RFID Based People Management System Using UHF Tags

RFID Based People Management System Using UHF Tags

Abstract : The application of RFID based has been prevalent in attendance management system for many years. This is normally linked to access control as well. In this, the HF based RF based tag is used and that the reader detects it within a few centimetres, attendance is recorded and access gates are opened. However, this solution has a major drawback that it is not ubiquitous. In the World of Ubiquitous Computing and Smart Spaces, we look for systems, which unobtrusively detects you. This means that the detection range between the Antennae and the Tag should be a few feet. The UHF passive tags are most suitable for this. It has got an additional advantage that the tags are much cheaper than the corresponding HF tags. This paper present the design of RFID Based Attendance Recording System using UHF Tags. The system has been set up in C-DAC, Noida as a technology demonstration project wherein employees, students and visitors of the organisation are tracked. It has been operational for the past 6 months and has been working successfully. Keywords: UHF: Ultra High Frequency; RFID: Radio Frequency Identification; HF: High frequency; FIFO: First in first out; 1. Introduction Radio frequency identification (RFID) is more widely used to facilitate common day-today activities due to new developments in processing, wider reading ranges, and larger memory capacities, making it a key contributor to the growth of the radio technology industry. RFID is almost indispensable when it comes to tasks that include automated data capture and identification applications, where a contact less identification is possible through RF signals. Many large corporations are interested in research and development within the field of RFID due to potential growth in various RFID applications. The people management system is an application where masses data need to be collected and managed in a short duration. RFID is an automated data collection technology in which radio communication for data transfer across two entities: a reader and a tag. The tag has two sections: one for radio communication and other for data storage. The tags are broadly classified into 3 categories namely active, passive and semi passive. The active tags have an internal power source e.g. a battery, which limits the life time. A passive tag doesnt have a power source and obtain the energy from the magnetic field of the reader. These types of tags are smaller, cheaper and can be used for long time. The scope of the paper is limited to passive tags. The functionality of RFID Passive tags is very simple. When a tag comes in the vicinity of the reader, it detects the radio signals generated by the reader and start to transmit the data stored in the memory. The radio signal generated by the reader offers the power needed to function and the synchronization data for communication between two entities. RFID has emerged as a key technology for automatic data collection and has been adapted for various applications. This paper presents the adoption of this technology for attendance monitoring.
Proceedings of ASCNT 2009, CDAC, Noida, India, pp. 231 238

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2. Overview of the proposed system Figure 1 gives the overview of the system. It consists of a number of readers spanning the area being monitored through interlink with each other and the main system over the TCPIP network, the central monitoring server handles the actual collection of data and creation of reports. The inlays used in this system are UHF passive tags. The frequency spectrum is 865-867 MHz, as per the Govt. of India regulations, having a reading distance of 3-5 meters. The tag has a capability of multiple writes. However as per the application needs, the tags need to be written once and read many times. The data allowable to be written in the tag is 96 bits or 24/16 hex chars. The card is configured by the software and can be read by the UHF reader. Before the card usage it is necessary that it must be configured.

Fig.1 Block diagram of the system Embedded Software The main module of the software, namely recorder, is embedded inside the reader. The Recorder program is written in Linux C and compiled using development environment and tools that run on Mercury4 reader. The reader installed at the access point reads data from ID Card and feeds it to the Recorder. The Recorder extracts tag ID and antenna Id from row data and authenticates the user by comparing company code (4 byte). If it is authorized user the company code and last two bytes of type of user code (e.g. CDAC00) are removed from tag Id and the resultant ID which is of 10 bytes(user ID(9 byte) + type of user(I byte)) is referred as super ID. The super ID along with current date and time is appended in tag_log.txt file inside the reader. The super ID is also sent to Instant Display System (IDS) which is connected over the TCPIP network. This displays the name, image and access time of the user. The files are regularly uploaded from the reader to the Central monitoring server.

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The people management system is a compact RFID enabled system which is scalable and integrable with other networks. It detect the presence of the ID, acknowledge the user presence and push the data to the back end. All the employees personal data like name, designation and image are read from the data base and kept in memory and used as per the requirement of the application. The product provides a hands free attendance recording system. The detection is through UHF EPC C1G2 RFID tags, which are embedded inside the ID cards. Once the tag is successfully detected by a reader, the system does the following: display the image of the user saves the data in a text file in the reader. sends the text file from the reader to the central server after a time interval (in case of overflow). The central monitoring server ports data from the text files for consolidation. The administrative activities like registration of user, Tags, etc. are taken care off by the administrator 3. Detailed system description The application uses the UHF reader in an optimum way. The reader own memory is used for data storage and running the executables. The reader (access point set up) is the key hardware & plays an important role. The product builds all the data necessary for the attendance of the employees of the organization with a capability to generate an attendance reports in its internal memory. In this sense, it can be used as a standalone reader. The reader works independently with a storing capacity of 3 MB. The reader part is engaged continuously in poling the tag data & storing it in the memory. The above independent system displays the image of the person after a successful detection. The reader can be accessed from any where in the network.

Fig.2 Modules of the SPMS Figure 2 illustrates the connectivity of the various modules and their functioning. The Reader set up (or access point) uses UHF & generates a radio active circle of 3-5 meters. The tags are meant to be complaint with EPC, C1G2 standard. The tags are to be programmed first so that they can be used in the required environment. The final executable is burned in the flash. Thus the reader executes the program and uses the FLASH memory for data storage & becomes independent. For data communication text files shall be used instead of database. This feature makes it a compact system.

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3.1 Recorder Figure 3 illustrates the work flow of the Recorder module. The tag contains the User ID. A typical format is CDAC001112109001. This consists of Organization name: CDAC in the present case (4 chars) User type:- employee, student or visitor (3 chars) User ID:- Employee id (9 chars) The tag will store the data in 64 bit format or 16 hex chars. The recorder will store 5 parameters namely Employee ID, Antenna ID, Reader IP, Time & Date in the flash as a text file. The recorder will identify the presence of each tag and will store this information. It will also be sent to IDS, in case the same is connected. In case of multiple entries of the same tag id are found (like a person is standing in the radio active circle) it will truncate the counting after 10 seconds and record for new count again & keep the entries. The data I/O shall be dual way. The central server can flush this text files on a demand basis (whenever required). The storage limitation of the file size is 3 MB. The readers will also send this text files once the file reaches its maximum storage limit.

Fig 3.1 Workflow access recorder 3.2 Instant Display System The IDS runs on a PC connected to the reader. The IDS may also be put on the LAN. When ever an ID Card is detected by a reader the user Id is sent by recorder module to IDS using RS232 protocol. On startup of IDS it loads all the user personal details in the memory of the PC from the local server. Once the tag ID is received by the IDS it searches for the same in the memory. If the searching is successful, it acknowledges the user presence by displaying the user name, image and current time. The system can display maximum 25 users images at a time. The program displays the images one by one (in serial fashion) i.e. the tag which is detected first is displayed first. The display area is divided into 2 windows. One window holds images multiple persons and is limited to 25 images. The other window holds image of 1 person and displays the image of the latest

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entered person. The latest person image goes in both the windows. In case of more than 25 images they are cleared on a FIFO basis. Figure 4 illustrates the work flow of the instant display system.

Fig.4 Work flow Instant Display system The system also checks for ID card expiry date e.g. date of leaving in employee case, course end date in student case and expiry date in visitor case. The user name, image and current time are not displayed after the expiry date of the card instead the detail is logged in system_log.txt file for further reference. The files are updated automatically every day. 3.3 Central Monitoring Server The CMS is primarily responsible for reader clock initialization, data management and Pie chart plotting of the attendance. The monitoring server will flush the text files data from reader, expand/decode the information and write to the corresponding text files. It has a clock program which is used by the readers in initializing their RTC while boot up. The reader doesnt have a battery to initialize the RTC and outer source is required. The CMS can upload and download the files from reader and IDS. The presence of employee is shown as a pie chart. Figure 5 illustrates the work flow of the ystem.

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Fig.5 Work flow - central monitoring server 3.4 Administrator The Administrator module is basically a GUI application mainly responsible for reader management, user management and data management. The administrator has the highest privileges. The administrator module does the following tasks registering a new user, Tag registration Access point configuration Issuing/ Canceling an ID card Updating/changes in the text files. Figure 6 illustrates the work flow of the administrator module.

Fig.6 Administrator 4. Installation and Rollout The reader is the key hardware required for the operations. Multiple readers would be required depending upon the area being covered. All the entry/exit gates and the user movement path are to be covered with UHF readers with antennas are placed on such transit points. The antennas are placed horizontally through stands it can be mounted on the wall depending upon the physical circumstances. If the no. of data points are more. Due to this consideration, the total system has to be carefully analysed before installation and rollout.

5. Conclusion
Although the application of people management system is not the new area of deployment, but the novelty in the current system is in the utilization of UHF Antennae which makes the system completely ubiquitous.. The application APIs has been designed in such a way, that the same core can be used as the common interface in any middleware application like

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Library management, canteen management, ERP etc. This aspect can be used as a generic platform for many other RFID applications.

Acknowledgement
This project was undertaken as a part of National RFID Programme. The project is funded by DIT. We express our gratitude to DIT and C-DAC, Noida management. We express our sincere thanks to Dr. George varkey, E.D., C-DAC Noida, for the constant guidance, observation and support. We are also thankful to all the team members, Shri Adarsh pillai, Shri Ramji Gupta, Shri vikas kaundal and Ms souyma sharma.

References
[1] www.thingmagic.com [2] RFID system for locating people, objects and things USPT- 7,327,251author: Corbett, Jr.; Bradford G [3] Automation of Time and Attendance using RFID Systems by Qaiser, A.; Khan, S.A. Emerging Technologies, 2006. ICET '06. International Conference on 13-14 Nov. 2006 Page(s):60 - 63 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ICET.2006.335928 [4] Smart Attendance System by suing RFID by Yeop Sabri, M.K.; Abdul Aziz, M.Z.A.; Mohd Shah, M.S.R.; Abd Kadir, M.F.; Applied Electromagnetics, 2007. APACE 2007. Asia-Pacific Conference on 4-6 Dec. 2007 Page(s):1 - 4 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/APACE.2007.4603906 [5] Automatic Control of Students' Attendance in Classrooms Using RFID by Silva, F.; Filipe, V.; Pereira, A.; Systems and Networks Communications, 2008. ICSNC '08. 3rd International Conference on 26-31 Oct. 2008 Page(s):384 - 389 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ICSNC.2008.70 [6] Using RFID technology to develop an attendance system and avoid traffic congestion around kindergartens by Whai-De Chen; Hsuan-Pu Chang; Ubi-Media Computing, 2008 First IEEE International Conference on July 31 2008Aug. 1 2008 Page(s):568 - 572 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/UMEDIA.2008.4570955

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About Authors Sourish Behera (Project Manager) received his B.E. (computer Sc. & Engg) from O.E.C Bhubaneswar, Utkal university in 1992. He joined C-DAC Noida in 1997. He is presently working as a project manger and heading the Embedded systems group. He has been involved in the area of design & development of set top boxes, secured printing solutions, RFID based end to end applications. His areas of interest are algorithm analysis, data communication, data encryption, video compression & transmission, security systems, networking protocols & software engineering. From 1992 - 1996 he worked in various companies like ABB kent taylor, Act Triune & General Electric in various roles. He was engaged in the software solutions for clients like SAIL, INDAL, Simulation sciences USA & Omron Asia pacific. He was a co author in a paper news room automation technologies in India presented at broadcast Asia 98 held at suntech city Singapore. Rajesh Kushwaha (Senior Project Engineer in Embedded Systems) received B.E. (Electronics & Communication Engineering) from KEC, Dwarahat, Almora, Uttaranchal in 1998. He has around 10 years of experience mainly in embedded systems, application software, security systems & networking. He has worked in Abacus Softech Ltd, & Detect Device Pvt. Ltd. His area of interest is Analyzing and Designing of technical specification, Microprocessor (ARM, 8085, sh4) and Microcontroller based system design, Testing and troubleshooting of hardware systems, Device driver development, I2C bus, RS-232 bus protocol, 3-wire communication, MPEG-2, DVB, PC Card, PCMCIA, ISO/IEC 7818, EN 50221, JTAG standard, Conditional Access System, Common Interface, Smart Card Applications. RFID, STB, Modem, GPS.

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