Design and Implementation of Fingerprint Based Attendance Management System for Tertiary Institutions
Chapter One
Study Objectives
The major goal of this research was to create a design and implementation of the biometric-based attendance management system. The following specific aims have been devised to attain this primary goal:
- Analyze the current method of student identification at the Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria.
- To create a biometric system that can be used with a biometric device to instantly identify students’ fingerprints at the Akwa Ibom State University, employ the method created to capture students’ finger prints.
- Using data from both registered and unregistered students, evaluate the performance of the developed biometric system.
- Using the system usability scale, determine the application’s usability developed for use with a biometric device (SUS).
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter examines research literature from various researchers and publications to effectively grasp the idea and context and adapt it to the planned research project.
Conceptual Review
biometrics
Biometrics is the process of automatically identifying a person based on physiological or behavioural traits. The fingerprint, iris, face, and retina are all part of it. Biometrics are increasingly being used as the cornerstone for a wide range of highly secure identification and personal verification systems. Because of the requirement for dependable security, biometrics is now being promoted as an authentication technique according to Cappelli et al [18]. Fingerprint authentication is one of the most well-known and widely publicized biometrics technologies. Because of their uniqueness and consistency over time, fingerprints have been used for identification for over a century but have only recently become automated thanks to advances in computing capabilities.
Fingerprints are popular because of their intrinsic simplicity of acquisition, the multiple sources accessible for collection, such as fingers, and their long history of usage and collecting by law enforcement and immigration. Many sectors are undergoing technological advancements and changes in the way they conduct business activities, according to Oloyede et al. [19]. With the development of globalization, finding a simpler and more effective way to assist an organization or corporation in increasing staff productivity has become critical. Despite this, some businesses continue to utilize the old-fashioned practice of manually documenting staff attendance. Yuihotakaishi, \s(2011).
An efficient technique to maintain employee attendance inside a business is to use a staff attendance management system. It satisfies the personnel department’s needs in terms of day-to-day staff monitoring, overtime computation, data transmission to the payroll system, and human resources analysis. As a result, employee attendance is a critical problem that any firm must address to be effective [5, 20]. It was pointed out that using a biometric system to authenticate a person based on their thumb imprint is the most reliable technique. The scope of biometric identification is employed in the attendance system for both employees and students. The biometric device generates a large amount of data, which the system developer utilizes to design and execute automatic student attendance.
The relevance of the biometric system was demonstrated by Mohit et al. [21]. The technique is excellent for keeping track of student and staff attendance. The method entails gathering student information and ensuring that the information is kept up to date. Saumyarup (2016) went on to say that the finger verification approach was used to show the match if no equivalent was detected. It examines the person’s fingerprint. It is a cost-effective and portable system, according to Mohd et al. [22]. Every individual in the world has a unique fingerprint.
Fingerprint Tools
Identification devices have been sold since the late 1800s [23]. Because of its simplicity of acquisition and the quantity of data collecting sources accessible, the device is the most popular identifying devices. Sir Francis Galton established a fingerprint categorization system based on minutiae features in 1892, which is being used by academics and educators today. A fingerprint sensor is a digital representation of the fingerprint pattern captured by an electrical device. A live scan is a picture acquired by the sensor, which is then electronically processed to create an accumulation of extracted characteristics (Biometric Template). This template is saved in a database and used to match records. Figure 2.1 shows a fingerprint sensor in action.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter reveals how the research was done. It details the study’s research design, sample size and sampling technique, and the study’s research instrument.
Research Design.
It is the researcher’s strategy for discovering the correct answers that are known as the research design. There are explicit goals in the study design plan generated from the research objective(s). The sources from which data will be obtained are specified, and any restrictions are considered [58]. As a result, the Experimental Research Design was used in this research, which included developing a biometric fingerprint for tracking student attendance. In addition, hardware and software components were used to configure the biometric fingerprint to track student attendance. For example, the software includes Asp.Net and C#, and the hardware includes fingerprint scanners, Microcontrollers, laptops and LCDs, and Buzzers. The database is powered by MySql Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2013.
In the database, fingerprints of students and staff members have been kept. Student fingerprints are recorded and matched to a database as part of the attendance-tracking process. This student’s attendance will be recognized as legitimate, and the whole procedure will be shown in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). In addition, if the fingerprint does not match, the fingerprint will be denied, and a mark (invalid) will be shown on the LCD. This is to prevent fraud. The efficacy and efficiency of the system were assessed using the System Usability Scale (SUS).
THE EQUIPMENT
The fingerprint scanner, Arduino, laptop, LCD, and Buzzer were all part of the device’s hardware. Arduino is an ATmega328-based microcontroller board. A 16MHZ crystal oscillator, six analogue inputs, a USB connection, a power card, an ICSP header and a reset button are all included on this board. It includes everything required to run the microcontroller. In order to use it, just connect a USB cable to a computer and a power cord to an AC-to-DC converter or battery. Since it doesn’t use the FTDI chip, the Arduino is unique among other development boards. Rather, the Atmega8U2 acts as a USB-to-serial converter on the board.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Objective 1
Analyze the current method of student identification at the Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria
Two important interview informants participated in the interview to obtain answers to the study’s first goal, which was to analyze the present method of identifying students at Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria. The following is a breakdown of their responses:
According to the results of both main interview sources, the existing student attendance system is a manual method (students sign in attendance).
(Students sign in attendance) handles the whole student attendance registration, storage, and retrieval process manually (Interviewee1).
The present student registration method is entirely based on paper recording, storage, and retrieval at Akwa Ibom State University (Interviewee2).
Based on the issues identified in the current attendance records, the findings reveal that the following challenges have been encountered: time-consuming, prone to mistake, and easily lost since just one copy will be kept. Additional issues revealed by the research include student impersonation by signing for others and lecturer and student representative misplacement of student attendance.
The following are some of the issues with the present attendance system:
Attendance recording is prone to inaccuracy since there is only one copy, it is simpler to misplace or lose, it is time intensive, and there is prejudice among professor and student representatives (Interviewee1).
When compared to the biometric fingerprint, the paper-based Record Keeping System is less expensive and the procedure is simpler, but the obstacles connected with it outweigh the advantages. For example, misplacing student data as a consequence of putting the folder in the incorrect location is incredibly difficult, and retrieval takes a long time. The security of the saved folders cannot be ensured in such situations. Furthermore, there are concerns about student privacy that occur as a consequence of the manual way of delivering student data (Interviewee2).
Student attendance generates data that include student course enrollment, examination attendance, and class attendance, according to the findings.
The report generated by student attendance in Akwa Ibom State University which include the following: student examination attendance, student course enrollment, continuous assessment and student eligibility for examination (75% attendance) (Interviewee1.)
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
As a result of this system’s development, manual effort will be reduced, and duplicate data will be avoided. Additionally, efficient reports that cannot be created and are hard to maintain in attendance management registration are now possible with the automated authorized system.
CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
Since tokens may be taken and provided by another person, biometric procedures remain the most secure and safe method of authenticating. Users can exchange usernames and passwords, but for biometric authentication, users must present in person. Biometric technology is also becoming the basis for a wide range of identity and personal verification solutions that are more secure and reliable. The need for more secure identification and personal verification technologies is increasingly obvious as the fraud problem worsens and the degree of security is breached.
It’s clear from the results of this research that the University’s current methods of student registration are time- and labor-intensive, as well as unsafe. The legitimacy of student attendance records, in particular, cannot be ensured by using that approach, and incidents of student impersonation during lectures and tests cannot be limited as a result. This compromises the quality of education.
Another benefit of this research was that it showed how accurate and effective Biometric Fingerprints for student attendance were. As a result, the system can be recommended for use in higher education institutions to ensure that records of students’ identification and attendance are accurate and authentic. For example, it may help identify pupils when they’re attending lectures or writing exams. According to the findings of the research, the developed system was dependable and capable of curtailing test-taking impersonation.
The biometric gadget was used to take fingerprints of a few students as the study’s third goal. Using the created technology, 60 new students were successfully registered. fingerprints are an obvious and effective way of identifying individuals since no two people have the same fingerprints. It follows that, when applied appropriately, the current method will fulfill the aim of identifying pupils in a reliable manner important for reliable record-keeping, which may be useful in resolving delicate situations like impersonations. The fingerprint-based students’ attendance system is very successful due to the need to physically present themselves for identification. The fingerprint methodology has a high level of acceptance, collectability, circumvention, performance, permanence, uniqueness, and medium universality. It’s a great improvement over previous methods. It is also cost-effective and does not need complicated hardware or software in terms of economies of scale. Overcoming the present study domain’s obstacles will be impossible with this method in place.
Because all students whose fingerprints were not properly recorded on the system throughout the authentication procedure had their fingerprints discarded and marked as ‘invalid,’ the constructed system was evaluated effectively. This proves unequivocally that the system serves its intended function well. When compared to manual systems, the newly-created system performs better. Fingerprint authentication is a trusted access control method because of the authenticity of the data. That a user no longer has to carry identification cards and other papers for identification explains the simplicity of the system. The student verification system re-defines the manual verification mechanism, therefore preventing academic fake and unlawful certificates of studentship.
Finally, the created system’s usefulness was calculated using the SUS and came out to be 81.7 percent, making it very helpful. As a result, an automated and unstable system has been replaced with one that is dependable, secure, quick, and efficient. In terms of attendance management, the findings demonstrate that this approach may be adopted in academic establishments all over the world for improved outcomes. As a result of this approach, administrative staff will have less work to complete and stationery will be replaced by electronic equipment.
Most of what has been discovered so far based on our research into the newly designed student identification system suggests this method will help eliminate many of the current difficulties in schools and universities, particularly those involving impersonation during lectures and tests. By adopting manual attendance taking using registers, it is also possible to ensure the quality of education by making sure students attend classes and submit exams in the place where students fill out absentee papers for their mates or even do exams for their peers who aren’t physically present in class.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
Every lecture hall and classroom should have access to the biometric system for student identification.
The Electronic Engineering Department will need assistance in the future to keep these equipment operational. Due to the advantages of the biometric attendance system, academic institutions should switch from using the manual technique to using it.
PROJECTS FOR THE FUTURE.
It is possible to further this investigation in a number of ways: Adding further security to the interface may be as simple as making sure that only authorized operators enter information.
Students’ attendance percentages may be automatically calculated so that instructors know if a student is absent more often than is allowed.
Wireless networks, rather than SD cards, may be used to communicate student records directly to the database of the application software when implementing the system further.
Multi-model biometric system (containing two or more biometric features) is used to identify employees or students.. While the current system solely uses fingerprint biometrics to identify students and employees, adding additional biometric elements like face, voice, iris, or retina would improve the system’s overall performance and security.
Contribution to Knowledge.
As a result of this research, a system has been built that can operate online and be utilized no matter where a student or member of the staff is. This research creates a secure connection between the biometric device and the application written using Visual basic and other supporting software, ensuring seamless capture of fingerprint pictures. A biometric system in a dot net environment can be created using this study’s biometric approach.
RESTRICTIONS TO THE EXPERIMENT
Despite the fact that this research was not hindered by many obstacles, there were a few, namely financial ones. Many steps were made to guarantee the study’s efficacy was not harmed in any way. Apart from that, the system’s development was fraught with difficulty and prolonged. Even so, the problem was solved since adequate time was set out for the research by postponing all other commitments.
SUMMARY
Using fingerprint biometrics, this study sought to safeguard a student manual attendance system. The print of the hand One of the most effective uses of biometric technology is in the field of biometrics. The use of fingerprints to keep track of students’ attendance The system is an excellent replacement for the old class attendance and examination attendance manual signature techniques that were previously employed. A hierarchical approach from regulations to particular enforcement measures is followed while reviewing and evaluating the authentication system for student class attendance.
The former system used paper attendance forms and an antiquated file system to keep track of employees. As a result, management finds it more difficult and time consuming to keep the file current. Tracing and verifying student attendance may be a time-consuming and error-prone process for any expanding school. Constant education and awareness are required to stay abreast of security risks and responses.
Microsoft Visual Basic.net 2013 and MSSQL Server 2008 were selected as programming languages and briefly explored. All of the components were thoroughly tested and integrated to ensure optimal system operation and assessment. This shows that all of the system components are working correctly.
The system’s most critical and most useful feature is the Attendance Summary Report for students. It will give useful information that can be used to retrieve all of the kids’ records going back in time. In a matter of seconds, the supervisor has access to the student’s file on their past. The system has made a significant improvement. As a result, the user saves time by not having to go through all of their personal data. In other words, it reduces the amount of stress from manually calculating attendance, and it’s simple to implement and use. However, it doesn’t completely remove the possibility of impersonation.
REFERENCE
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- Anderson, R. J., “Security engineering: A guide to building dependable distributed systems”. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2001
- Manoharan, P. A., Reddy, P. M. & Akash, S. (2016). Bio-Metric Attendance System using Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot. Retrieved from http://www.djeee.org/files/publish/10.18831djeee.org2016021003.pdf.
- Thomas, Y., Ing E Opoku-Mensah, & Christopher, A. A, (2013). Automatic Biometric Student Attendance System. A Case Study Christian Service University College, Journal of Engineering, Computers & Applied Sciences, 2(6).
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- Adetiba, E., Iortim, O., Olajide, A.T. & Awoseyin, R.. “An online Biometrics – based class Attendance management system”. African Journal of Computing & ICT, 6 (3), 25– 38.
