile device, called
a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed
according to the programmed instructions on the personal
computer (PC). The ease with which RFID can be integrated
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,
using radio waves. The tag can be encoded with a unique
identifier, allowing tagged items to be individually 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 interprets the data stored on the tag.
The tag, reader, and database are the key components of
an RFID system.
At a simple level, RFID systems consist of three components:
an RFID tag or smart label, an RFID reader, and an antenna.
RFID tags contain an integrated circuit and an antenna,
which are used to transmit data to the RFID reader (also
called an interrogator). The reader then converts the radio
waves to a more usable form of data. Information collected
from the tags is then transferred through a communications
interface to a host computer system, where the data can
be stored in a database and analyzed at a later time.
The proposed RFID system offer many advantages to this
design application because electronic tags can be embedded
into student conventional means of identification (student
ID card); the electronic tag can be read during motion; no
batteries are needed; no line of sight required for wireless
communication between the tag and the reader; Tags are
almost indestructible, can be read even if covered with
dirt or submerged and tags have unalterable permanent
serial code that prevents tampering.
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Figure 2.Basic construction of RFID
Circuit Designing
the circuit is designed to take minimum space but ample
for the circuit to work, similarly it has been taken into the
consideration that the product of the final product should
be small enough so that it can be hidden in order to make
it tamper proof, complete care was taken that the circuit
as well as its enclosure remains as compact as possible
without effecting the functioning of the product on whole.
Figure 3.Block Diagram of circuit
Reader section
EM-18 RFID reader is one of the commonly used RFID
reader to read 125 KHz tags. It features low cost, low
power consumption, small form factor and easy to use.
It provides both UART and Wiegand26 output formats.
It can be directly interfaced with microcontrollers using
UART and with PC using an RS232 converter
Oscillator circuit
An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces
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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
generates a reset impulse that goes to the entire circuit
placing it into a known state, A simple Power on reset uses
the charging of a capacitor, in series with a resistor, to
measure a time period during which the rest of the circuit
is held in a reset state.
64 byte providing the option of creating eight characters
at a time. Each character is eight byte in size.
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
long life to the circuit and overall product.
• The circuit is shock proof as the operating frequencies
are harmless to humans, hence there will be no harm
if the repairing engineer tries to repair it in operating
(worse case).
• The data collected through this system creates a file
which adds a date, time, name of the student and
roll number
• Other details of the student can also be added with
the help of memory card or through any other sources
which can be included in the circuit.
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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
The software developed for this project is an open source
com port reader which is written in java as well as .NET
frameworks available on the Internet for free of use, there
are many programs available in market/ the web but they
are not sufficient as they can’t be completely trusted as
they work on virtual terminal and this is actually connected
to a communication port of a Host PC, a screen shot of this
software is given below.
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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
Association (PDMA) and the Product Development
Institute (PDI) provide guidance about selecting the best
development framework for a new product or service. A
framework helps structure the actual product development.
Some frameworks, like the fuzzy front end (FFE) approach,
define what steps should be followed, but leave it up to
the team to decide which order makes most sense for the
specific product that is being developed. The five elements
of FFE product development are:

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Identification of design criteria - involves brainstorming
possible new products. Once an idea has been identified as
a prospective product, a more formal product development
strategy can be applied.
Idea analysis - involves a closer evaluation of the product
concept. Market research and concept studies are
undertaken to determine if the idea is feasible or within
a relevant business context to the company or to the
consumer.
Concept genesis - involves turning an identified product
opportunity into a tangible concept.
Prototyping - involves creating a rapid prototype for a
product concept that has been determined to have business
relevance and value. Prototyping in this front-end context
means a “quick- and-dirty” model is created, rather than
the refined product model that will be tested and marketed
later on.
Product development - involves ensuring the concept has
passed muster and has been determined to make business
sense and have business value. Other frameworks, like
design thinking, have iterative steps that are designed to
be followed in a particular order to promote creativity and
collaboration. The five components of design thinking are:
Figure 8.Product developed
Empathize - Learn more about the problem from multiple
perspectives.
Define - Identify the scope and true nature of the problem.
Ideate - Brainstorm solutions to the problem.
Prototype - Weed out unworkable or impractical solutions.
Conclusion
As the RFID technology evolves, more sophisticated
applications will use the capability of RFID to receive, store
and forward data to a remote sink source. RFID has many
applications as can be imagined. the versatility of RFID can
be used in implementing functional and automatic student
Bansod S et al.
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course attendance recording system that allows students
to simply fill their attendance just by swiping or moving
their id cards over the RFID reader which are located at
the entrance of lecture halls with a considerable degree
of success and acceptability of usage in our faculty. such
a proposed system can shift the paradigm of student’s
lecture attendance monitoring in classroom and provide a
new, accurate, and less cumbersome way of taking student
attendance in school. A low cost RFID based attendance
system prototype can be successfully developed. the
prototype of the system can provide several benefits over
the conventional method of taking attendance.
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Date of Submission: 2018-04-24
Date of Acceptance: 2018-05-29

ISSN: 2395-3802