Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Fingerprint Based Wireless Attendance System
Farhana Siddiqui, Musab Naik, Saurabh Yadav & Munaf Sunesara
Dept. of Computer Engineering, M.H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
Abstract: Fingerprint based Wireless Attendance
System aims for better student record management. It
can also be used for the staff of an institute too. The
system consists of the fingerprint module, Wi-Fi
module, micro-controller and Web based UI for the
maintenance by user or admin. The system acquires
stores and checks the fingerprint of the student and
sends the data to the server via wireless module. The
backbone of the entire system is an Arduino Nano
micro-controller. Wi-Fi module is used for
immediate data transfer to the backend server. In
this system, personal identification and attendance of
the student is checked immediately through storage
which helps the processing of the management
department easy. An SMS (Short Message Service) or
E-mail is also sent to parent/guardian mobile in case
of insufficient student attendance.
1. Introduction
Registering the attendance at different schools,
institutes, and even workplaces have become a hectic
process, as some times their attendance may not be
registered or even be miscalculated. In case of
manual attendance at schools and institutes i.e.
attendance on a sheet of paper, manual calculation
has to be done to generate timely reports, which
require resources viz. manpower and time, while still
being prone to errors. Fingerprint based Wireless
Attendance System aims overcome this problem by
fully automating the process of attendance and even
the calculation of the timely attendance report. This
will reduce a lot of man-hours and resources and can
be utilized elsewhere.
The registration of attendance in educational
institutions, organizations and other workplaces
forms an important part of their functioning. The
administration uses attendance as a means of
monitoring the work done and efforts put in by
individual Students or Employees as the case may
be.
Traditional wall-mounted fingerprint scanners
are usually expensive to purchase, install and
operate. In case such systems are used for schools
and universities, students might have to queue up in
front of the system, waiting for their turn to mark
their attendance. If an individual student from a class
of strength of about 60 requires on average 5-6
seconds to register their attendance, it will take 6
minutes for the student at the end of the queue to get
his turn, there by missing 6 minutes of the lecture.
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Our project aims the overall reduce the cost of
such systems. Also by making the systems truly
portable we can reduce the average time spend by
students on marking their attendance, as the portable
device can be passed on student-by-student just like
an attendance sheet, thereby avoiding the need to
queue in front the system wasting their time.
Timely reports can be automatically being
generated and exported as excel sheets as well as
generating a separate list of defaulters. Also, a
message can be automatically given to the parents of
the defaulters. In case this system is used by primary
schools, the system can automatically send a
message as to the parents letting them know that
their child has reached school or left for home.
2. Literature Survey
In Mumbai University, every student has to
maintain the criteria of minimum 75% to clear the
semester. Student has to mark their attendance in
every lecture, every day throughout the semester.
Using the traditional method of calling names for
attendance it takes about 9-10 minutes for the class
of strength of 60 students. Paper work makes the task
difficult for the management department.
Many organizations use fingerprint attendance
system for marking attendances of their employees.
These are computer connected devices in which
database of employees are stored in computer and
these are fixed at specific location. But the situation
in a classroom is different. Students cannot come
near the device to mark the attendance in a class
room.
Biometrics is use of other forms of
authentication biometric recognition provides a
strong link between an individual and a claimed
identity. Biometric system includes iris, voice face
and fingerprint. It is more reliable to use biometric to
identify the people and overcome the fraud. The
commonly used biometric technique is the
fingerprint verification system.
3. Existing System
3.1. Paper Based
The paper based attendance system is the most
commonly practised over the majority of the institute
or university. In this system, the reference ID to
every student is provided by the institute. For a
particular class or each lecture the teacher call out
the ID and the sheet with the details of student is
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

marked present or absent. The call out process is also
replaced by passing the sheet and signing opposite
your details.
3.2. Wall-Mounted Fingerprint Attendance
Traditional wall mounted wired systems require
proper installation, dedicated space and wiring for
proper operation. These systems are relatively
expensive to purchase, install and maintain. Also,
these systems are less feasible due to lack of freedom
of movement hence consumes more precious time in
queuing up in front of the device for using it in case
the device is to be used by a large number of
individuals at the same time, for example in a
classroom.
Even though the attendance is automated, these
systems lack an integrated system to process the data
gathered and generate a timely report for the
attendance. Often the system has to be paired with
another system dedicated to generating the reports or
in worst case, the reports are calculated manually.
be started and the students are required to scan their
fingers one-by-one. As the student’s fingerprints are
matched and consists
The system the student is identified,
of my drawback such as their
paper work. Proxy cou
enrollment number is displayed and the data is send
to a remote server where the record is maintained.
4.1. System Development
The designing of this project, requires both
hardware and software implementation. Figure 2
shows the block diagram of the fingerprint based
wireless attendance system. The Arduino Nano is
connected to the Fingerprint scanner, RTC (Real
Time Clock), LCD Display, Keypad for input, a
wireless module for communicating with the remote
server and a battery to provide power to the entire
portable system.

3.3. Portable Fingerprint Scanner with Local

Memory Module
Portable fingerprint scanner with a build in Figure 2. Block Diagram
memory module instead of the proposed Wi-Fi
module is portable to some extend but it is not truly
portable. The system stores the data of attendance in
a memory module locally instead of sending the data
wirelessly to the server. This system has to be
connected physically to a computer to retrieve the
data from the portable device and process the
extracted data.
This adds an unnecessary step to the overall
process and is a bottleneck in the system’s ability to
truly become a portable device. Also, the memory
module would be required to have a large storage
capacity in case the same device is used for a large
number of individuals. This would not only increase
the size and weight of the device but also increase
the overall cost of the device.

4. Proposed System
Figure 1 describes the flow chart of the proposed
fingerprint based wireless attendance system. First,
on switching ON the portable device, it searches
available Wi-Fi, then it connects and recognizing the
remote server. Then it asks the lecturer to scan its
finger to start the attendance. Once a match is found
and the lecturer is recognized, it searches the lecturer
ID in the timetable. Once a match is found, it
displays the subject along with other details and asks
for confirmation. If the displayed information is not
correct or the match was not found in the first place,
then in such case, the lecturer is asked to manually
Figure 1. Flow Chart
select the subject and duration. After this is
completed, the attendance process of the students can

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 994

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

4.1.1 Minimum Hardware Requirements for [2] Mohamed Basheer K P, RAGHU C V, “Fingerprint
Portable Device Attendance System for classroom needs”, IEEE Jan.,2013
[3] LixiuMA,JinfengPAN,LijunCAO,Jin SHEN,” The
Components Minimum Requirements Design of Wireless Students Management System based on
Fingerprint Sensor”, IEEE Dec.,2010
Microcontroller Arduino Nano
[4] Victor Oluwatobiloba ADENIJI, Mfundo Shakes
Wireless Module ESP 8266-12 SCOTT, Nomnga PHUMZILE,” Development of an
Fingerprint-Scanner R305 Online iometricenabled Class Attendance Register
Module System”, IEEE Aug.,2016
LCD Display 16X2
Table 1. Portable Device Requirement

4.1.2. Minimum Hardware Requirements for

Server
Components Minimum Requirements

Processor Intel Pentium 4 and

above

RAM 1 GB

Hard Disk 20 GB

Table 2. Server Requirement

5. Conclusion
The main aim of the paper is on student
attendance also it can be used for the employees. It
includes a hardware which has low cost. As the
system is based on biometric that maintain identity
hence the proxy (fake attendance) is not possible.
The Wi-Fi module helps in maintaining attendance
for Management department and Synchronization is
also possible at regular update. The code number of
the particular professor is intended to keep a track on
the class. Backup of the attendance file is being
maintain at specific system. Encryption technique
used maintains the security of the system. In future,
the size of the device could be compressed for more
comfort portable use. SMS on the parent mobile
phone is send if the particular student is a part of the
backlist (list that maintain the record of student not
satisfying attendance criteria). It also monitors the
timing of the student.

6. Acknowledgements
Our thanks to M.H. Saboo Siddik College of
Engineering, Department of Computer Engineering,
for giving us the initiative to do constructive work on
such a great topic. We also thank anonymous
reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

7. References
[1] Nur Izzati Zainal, Khairul Azami Sidek, Teddy Surya
Gunawan, Hasmah Mansor and Mira Kartiwi, “Design and
Development of Portable Classroom Attendance System
Based on Arduino and Fingerprint Biometric”, IEEE
Nov.,2014

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