International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing, July 28 - 30, 2020, India
Smart Attendance Management System using
Radio Frequency Identification
Inturi Meghana, J.D.N.V.L.Meghana and Ramesh Jayaraman

Abstract—An implementation of smart attendance
management system using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
is presented to reduce time consuming, avoid malpractices and
human errors during attendance taking process. In real time
applications to reduce the human efforts there are many existing
technologies in the world. Amongst the RFID is the most efficient
and cost reducing technology, it uses wireless communication
between the reader and the tag. It is needed for accurate
attendance recording for all the sectors. The proposed technique
is used to development of attendance simulation in any field using
RFID that connected directly to the excel sheet. The performance
of the smart attendance management system is found satisfactory
with the proposed technique which is commonly used in all
sectors.
Index Terms—Arduino, PIR sensor, RFID Scanner, RFID
Tags, Servomotor.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HIS paper focuses an implementation of smart attendance
management system using Radio Frequency Identification.
In recent years the development of technologies urges to
minimize the time consuming process and improve fast
response with reliability [1]. With the fast advancements and
improvements in various fields of electrical and computing
emerging across the globe one needs to advance himself to
understand and to be acknowledged. Hence the idea of RFID
emerged to compensate the requirement in terms of automation
in the real time applications. The conventional methods are old
enough and are still used in taking student attendances in many
institutions and schools. This type of attendance system has
many loop holes as they give chance to the students for fake
attendance and a time consuming process. If the list is missed
they have to take re-attendance, which is a very inefficient
method [2]. Right now, most of the researchers concentrating
their research with RFID. The main advantage and utility
Inturi Meghana is with the Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College (phone:
8074192096; e-mail: meghana.lpu@gmail.com).
J.D.N.V.L.Meghana is with the Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College (e-mail:
meghanajujjuru1919@gmail.com).
Ramesh Jayaraman, Associate professor, Electrical and Electronics
Engineering Department, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering
College (e-mail: rsairaam@gmail.com).
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feasibility of RFID is access control. This could be working in
miscellaneous environments. All the engineers who are
working towards to develop their innovative product for real
time applications focus their works with RFID. This gives
simple path on assist presenters in managing attendance. It is
robust rather than the conventional method. The method of
taking attendance for a huge crowd is seems to be very tedious.
To attain the entire work of manual validation and entering of
data in the paper, a fairly large amount of human effort is
required especially in a venue with enormous number of
attendees [3]. The conventional methods create interruptions
as a result of passing a sheet of papers around during academic
lectures, conferences presentations or workshops. It
compulsory disturbs both attendees and the presenter’s
attentiveness and concentration. This in turn reduces the
effectiveness during such sessions.
There are many systems present for the automation of the
attendance maintaining but none of them ensures that the
student present in the class for the whole session. In the
present paper, some managing system of attendance is
implemented in addition to using RFID device for taking smart
attendance and further advancements. RFID interfaces with the
smart door locking, and uses PIR sensor to avoid malpractices
by students. It restricts the errors and improves the system.
The data read by the reader is given to the excel sheet directly
without using any extra software technologies, hence keeping
it more simple and efficient.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section II
defines the attendance automation methods. Proposed
methodology is defined in section III. Section IV describes the
implementation of proposed method. Experimental studies
discussed in section V. The paper is concluded in section VI.
II. ATTENDANCE AUTOMATION METHODS
A. Existing methods
There are many different technologies other than RFID and
in combination with RFID exist in the present world. Some of
them are by recognizing the face of the individual and verified
by RFID simultaneously [4]-[5]. This management system has
its own drawbacks like it increases the cost of the whole
system by using face recognition combination with RFID. .
Going further, a smart attendance system using Bluetooth low-
energy (BLE) beacon (UniSas) is proposed [6]. There is a
chance of malpractice in this system by the students. Bringing
others phone into the class results in signal detecting, hence
attendance will be allotted to the absent student and it is not
assured that the student attended the whole session. The RFID
methodology has to be an innovative alternative for the
Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode system in various real
time application sectors [7]. It replaced the barcode system
which is less efficient since it stores data vertically only.
The advance technology using RFID attendance simulation
results are directly connected to the attendance information
system and database in campus [8]. In this system, logging in
every time and spending some time to read the cards is again a
difficult process. Hence it requires some managing system.
The person can keep his card on chair and leave the class or he
may not present in the class for the whole session [9]. The
concept of combination of RFID, biometry and voice based
analysis was proposed. Here there is a chance of doing
malpractice by the person, since he may not attend for the
whole session.
B. Comparison of existing methods with costs
Face recognition is the technology mostly proposed. Actually
it can be done by different techniques like using some physical
devices or software. Webcam was also proposed, which in turn
found inefficient method of taking attendance. It is most
important to consider the parameters like cost, management
system in taking attendance mainly in countries like India.
NFC is being very popular recent years. But its usage is not
being so popular. Biometry is another proposal but it is being
so cost effective even can’t control the mass bunk of students.
There are many other technologies in recent years are trying to
introduce smart attendance but none of them is suitable to
control the student to sit in the class for the whole sessions
discussed in Table I.
TABLE I
COMPARISTION OF EXITING METHODS
S.No Device Name Cost
In Rupees
1. Face recognition 10000 to 20000
2. Biometric About 3000
3. NFC 3000
4. Motion detector(many) 1000 per each
5. RFID 250
III. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
In the proposed method the arduino and RFID interface is
used for reading the cards of the student in the part of
attendance system. But once attendance is read, the student
may leave the class by using some tricks. To avoid this type of
problem, the program is developed in such a way that the
RFID starts reading only after starting the lecture session.
Suppose the class work starts at 9 O’clock the whole system
starts get activated just before the class i.e., five minutes
before. In this method smart door lock is introduced to avoid
the malpractice [10]. The door of the class gets open with the
RFID card. Even though the door doesn’t open once entered,
the student tries to get out while some other enters the class.
This situation is managed with help of PIR sensor as shown in
Fig. 1. when ever two students cross the room immediately or
one after other, PIR sensor counts and give the signals to the
arduino. Arduino which is connected to the small buzzer gives
ring, which indicates malpractice is occur. This concept gives
the awareness to the students not to do such things again. Then
there will be a question, when does the door opens. So after
five minutes the lecturer enters the class and session begins.
After the session the door opens only with the lecturers ID
card. This leads to reduction of malpractice almost to zero.
After every session the class gets two minutes break. The
software part made here is simple, using PLXDAQ the data is
directly send to the excel sheet, it looks similar to the internet
cable. It is more efficient and time saving process to use the
wired connection rather than database. Because once after
database is created it has to get downloaded in the excel sheet
again, which is a double process. So it is better to use data
sending directly to the excel sheet.
Fig. 1. Aurdino with PIR sensor
IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPOSED METHOD
A. RFID Tags
In this techinque based on the energy source the RFID tags
are differentiated as passive and active tags. If the device dont
have own power supply it is called passive RFID tag. Thus,
passive RFID tags have to be in the close range of a reader and
make use of the incoming radio waves broadcast by the reader
to power the response. Alternatively if the device has its own
battery power to perform entire operations which is calle
active RFID tag. As a result, active RFID tags regularly
produce a longer read range and accomplish more efficacy. In
this system, the passive RFID cards are used to access the
attendance and no harm occurs to the students as shown in Fig.
2. More over passive tags don’t require any battery
replacement which reduces the cost of the system. Usually the
cost of the system is about 1 dollar.

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Fig. 2. RFID tag
B. Comparison of RFID Tags
Fig. 3 depicts the different bar codes equal to RFID but it is
not so advisable, because of to hold the scanner and power
supply should be continuous. Bar codes are premeditated to be
scanned one at a time that maintains line of sight with each
code. Bar codes are usually printed on paper or epoxy resin
labels, so they are laying face down to wear and damage [11].
Volume of data obtained from barcode is very limited. Data
handling is something different.
Fig. 3. Different scanning systems
C. RFID Reader
Fig. 4. depicts the RFID reader which is used to collect data
from an RFID tag and track individual objects. It uses
electromagnetic fields to identify and track tags attached to
objects or unattached automatically. RFID comes under two
categories they are active and passive systems. An active
system is a system which has its own power source like
batteries or any other type of external power supply. If
required any backup may be present to run the tags to transmit
the signals. While passive system is a system where the tags
take the power required to run, from the reader and transmit
the information to reader.
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Fig. 4. RFID Reader
If required any backup may be present to run the tags to
transmit the signals. While passive system is a system where
the tags take the power required to run, from the reader and
transmit the information to reader. The active system comes
under high frequency range while passive system comes under
low frequency range. The Fig. 5 depicts the RFID active and
passive systems.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 5. (a) RFID Passive system (b) RFID Active system
Based on the frequency range the RFID systems are off the
record such as Low frequency (LF), High frequency (HF) and
Ultrahigh frequency (UHF).Low frequency systems are
systems with very high wavelength and short reading range.
Range of frequency is approximately about 125KHz to
135KHz. Reading range is approximately about 1 to 10
centimeters. This type of frequency is low and system being
not affective with water or metal so used in animal tracking.
High frequency system is a system with medium wavelength
and typical read range [12]. Range of frequency is
approximately about 13MHz to 14MHz. Reading range is
approximately about 1 centimeter to at most 1 meter. This type
of frequency range is used for data transmissions, access
control applications and passport security. That is mostly used
in the applications that do not require long read range.
Ultrahigh frequency is the frequency with short, high
wavelength which is merely one meter which in turn results
long read range. Range of frequency is approximately about
865MHz to 960MHz. According to frequency ranges again
passive UHF tags can read about an average of about 5 to 6
meters but considering ideal conditions and then larger UHF
tags can read at least about 30 meters. This has mainly its
usage among typically used in time races, It asset tracking, file
tracking and any type of management which would require
typically more than about meter range.

V. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

A. Hardware interface
Fig. 6 depicts prototype model of smart attendance
management system using RFID. Fig. 7. Specific connections of Arduino and RFID

B. Software interfacing
Generally software interface in database is difficult. Even
after interfacing the document has to download from excel. It
is rather better to use wired excel. In this method the data send
directly to the excel sheet. Here wired interfacing is used just
similar to the internet cable. The control logic developed in
terms of coding as follows. In this method the data send
directly to the excel sheet. Here wired interfacing is used just
similar to the internet cable. The control logic developed in
terms of coding as follows.
#include <SPI.h>
#include <MFRC522.h>
#include <Servo.h>
#define SS_PIN 10
#define RST_PIN 9
/*#define SERVO_PIN 3*/
Fig. 6. Prototype model of Smart attendance monitoring system #define ACCESS_DELAY 2000

In this interfacing of RFID with Arduino and servo motor is #define DENIED_DELAY 1000
connected. If the student entering into the class should access MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN);
his card for entering into the room. Hence servomotor is used
Servo myservo;
for smart door clocking system. As student enters into the class
he can’t go outside with his card. This happens with a small void setup()
piece of code as it can get accessed only through lecturer card.
{
RFID detects the card number and sends the data to excel
sheet. Since PIR sensor is used in the management system in Serial.begin(9600); // Initiate a serial communication
order to avoid the malfunctioning. If students want to avoid Serial.println("Authorized access");
classes just after giving attendance, the management using PIR
and buzzer avoids the malpractice. If two students cross at a myservo.write(65);
time or immediately one after the other, the buzzer rings which delay(2000);
alert the students not do such things. The interfacing is shown
myservo.write(0);
in Fig. 7.

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 delay(1000);
}
else if(content.substring(1) != "BB 6F BA 22" )
{
Serial.println("Access denied");
delay(DENIED_DELAY);
} International Conference on Cloud Computing, Data Science &
} [2] I.T.Toudjeu and P.Z.Sotenga,”Design and implementation of an RFID
The Parallax Data Acquisition Tool (PLX-DAQ) is used in
the system to manipulate data. It is software in addition to
Microsoft excel. Up to 26 channels of data from any parallax
microcontrollers and drops numbers into columns as they
arrive. PLX-DAQ provides easy spread sheet analysis of data
collected in the field, laboratory analysis of sensors and real
time equipment monitoring. Mark data with real time or
seconds since reset. The details of attendance is directly
recorded in the excel sheet as shown in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Smart attendance monitoring system data
VI. CONCLUSION
A prototype model of smart attendance monitoring system
using RFID is presented. The proposed method is discussed
for carrying out the attendance monitoring system. The
program codes are developed to execute the methodology of
proposed system. The efficacy of the proposed methodology
over conventional methodology is established through
experimental studies.
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The system reduces time consuming; avoid malpractices and
human errors during attendance taking process. It is observed
that the proposed smart attendance monitoring system is found
satisfactory. It can be commonly used for all sectors.
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