EFFECT OF USAGE OF RFID TO CURB TRUANCY AMONG

STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

By

IBRAHIM, ADESHINA KATIBI

B.Sc (Communication Technology)

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

LAGOS
NIGERIA

AUGUST 2012

1
EFFECT OF USAGE OF RFID TO CURB TRUANCY AMONG
STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

BY

IBRAHIM ADESHINA KATIBI, B.SC

Communication Technology (NOUN 2012)
NOU060052068

A THESIS SUBMITED TO THE

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERA

LAGOS NIGERIA

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD

OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

AUGUST, 2012

2
 DECLARATION

I, IBRAHIM ADESHINA KATIBI, humbly declare that this work entitled EFFECT OF

USAGE OF RFID TO CURB TRUANCY AMONG STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

is as result of my research effort carried out in the school of science and technology, National

Open University of Nigeria under the supervision of Miss Adiat Odunmbaku.

I further wish to declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material

previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent

has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of any university or institute

of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

------------------------------------------
`` (Signature/name/date) ``

3
 CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that this research project entitled EFFECT OF USAGE OF RFID TO

CURB TRUANCY AMONG STUDENTS IN NIGERIA was carried out by IBRAHIM,

ADESHINA KATIBI in the School of Science and Technology, national open University of

Nigeria, Lagos for the award of Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication Technology.

Supervisor‘s Signature /Date Name & Signature

Miss Adiat Odumbaku of Programme Leader

4
 Dean School of science and Technology
Prof Kehinde Obidairo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah (S.W.T,) the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful. Praise is to Allah, Lord
of the Universe and Peace and Prayers be upon His final Prophet and Messenger Muhammad
(S.A.W.).
I am forever indebted to my parents Alhaji Shehu Ahmad and Hajia Aminat A. Katibi of the
blessed memory, may Allah (swt) grant them Aljanatul Firdausi, who through the mercy of
God has brought me to life and light and the privilege given me to face all these challenges in
my life. I say a big thank you.
My inestimable gratitude also goes to my supervisor, Adiat Odumbaku (Miss) for the patient
and pains taken in reading through the project work
Finally, special thanks goes to my beloved family who had given me moral spiritual support,
Thank you.
Also, I greatly appreciate the enormous contribution of those who in various ways or the
other contributed to the success of this work
Also worthy of mention are Barrister Mashood Shehu, my awesome Blessing from Allah
(SWT): Abdulkabir, Aminat, Ahisat and Rokeebat Katibi, big thanks to you guys for your
understanding all trough my absence from home in the process of this research. And all my
friends, course mates and colleagues for their love and encouragement, thanks for your
support, love and laughter.

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 ABSTRACT
Today, the number of truant students is increasing at alarming rate in Nigeria. School

Management and parents have to come up with a way to ensure that student were being

monitored .This in some cases may be in simple form like roll call ,while in more interested

cases can be format like surprise quizzes, extra credit. These systems can however be time

consuming and error prone.

The usage of RFID to track students and curbing truancy will help to overcome this and

reduce worried among parents and school managements. This project is combination of

latest technology using RFID, SMS system and web based developed using PHP , VB.Net

language, Apache Web Server and MySQL.

When the student enters the main school entrance, they must pass the tag that given to the

RFID antenna, and the RFID reader will read the student ID. Then, information about the

student such as time in and time out from school will be recorded to web based system and

the SMS system automatically sends to their parent’s mobile to inform that the children

arrived at school safely. The usage of RFID helps school to better manage its student’s

attendance and will inform the parents when the children enter and back from school. Usage

of this RFID System RFID will provide the school with a computer system that can store its

6
student’s information efficiently in a database. This system also provides the RFID antenna

and reader that can detect the student when they touch the tag through reader. Therefore,

with usage of RFID to track and monitor school student it is hoped that school will have a

better and efficient management of its students and hence curb truancy.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE i

DECLARATION

ii

CERTIFICATION

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

vi

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii

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LIST OF APPENDICES

xiv

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 3

1.3 Research Question 3

1.4 Purpose of the Study 3

1.4.1 Usage of RFID to effectively curb truancy 3

1.4.2. Study of Data transfer between RFID AND VB 6 4

1.4.3 Study of GUI using Visual Basic 6 4

1.4.4 Integration and testing the truancy monitoring website 4

1.5 Significant of the study 4

1.6 Scope of the study 4

1.6.1 Usage of Appropriate RFID tag and reader for the application 5

1.6.2 Study of Design / implementation of a tracking student using RFID 5

1.7 Research Method 5

1.8 Definition Of term 5

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 What is the cause of Truancy 7

2.1.1 Lack of Communication between school and parent 7

2.1.2 Working Parent 7

2.1.3 Bad Influence 7

2.2 Method Previously used to track truancy 8

2.3 History of RFID 9

2.4 What is RFID 10

2.4.1 The RFID System 11

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2.4.2 Type of RFID 11

2.4.3 Operating Frequency of RFID 12

2.4.4 How does RFID works 13

2.4.5 Component of RFID 13

2.4.6 Typical application of RFID 15

2.4.7 .The Advantage of RFID over bar code 17

2.4.8 Common Problem of RFID 19

2.5 Microcontroller (AT89552) 20

2.6 Short Message Service 21

2.7 Student Truancy in a school 22

2.8 Student Truancy Monitor via RFID 22

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Introduction 24

3.2 Existing Truancy monitoring System 24

3.2.1 Problem of Existing truancy monitoring system 24

3.2.2 Analysis of existing truancy monitoring system 25

3.2.3 What is system analysis 26

3.2.3 System problem analysis 26

3.4 System Design 27

3.5 Hardware Design 27

3.6 Data Collection 31

3.6.1 Method of Data Collection 31

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3.7 Data Processing 32

3.8 User Interfaces via sms and website 33

3.9 Full system overview 34

4.0 RESULT ANALYSIS AND FINDING 37

4.1 Result analysis/comparison of truancy monitoring system.... 37

4.2 Performance Analysis 38

4.3 System Form Factor 40

4.3.1 Result 42

4.4 Human readable cue 42

4.5 Findings 43

5.0 SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIO 44

5.1 Summary 44

5.2 Conclusion 44

5.3 Outcome of this study 45

5.4 Recommendation 46

REFERENCES 47

LIST OF TABLES

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TABLE NO. TITLE
PAGE

3.1 No of student and their corresponding no of truants 25

3.2 Percentage of student and their corresponding number truants 25

4.1 RFID reader evaluation Report 39

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE

PAGE

2.0 Overall System of Student Attendance Using RFID System and 6

11
2.2 Operation architecture of RFID 14

2.3 RFID Antenna 15

2.4 RFID TAG 16

2.5 Block diagram of the RFID truancy tracker 18

2.6 Microcontroller AT(89S52) 19

3.1 System form factor prototype 26

3.2 A)Gumstix B)Serial port expansion board C)Wistix D)Gumstix 28

3.3( a) Serial to RFID reader circuit 29

3.3( b) Serial to LCD final antenna 29

3.4 System Architecture 30

3.5 Data Flow chart diagram 32

3.6 Graph :Time taken for tracking vs. size of database 37

5.0 Signal Summary for RFID 50

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 CHAPTER 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO STUDY

Today Student absenteeism and truancy have become serious issue in schools and receives lot

of attention. Absenteeism is a period of time when a student does not attend school with their

Parent consent or knowledge, whereas truancy is an unexcused absence from school without

parental knowledge or consent. Truancy is the core of the problem it’s like absenteeism, but

is an unexcused absence about which parents typically do not know. Parents are usually the

contributor to student truancy by not taking the responsibility to get their child to school each

day. Truancy is associated with sexual promiscuity, alcohol and drug use, delinquency, and

dropping out of school. Truant individuals become involved with alcohol and drugs which

lead to health issues later in life and addiction. Along with the alcohol and drug use, these

factors can also contribute to increase in crime rate in the country. In several jurisdictions,

law enforcement officials have linked high rate of truancy to burglary and vandalism (Baker

2000).Police in Lagos Nigeria, reported that one third of burglaries and one fifth aggravated

assaults occurring between 8am and 1pm on weekdays were committed by juvenile who are

mostly truant student.(Crime watch).

Truancy is a serious problem negatively affecting the future of our youth. The cost of truancy

to society is very high. It has been clearly identified as one of the early warning signs of

students headed for potential delinquent activity, social isolation, or educational failure via

suspension, expulsion, or dropping out (OJJDP 2001) office of juvenile justice and

delinquency. Truancy could be result to gangsters, gangsters in school exhibits abnormal

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character like being harsh to teachers and fellow students, in addition to threatening acts,

stealing, engaging in fagging, speaking vulgar word and bullying other students and laying

ambush to harass their teachers. Now an interesting question arise what are the main factor

that influence Truancy or Absenteeism? There are several factors that promote Truancy

among which are:

Lack of communication between the school management and Parents, Bad friends influence,

socio economic standard of the parents. Inadequate education policy. Lack of appropriate

technology to monitor school attendance.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The increase Percentage of student truancy in Nigeria school is alarming; this problem is

subsequently causing high failure among students and in most cases result in school dropout,

increase in cultism among student and other social vices. School administrators and parents

recognize the need for enhanced measure to ensure automatic registration of student

attendance. Parents are anxious about their children getting to school on daily basis. And also

to hear positive performance of their children, but unfortunately in most public school reverse

is the case. This group of student who absent themselves from school can consequently

engage themselves in other social vices. Hence the need to device means of tracking students.

Tracking the student will make it possible to discourage them from engaging in the act of

truancy. Usage of RFID to automatically detect truancy can offer means of curbing this

problem if implemented effectively.

This research work therefore will be used to study the procedures of using RFID in

monitoring truancy among student in Nigeria Schools

Recognizing batch of student entering school every morning is difficult given the amount of

student ,with this new implement ,RFID automatically records the exact time a student enter

14
or exit the school making it possible for school staff as well as parents or guardian to confirm

the save arrival and exit of each student.

In the implement of RFID to curb truancy among secondary school in Nigeria, each student is

given passive RFID tags, which can be attached to ID card or other personal items. Passive

RFID tags not contain a battery :the power is supplied by the reader ,when a passive RFID

tags encounter radio waves from the reader ,the coiled antenna within the tag forms a

magnetic field The tag draws power from it energizing the circuit in the tag .The tag then

send the information encoded in the tag‘s memory because the tags can be read by scanners

from a distance of up to 6 centimeter no specialized entry ways are required and student can

come and freely just have to stop at a security check point for a while .Their entry and exit is

recorded automatically when they pass the scanners.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

In the process of using RFID in curbing truancy a research on truancy, the following

questions needed to be looked into:

1. What device do we use to track truancy?

2. How does RFID works (what is the principle of operation of RFID)

3. How can truancy be registered automatically and information send to student parent

on real time?

1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This research aims is to find out

1.4.1 Usage of RFID TO effectively curb truancy among students

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Usage of Radio frequency identification device sending short message service system and

email system received by parent that will contain formation about attendance of the student at

the school.

The goal of this project is to research how the detection of truancy could be automated and

subsequently curb it by the use of radio frequency identification device to achieve this goal;

the research has been divided into two parts. For the first part a sub research question has

been formulated: “What does the behavior of students with respect to arrival and exit from

the school is?” The second part of the research attempts to find an answer to the question is:

“How can this behavior are registered automatically?”

1.4.2 To study on data transfer between RFID system and Visual Basic 6

The data that was read by RFID reader will communicate with interface on Visual Basic 6 for

display and to compare with database.

1.4.3 To study graphical user interface (GUI) using Visual Basic 6 that will

Integrate with RFID system to capture and record student attendance

The main objective is to developed student attendance with RFID system. We need to build

interface that will integrate with RFID system. Another interface also need to capture and

record student attendance for subsequent real time display on student monitor website.

1.4.4

Integration and testing the truancy monitoring website, SMS system and RFID truancy

monitoring system.

The system is put to test to ascertain if truly the goal of the research is achieved, this is made

possible by comparing database before and after the usage of this application.

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1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study has many significant

1. To the parent that it ensures they know the whereabouts of their children at any point

in time.

2. To the school authority, this study helps them in monitoring of their student

automatically and to reduce time wasted on manual attendance roll call.

3. To the Government and society in general, less truancy better for society because

juvenile and related crime are reduce to barest minimum.

4. To the student themselves, they will become a better student,

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The main goal of this project is develop system for automatic detection of truancy am student

in Nigeria technology. There are 2 scopes to be cover in this project. Firstly is to use

appropriate RFID Tag & Reader for this application. Secondly is to design GUI to integrate

with RFID technology to enable the parent to get real time info on website meant for the

application or via their GPRS enable mobile device.

1.6.1 Usage of appropriate RFID Tag & Reader for this application

There are lots of RFID reader and tag sold at market. Not only brand, but also frequencies of

the RFID itself need to be considered. Since this system will be applied to school students,

17
the RFID reader must used same frequencies as student ID card the type being considered for

this project, is MIFARE type and its frequency is 13.65MHz.

1.6.2 Study of Design and implement of a system in student attendance using RFID

The RFID reader will use to detect the student ID card code. The code will use to compare

with Access database and the information in database will be display and store by using

interface on Visual Basic 6.

1.7 RESEARCH METHOD

This involves the designing of the RFID, the application of the RFID on student and

obtaining data on the effect of RFID on students by the teachers. The instrument of collection

of these data will be the RFID device and the truancy monitoring website database. These

data will be analyzed using the statistical tools.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERM

1. API: Application programming interface is sets of standardized requests that allow

different computer programs to communicate with each other.

2. SMS: short message service act of sending short messages with cellular telephones

using the Short Messaging Service (SMS), which has a limit of 160 characters per

message.

3. GUI: Graphical user interface computer program that enables a person to

communicate with a computer through the use of symbols, visual metaphors, and

pointing devices. Best known for its implementation in Apple Inc.'s Macintosh and

Microsoft Corporation's Windows operating system,

4. VB6 :Visual Basic (VB) is a third-generation event-driven programming language

and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM

18
 programming model first released in 1991. Visual Basic is designed to be relatively

easy to learn and use. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid

application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access

to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data

Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as

VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently.

5. AC: Alternate Current flow of electric charge that periodically reverses; it starts, say,

from zero, grows to a maximum, decreases to zero, reverses, reaches a maximum in

the opposite direction, returns again to the original value, and repeats this cycle

indefinitely.

6. DCE: Data Communications Equipment can be classified as equipment that transmits

or receives analogue or digital signals through a network. DCE works at the physical

layer of the OSI model taking data generated by Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) and

converting it into a signal that can then be transmitted over a communications link

7. UHF: Ultra-High Frequency conventionally defined portion of the electromagnetic

spectrum, encompassing radiations having a wavelength between 0.1 and 1 m and a

frequency between 3,000 and 300 megahertz. UHF signals are used extensively in

televison broadcasting. UHF waves typically carry television signals on channels 14

through 83.

19
CHAPTER 2

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature is a valuable resources and an important storehouse of knowledge and thinking

about a topic area. This chapter will discuss more about all of the information related to the

project. It is structured in subtopics of RFID, short message services, truancy monitoring

system and other related applications. The literature review in this paper is based on

Internet, journal, books, articles, and from newspapers. Usage of RFID in curbing truancy, is

automatic record of student attendance, develops especially for secondary school student to

curb truancy. This system consists of two modules which are RFID module and Visual

Basic 6 module. Both modules will be combined together in order for this system fully

functioning. Each module carries own function and special features which will be discussed

in detail in this chapter. Figure 2.0 show overall block diagram of the system.

20
 RFID
Reader

Serial comm.
Computer

Graphical User Database

Interface (GUI) (Microsoft Access)

Figure 2.1: Overall System of Student Attendance Using RFID System

2.1 WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF TRUANCY?

2.1.1 Lack of communication between schools Managements and Parents: - The main

reasons for children absenting from schools given by Respondents, is most schools have not

collaborated systematically with Parents to reduce absenteeism. It is the responsibility of

school to identify list of the students who truant school. School should have early warning

systems to notify their parents or guardians immediately so that they take appropriate and

immediate action to ensure students comes to school every day and attended their classes.

Nowadays, as schools neither have a truant students list, nor early warning systems to notify

21
parents immediately so school contacted their parents when they are dropping or dropped out

from the school, it’s a long period, in this period truant could be involved in gang asterism, in

threatening acts, stealing or could be drug addict so it’s important to notify their parents as

immediately as possible so that they take immediate action. Home-school connections are

recognized as an important strategy to increase student attendance and school usually fails in

this task. One of the keys to keeping students in school is to have better communication

between the parents and the school, and increasing parental or guardian involvement in their

child’s education.

2.1.2 Working Parents: - Once a child is registered at a school, parents are responsible for

making sure they attend regularly. Due to their busy schedule, Parents don’t take their

responsibilities seriously whether their child attends school regularly or not. As Working

parents, don’t have any choice but to work, student truant school easily, even they never

informs their parent about report card grades. So it’s very important to notify their parents

before it’s too late.

2.1.3 Bad Influences: - A common cause of truancy is the influence of peers. Friends and

classmates are usually good for a good time. Many times these peers are seen encouraging

truancy as a status-seeking activity or as a way of joining in or blending in. Students are

hanging out on street corners on in cinema hall instead of going to class. The child's natural

instinct to want to be a part of a larger crowd or group dynamic will take over, even if they

are taught better habits. Because these students are studying together and seeing each other

each day, this is just not a good thing; if some students are partying then majority of the

student are with them.

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2.2 METHOD PRESENTLY USED BY SCHOOL

Students at risk of Truancy need to be identified as early as possible in their school careers.

This task usually falls to the teacher, school counselor, or parents. To bring failing students

back to school and foster their success, the reasons for Truancy need to be recognized and

treated.

In many schools in Nigeria, truancy curbing programs remain sanction and procedure

oriented. Resources are focused on identifying, locating and transitioning truant youth back

into their respective schools with appropriate sanctions and/or citations. Often, these efforts

include formal adjudication, police involvement, and suspension or remedial programs,

which have not been shown to be effective in resolving the issues fostering truancy (Byer &

Kuhn, 2003). As well, many schools lack screening/assessment and effective attendance

management system for truant student in spite of the psychosocial problems these youth often

present. Hence a more effective method of curbing truancy to requires automatic detection

through effective usage of RFID truancy monitoring system.

2.3 HISTORY RFID

It’s generally said that the roots of radio frequency identification technology can be traced

back to World War II. The Germans, Japanese, Americans and British were all using radar

which had been discovered in 1935 by Scottish physicist Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt

to warn of approaching planes while they were still miles away. The problem was there was

no way to identify which planes belonged to the enemy and which were a country’s own

pilots returning from a mission. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) research and

discovery began in earnest in the 1970s. RFID is commonly used to transmit and receive

information without wires. RFID readers and tags communicate through a distance using

23
radio waves. There are a lot of advantages in RFID system, included their price, size,

memory capacity and their capability. The pure memory-based RFID chip without a

coprocessor is cheap, and its footprint is small and usually use in car immobilizer

applications where the IC has to fit in a tiny glass tube bury in the key. RFID fast processing

speed is also essential. In radar and RF communications systems continued through the1950s

and 1960s. Scientists and academics the United States, Europe and Japan did research and

presented papers explaining how RF energy could be used to identify student remotely.

Companies began commercializing anti-theft systems that used radio waves to determine

whether an item has been found or not electronic article surveillance tags, which are still used

in packaging today, have a 1-bit tag. The bit is either on or off. If someone pays for the item,

the bit is turned off, and a person can leave the store. But if the person doesn't pay and tries to

walk out of the store, readers at the door detect the tag and sound an alarm The First RFID

Patents Mario W. Cardullo claims to have received the first U.S. patent for an active RFID

tag with rewritable memory on January 23, 1973.That same year, Charles Walton, a

California entrepreneur, received a patent for a passive transponder used to unlock a door

without a key. A card with an embedded transponder communicated a signal to a reader near

the door. When the read detected a valid identity number stored within the RFID tag, the

reader unlocked the door. Walton licensed the technology to Schlage Lock of San Francisco,

a lock maker, and other companies later, companies developed a low-frequency (125 kHz)

system, feature in smaller transponders. A transponder encapsulated in glass could be injected

under the cows’ skin. This system is still used in cows around the world today. Low

frequency transponders were also put in cards and used to control the access to buildings over

time; companies commercialized 125 kHz systems and then moved up the radio spectrum to

high frequency (13.56 MHz), which was unregulated and unused in most parts of the world.

High frequency offered greater range and fast data transfer rates. Companies, particularly

24
those in Europe, began using it to track reusable containers and other assets. Today, 13.56

MHz RFID systems are used for access control, payment systems (Mobile Speed pass) and

contactless smart cards they’re also used as an anti-theft device in cars. A reader in the

steering column reads passive RFID tag in the plastic housing around the key. If it doesn’t get

ID number it is programmed to look for, the car won't starting the early 1990s, IBM

engineers developed and patented an ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID system. UHF offered

longer read range (up to 20 feet under good conditions) and faster data transfer. IBM did

some early pilots with Wal-Mart but never commercialized this technology. When it ran into

financial trouble in the mid-1990s, IBM sold its patents to Intermec, a bar code systems

provider. Intermec RFID systems have been installed in numerous different applications,

from warehouse tracking to farming. But the technology was expensive at the time due to the

low volume of sales and the lack of open, international standards.

2.4 WHAT IS RFID? RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION DEVICE

RFID is short for Radio Frequency Identification. Generally a RFID system consists of 2

parts.  A Reader, and one or more Transponders, also known as Tags. RFID systems evolved

from barcode labels as a means to automatically identify and track products and people. You

will be generally familiar with RFID systems as seen in:

 Access Control.

RFID Readers placed at entrances that require a person to pass their proximity card

(RF tag) to be “read' before the access can be made.

 Contact less Payment Systems

RFID tags used to carry payment information. RFIDs are particular suited to

electronic Toll collection systems. Tags attached to vehicles, or carried by

25
 people transmit payment information to a fixed reader attached to a Toll station.

Payments are then routinely deducted from a users account, or information is changed

directly on the RFID tag.

 Product Tracking and Inventory Control.

RFID systems are commonly used to track and record the movement of ordinary items such

as library books, clothes, factory pallets, electrical goods and numerous items.

In a very interesting article, the San Jose Mercury News tells us about Charles Walton, the

man behind the radio frequency identification technology (RFID). Since his first patent about

it in 1973, Walton, now 83 years old, collected about $3 million from royalties coming from

his patents. Unfortunately for him, his latest patent about RFID expired in the mid-1990s. So

he will not make any money from the billions of RFID tags that will appear in the years to

come. But he continues to invent and his latest patent about a proximity card with

incorporated PIN code protection was granted in June 2004. Radio frequency identification as

known as RFID is a generic term of technologies that use radio to automatically identify

people or student. The acronym refers to small electronic devices that consist of small chip

and an antenna. The chip typically is capable of carrying 2,000 bytes of data or less. The

RFID provides a unique identifier for that

student.TheRFIDdevicemustbescannedtoretrievetheidentifyinginformation.Referhttp://ww.R

FIDjournal.com.efer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID, RFID is a method of string and

remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. The RFID tag is a

small student that can attach to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person. James

Brusey at el. (August2003) in their Workshop on Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robot

tiatIJCAI, Acapulco, Mexico stated that RFID stands for “radio frequency identification”, and

26
it's a technology that enables remotely storing and retrieving information by means of

electromagnetic radiation.

2.4.1 THE RFID SYSTEM

An RFID system may consist of several components: tags, tag readers, edge servers,

middleware, and application software. In a typical RFID system, individual students are

equipped with a small, inexpensive tag. When an RFID tag passes through the

electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes the data

encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host

computer for processing. In some RFID solutions a return receipt can be generated. Refer

http://www.RFIDjournal.com.An RFID system consists of two main components, RFID

tag(transponder)and RFID reader. RFID tag is usually attached to the student to be identified

and carries information in an electronic microchip. RFID detects tags and performs read/write

operations on RFID tags (Lara Srivastava, April 2005).Lara Srivastava (2005) states normally

readers are connected with an additional interface to forward tag information to another

system, like a PC or robot control system. The most common RFID system, the reader

transmits allow-power radio signal to the tag, which receives the signal and uses it as a power

source to activate the embedded integrated circuit, and then transmits the information stored

in it back to the reader through the antenna. The information carried by the RFID tag is the

identity of the tag and other relevant information.

2.4.2 TYPE OF RFID

There are three types of RFID, active, passive, and semi passive RFID tag. Active RFID and

passive RFID are fundamentally different technologies. Active RFID tags have an internal

power source (battery).The battery that can be used as a partial or complete source of power

27
for the tag's circuitry and antenna, and may have longer range and larger memories than

passive tags, as well as the ability to store additional information sent by the transceiver

Some active tags contain replaceable batteries for years of use (JR Tuttle, 1997).Passive

RFID tags have no internal power supply (battery).The power supplied by the reader. When a

passive RFID tag encounters radio waves from the reader, the coiled antenna within the tag

forms a magnetic field. The tag draws power from it, energizing the circuits in the tag. The

tag then sends the information encoded in the tag's memory and temporarily stores a very

small amount of energy from the reader’s signal to generate its own quick response. Music or

clothing store placed the reader at entrance to detect an asset or person with a passive tag

moving through the door. As quoted by Dempsey (2004) “The key point here is that these

systems don’t really provide location at all; since the reader have such a limited range,

location is surmised from which reader last read the tag .Even though active RFID offer best

performance than passive RFID, most of the researcher prefers to use passive RFID in their

system. Chatterjee et al. (2004), Science Application International Corporation (2002) and

Larsson and Qviberg (2004) stated that passive RFID is a low-cost to install and can function

for a number of years without maintenance. According to Mr. William Sharp, President of

Advanced Research Company, most tags being targeted for use today are passive RFID.

Hayashi et al. (2003) et al.(2004) are some researchers who prefer long life active RFID tag

for their research. Lara Srivastava (April 2004) state that semi-passive tag, which employs an

embedded battery to achieve better performance. Normally, such tags are only activated when

they are in the reading range of a reader. For development school children monitoring system,

passive RFID tag will be using to accomplish this project. This RFID are choosing because

the tag functions without a battery; these tags have a useful life of twenty years or more. The

tag is typically much less expensive to manufacture the tag is much smaller where some tags

28
are the size of a grain of rice. These tags have almost unlimited applications in consumer

goods and other areas.

2.4.3 COMPONENTS OF RFID

A basic RFID system consists of three components:

 An antenna or coil

 A transceiver (with decoder)

 A transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique information

These are described below:

1. ANTENNA

The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag and read and write data to it. Antennas are

the conduits between the tag and the transceiver, which controls the system's data acquisition

and communication. Antennas are available in a variety of shapes and sizes; they can be built

into a door frame to receive tag data from persons or things passing through the door, or

mounted on an interstate tollbooth to monitor traffic passing by on a freeway. The

electromagnetic field produced by an antenna can be constantly present when multiple tags

are expected continually. If constant interrogation is not required, a sensor device can activate

the field. Often the antenna is packaged with the transceiver and decoder to become a reader

(a.k.a. interrogator), which can be configured either as a handheld or a fixed-mount device.

The reader emits radio waves in ranges of anywhere from one inch to 100 feet or more,

depending upon its power output and the radio frequency used. When an RFID tag passes

through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes

the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host

computer for processing.

29
 FIG 2.3 RFID ANTENNA

2. TAGS (Transponders)

An RFID tag is comprised of a microchip containing identifying information and an antenna

that transmits this data wirelessly to a reader. At its most basic, the chip will contain a

serialized identifier, or license plate number, that uniquely identifies that item, similar to the

way many bar codes are used today. A key difference, however is that RFID tags have a

higher data capacity than their bar code counterparts. This increases the options for the type

of information that can be encoded on the tag, including the manufacturer, batch or lot

number, weight, ownership, destination and history (such as the temperature range to which

an item has been exposed). In fact, an unlimited list of other types of information can be

stored on RFID tags, depending on application needs. An RFID tag can be placed on

30
individual items, cases or pallets for identification purposes, as well as on fixed assets such as

trailers, containers, totes, etc.

Tags come in a variety of types, with a variety of capabilities. Key variables include:

"Read-only" versus "read-write"

There are three options in terms of how data can be encoded on tags: (1) Read-only tags

contain data such as a serialized tracking number, which is pre-written onto them by the tag

manufacturer or distributor. These are generally the least expensive tags because they cannot

have any additional information included as they move throughout the supply chain. Any

updates to that information would have to be maintained in the application software that

tracks SKU movement and activity. (2) "Write once" tags enable a user to write data to the

tag one time in production or distribution processes. Again, this may include a serial number,

but perhaps other data such as a lot or batch number. (3) Full "read-write" tags allow new

data to be written to the tag as needed—and even written over the original data. Examples for

the latter capability might include the time and date of ownership transfer or updating the

repair history of a fixed asset. While these are the most costly of the three tag types and are

not practical for tracking inexpensive items, future standards for electronic product codes

(EPC) appear to be headed in this direction.

Fig 2.4 RFID TAGS

31
Data capacity

The amount of data storage on a tag can vary, ranging from 16 bits on the low end to as much

as several thousand bits on the high end. Of course, the greater the storage capacity, the

higher the price per tag.

Form factor

The tag and antenna structure can come in a variety of physical form factors and can either be

self-contained or embedded as part of a traditional label structure (i.e., the tag is inside what

looks like a regular bar code label—this is termed a 'Smart Label') companies must choose

the appropriate form factors for the tag very carefully and should expect to use multiple form

factors to suit the tagging needs of different physical products and units of measure. For

example, a pallet may have an RFID tag fitted only to an area of protected placement on the

pallet itself. On the other hand, cartons on the pallet have RFID tags inside bar code labels

that also provide operators human-readable information and a back-up should the tag fail or

pass through non RFID-capable supply chain links.

Passive versus active

“Passive” tags have no battery and "broadcast" their data only when energized by a reader.

That means they must be actively polled to send information. "Active" tags are capable of

broadcasting their data using their own battery power. In general, this means that the read

ranges are much greater for active tags than they are for passive tags—perhaps a read range

of 100 feet or more, versus 15 feet or less for most passive tags. The extra capability and read

ranges of active tags, however, come with a cost; they are several times more expensive than

passive tags. Today, active tags are much more likely to be used for high-value items or fixed

assets such as trailers, where the cost is minimal compared to item value, and very long read

32
ranges are required. Most traditional supply chain applications, such as the RFID-based

tracking and compliance programs emerging in the consumer goods retail chain, will use the

less expensive passive tags.

EPC Tags

EPC refers to "electronic product code," an emerging specification for RFID tags, readers and

business applications first developed at the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology. This organization has provided significant intellectual leadership toward the use

and application of RFID technology. EPC represents a specific approach to item

identification, including an emerging standard for the tags themselves, including both the data

content of the tag and open wireless communication protocols. In a sense, the EPC movement

is combining the data standards embodied in certain bar code specifications, such as the UPC

or UCC-128 bar code standards, with the wireless data communication standards that have

been developed by ANSI and other groups.

3. RF Transceiver:

The RF transceiver is the source of the RF energy used to activate and power the passive

RFID tags. The RF transceiver may be enclosed in the same cabinet as the reader or it may be

a separate piece of equipment. When provided as a separate piece of equipment, the

transceiver is commonly referred to as an RF module. The RF transceiver controls and

modulates the radio frequencies that the antenna transmits and receives. The transceiver

filters and amplifies the backscatter signal from a passive RFID tag.

33
2.4.4 OPERATING FREQUENCY OF RFID

Like all wireless communications, there are a variety of frequencies or spectra through which

RFID tags can communicate with readers. Again, there are trade-offs among cost,

performance and application requirements. For instance, low-frequency tags are cheaper than

ultra high-frequency (UHF) tags, use less power and are better able to penetrate non-metallic

substances. They are ideal for scanning students with high water content, such as fruit, at

close range. UHF frequencies typically offer better range and can transfer data faster. But

they use more power and are less likely to pass through some materials. UHF tags are

typically best suited for use with or near wood, paper, cardboard or clothing products.

Compared to low-frequency tags, UHF tags might be better for scanning boxes of goods as

they pass through a bay door into a warehouse. While the tag requirements for compliance

mandates may be narrowly defined, it is likely that a variety of tag types will be required to

solve specific operational issues. You will want to work with a company that is very

knowledgeable in tag and reader technology to appropriately identify the right mix of RFID

technology for your environment and applications. The frequency of an RFID system defines

the relationship between the tag and reader, and impacts both the transmission range and

speed. RFID systems can work in the low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), ultra high

frequency (UHF), and microwave parts of the spectrum. Common frequencies for RFID

systems are 125-134 KHz (LF), 13.56 MHz (HF), 860-930 MHz (UHF), and 2.45 GHz

(microwave).

2.4.4 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF RFID

Shown below is a typical RFID system. In every RFID system the transponder Tags contain

information. This information can be as little as a single binary bit , or be a large array of

bits representing such things as an identity code, personal medical information, or literally

34
any type of information that can be stored in digital binary format.

Fig 2.2 operation architecture of RFID

Shown is a RFID transceiver that communicates with a passive Tag. Passive tags have no

power source of their own and instead derive power from the incident electromagnetic

field. Commonly the heart of each tag is a microchip. When the Tag enters the generated

RF field it is able to draw enough power from the field to access its internal memory and

transmit its stored information. When the transponder Tag draws power in this way the

resultant interaction of the RF fields causes the voltage at the transceiver antenna to drop in

value. This effect is utilized by the Tag to communicate its information to

the reader. The Tag is able to control the amount of power drawn from the field and by

35
 doing so it can modulate the voltage sensed at the Transceiver according to the bit pattern it

wishes to transmit.

2.4.5 TYPICAL APPLICATION OF RFID

 Automatic Vehicle identification

 Inventory Management

 Work-in-Process

 Container/ Yard Management

 Document/ Jewellery tracking

 Patient Monitoring

2.4.6 THE ADVANTAGES OF RFID OVER BAR CODING

1. No "line of sight" requirements: Bar code reads can sometimes be limited or

problematic due to the need to have a direct "line of sight" between a scanner

and a bar code. RFID tags can be read through materials without line of sight.

2. More automated reading: RFID tags can be read automatically when a tagged product

comes past or near a reader, reducing the labor required to scan product and

allowing more proactive, real-time tracking.

3. Improved read rates: RFID tags ultimately offer the promise of higher read

rates than bar codes, especially in high-speed operations such as carton

sorting..

36
 4. Greater data capacity: RFID tags can be easily encoded with item details

such as lot and batch, weight, etc.

5. "Write" capabilities: Because RFID tags can be rewritten with new data as

supply chain activities are completed, tagged products carry updated

information as they move throughout the supply chain.

2.4.7 COMMON PROBLEM OF RFID

Some common problems with RFID are reader collision and tag collision. Reader collision

occurs when the signals from two or more readers overlap. The tag is unable to respond to

simultaneous queries. Systems must be carefully set up to avoid this problem. Tag collision

occurs when many tags are present in a small area; but since the read time is very fast, it is

easier for vendors to develop systems that ensure that tags respond one at a time.

Fig 2.5 BLOCKS DIAGRAM OF THE RFID TRACKERS:

37
 School
entrance

8051
Tx
PORT 2

Rx DATA PIN

RFID
TAG

RFID BASED TRUANCY MONITORING SYSTEM

2.3 MICRO CONTROLLER (AT89S52)

The AT89S52 is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with 8K bytes

of downloadable Flash programmable and erasable read only memory and 2K bytes of

EEPROM. The device is manufactured using Atmel’s high-density non volatile memory

technology and is compatible with the industry-standard 80C51 instruction set and pin out.

The on-chip downloadable Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed in-system

through an SPI serial interface or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By

combining a versatile 8-bit CPU with downloadable Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel

AT89S52 is a powerful microcomputer which provides a highly-flexible and cost-effective

solution to many embedded control applications.

The AT89S52 provides the following standard features: 8K bytes of downloadable Flash, 2K

bytes of EEPROM, 256 bytes of RAM, 32 I/O lines, programmable watchdog timer, two data

38
pointers, three 16-bit timer/counters, a six-vector two-level interrupt architecture, a full

duplex serial port, on-chip oscillator, and clock circuitry. In addition, the AT89S8252 is

designed with static logic for operation down to zero frequency and supports two software

selectable power saving modes. The Idle Mode stops the CPU while allowing the RAM,

timer/counters, serial port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down

mode saves the RAM contents but freezes the oscillator, disabling all other chip functions

until the next interrupt or hardware reset. The downloadable Flash can be changed a single

byte at a time and is accessible through the SPI serial interface. Holding RESET active forces

the SPI bus into a serial programming interfaces and allows the program memory to be

written to or read from unless Lock Bit 2 has been activated.

Fig 2.6 Microcontroller (AT89S52)

2.3.1 ADVANTAGE AND LIMITATION OF (AT89S52)

RFID technology offers many benefits for business, manufacturing and tracking process.

According to Stanford (2003), RFID related application and benefit. As quoted from the

study, “Make no mistake about it—at the high end, RFID tags are wireless, networked,

39
pervasive computers, successfully integrated into their environment. They are easily attached,

often of negligible weight and bulk.” Grajales (2003) stated that RIFD could enable full

control of inventory content and location for vehicles in the facility. Tuttle (1997) stated that

the technology overcome other automatic identification approaches such as infrared. Apart

from benefits mention above, Olivier (1996) stated RFID could utilize as car theft prevention.

However, RFID system also has its limitations. Two main limitation of RFID are false

negative reads and false positive reads. According James Brusey at el.(August 2003) stated

false negative reads where RFID tags are not read at all, and false positive reads where RFID

tags are detected when they are not in the interrogation range of the reader. Apart of

limitation mention above, Christian Floerkemeier, and Matthias Lampe(April 2004)stated

that these failures could be caused by collisions on the air interface tag detuning, tag

misalignment, metal and water in the vicinity of the RFID system.

2.4 SHORT MESSAGE SERVICES (SMS)

2.4.1 WHAT IS SMS?

According http://www.wikipedia.com to Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available

on most digital mobile phones hat permits the sending of short messages. Short messages also

known as text messages, or more colloquially SMSes, texts or even texts between mobile

phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones. Other uses of text messaging

can be for ordering ring tones, wallpapers and entering competitions SMS stands for “Short

Message Service." That is used to send text messages

to mobile phones. The messages can typically be up to 160 characters in length, though some

services use 5-bit mode, which supports 224 characters.SMS was originally created for

phones that use GSM (Global System for Mobile) communication, but now all the major cell

phone systems support it. Refer http://www.sharpened.net/glory.

40
2.4.2 PROCESS OF SMS

Once a message is sent, it is received by a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which

must then get it to the appropriate mobile device to do this, the SMSC sends a SMS Request

to the home location register (HLR) to find the roaming customer. Once the HLR receives the

request, I will respond to the SMSC with the subscriber's status. There are two statuses where

inactive or active where subscriber is roaming. If the response is “inactive", then the SMSC

will hold onto the message for a period of time. When the subscriber accesses his device, the

HLR sends a SMS Notification to the SMSC, and the SMSC will attempt delivery. The

SMSC transfers the message in a Short Message Delivery Point to Point format to the serving

system. The system pages the device, and if it responds the message gets delivered. The

SMSC receives verification that the message was received by the end user, and then

categorizes the message as "sent" and will not attempt to send again. Refer

http://www.wikipedia.com.

2.5 STUDENT TRUANCY IN SCHOOL

School truancy, particularly in primary and secondary schools, represents a serious issue

deserving attention in communities across the nation. Most often treated as a management

and disciplinary problem, serious attention to the underlying causes of truancy is usually

given after the youth's absence from school becomes frequent or chronic. Truant youths are at

considerable risk of continuing their troubled behavior in school, experiencing psychosocial

difficulties, and entering the juvenile justice system. Unfortunately, with few exceptions,

41
truancy has not received significant attention by criminologists. This project will address the

truancy among the students.

2.6 STUDENT TRUANCY MONITORING VIA RFID

The technology of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enjoys an enormous interest at the

current time, not only from the standpoint of research but also from corporate practice

(Thiesse, 2006). RFID is a type of automatic identification system. The purpose of an RFID

system is to enable data to be transmitted by a portable device, called a tag, which is read by

an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of particular application Therefore, the

technology has brings the idea of using RFID to curb truancy among student in Nigeria

parents can keep track of their children's whereabouts. Putting together a system based on

RFID, Wi-Fi terminal and telecommunication, which sends parents short message service

(SMS) messages to confirm that their children have safely arrived at school or home. Student

RPID Tag is developed based on three components in two combinations; a transceiver

(transmitter/receiver) are combined as RFID tag reader, while transponder

(transmitter/responder) and antenna are combined to make an RFID tag, which is worn as a

bangle in student's arm. The transceiver can be placed at several strategic places at school,

such as canteen and post guard as it can detect student in about 10metres area. The student

would carry a passive RFID chip, worn on a bracelet or sewn into school uniform shirt or

blouse, known as Bangle Detector. RFID readers would be mounted aboard school buses and

at school entrances, and would communicate with central server at the school over a Wi-Fi

(Wireless Fidelity) connection. The RFID reader would log the times when the child got on

or off the school bus arrived at school or left the school premises. Each time, it would send an

SMS to the child's parents. This would help assure parents that their children were going to

school and coming home promptly. This technology will provide school authorities with not

42
only access to real-time information on a particular student's class attendance, which would

be useful for school administrators to take proactive steps against truancy, but would also

enhance access control and security at schools to prevent kidnappings which has become an

epidemic within the African nation. Using RFID Technology and the solutions for truancy

can be a game changer in improving access control and security, while improving class

attendance and enhance learning in Africa's largest economy.

CHAPTER 3

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Chapter 2 gave an overview of the applicability and suitability of RFID technology to the areas of

wearable and ubiquitous computing. It also highlighted its ability to overcome the shortcomings

inherent in student attendance and truancy monitoring system leading to the conclusion that RFID is a

suitable technology for curbing truancy in Nigeria schools.

This chapter describes how RFID technology is used in curbing truancy and presents a detailed

overview of the design of truancy monitoring system. In this chapter, the source of data, methods

43
of collection, the evaluation of the existing system and the organization structure of the

system are presented.

This includes the system's form factor and the types of hardware used. The system's data processing

techniques are discussed with descriptions of how data is gathered, stored, and used.

3.2 EXISTING TRUANCY MONITORING SYSTEM

In 2007, Lagos state government focused attention on youth crime and

developed recommendation for prevention and early intervention. To

address truancy and youth crime,

the state recommended approaches that focus on the root causes of poor

school attendance, such as lack of parental control due to insufficient

parenting skills, child abuse or neglect in the home, and family instability.

The state also suggested and require parents to ensure that their children

are supervised and will be held responsible for truancy of their children,

The working group’s recommendations resulted in an amendment to the

State compulsory school attendance law to include criminal sanctions for

parents or guardians who do not ensure that their children where in

school.

School managements are using old traditional manual attendance system

such as :

 Calling roll number of every student to mark attendance every day.

 Providing mentoring teacher-student relationships to encourage both attendance and

performance at school.

 Surprise quiz in the classroom.

 Extra credit for student in attendance.

44
3.2.1 PROBLEM OF EXISTING MONITORING SYSTEM

1. Daily roll call is time consuming

2. Too many manual errors.

3. in accurate IN & OUT Time

4. Lot of search time, when you need to see any student attendance performance

student’s attendance performance. Parents wait till end of term in most case to get the

attendance report.

3.2.2 SYSTEM FORM FACTOR

A system is a collection of activities and elements organized to accomplish a goal. In

system analysis, data is collected about the present system. The data is then analyzed

and new requirements are determined. System analysis is on determining the

requirement for a new system. Three tasks of this are gathering data, Analyzing the

data, and documenting the analyses.

 Gathering data is done by observation, harvesting data from system database,

interviews, and questionnaire and looking at documents, one of which is the

organization chart which shows an organizers foundations and levels of management.

 Analyzing data:- there are several tools for the analyzing of data which includes

checklist, decision tables and system flows charts

 Documenting system analysis. To document and to communicate the finding of the

study, a system analysis report is prepared for higher management in the application.

3.3 FORM FACTOR ANALYSIS

45
The initial concept and problem analysis/ form factor of the mobile component was an RFID enabled

glove. Another consideration in the design of the system’s form factor arises from the initial pro-to

type evaluation. The form factor was influenced by the inherent limitations of the RFID readers range.

For this reasons a different system form factor was developed for RFID truancy monitor. This takes

the form of a pouch which is placed inside a pocket with tagged items. A box was designed using a

3D printer to house the mini computer.

Figure 3.1: System Form Factor: Left image shows the front of the pouch with an integrated

LCD display. Right image shows the back of the pouch with RFID reader.

This box along with the RFID reader and batteries are held within the pouch. The prototype RFID

truancy detector pouch measures 10.5cm x 11cm, and is 2.5cm thick. Its weight is0.35kg. It is made

of cloth and contains a zip at the bottom which facilitates the removal of the internal components for

battery replacement. . A switch is also found inside the zip for powering on and of the system. The

front side of the pouch features the LCD display and the back side of the pouch has a clear plastic

covering to show the RFID reader. This pouch is carried easily within a pocket or a bag. Due to the

limited capacity of pockets and bags the reader will be constantly in close proximity to tagged items.

The goal of this is to overcome the limitations of the reader's range. To evaluate and test this design,

the pouch was placed in a bag and jacket pocket with tagged students. The purpose of this evaluation

was to determine if tagged students could be successfully identified using this system form factor.

46
3.4 RFID SYSTEM DESIGN.

In system design, new or alternative information is designed. This phase consist of

three tasks: 1. designing alternative system 2.Selceting the best system 3.Hardware

design.

3.4.1 DESIGNING ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM

An alternative information system is designed and each alternative is evaluating for:

(A). Economic feasibility – Costs and benefits, time for the system to pay for (itself).

(B). Technical feasibility:- hand ware and software reliability, available training.

(C). Operational feasibility:- the ability the system to work within the organization.

3.3.2 SELECTING THE BEST SYSTEM.

Question is considered when selecting the best system:-

1. Will the system fit into an overall information system?

2. Will the system be flexible enough to be modified and needed in the feature?

3. Will it be secure against unauthorized use?

4. Will the systems benefit exceed its costs?

5. Writing the system design report:- this is to document and it communicate the

finding of study, a system design report is prepared for longer management.

3.5 HARDWARE DESIGN

There are a number of key hardware components required for the RFID truancy monitor system. The

mobile component of RFID truancy detector consists of an RFID reader connected to a Gumstix com-

puter 1. The Gumstix is a mini computer running a Linux operating system. The Gumstix is expanded

with wireless capabilities, two serial connections, and has an integrated Bluetooth module. Expanding

the Gumstix involves using expansion boards which simply click onto the Gumstix .The first board is

47
known as Wistix which give the Gumstix wireless capabilities and the second board contains two

serial port connections. Figure 3.2 shows these components. The Gumstix facilitates the necessary

data processing and wireless transmission of recorded data required by the mobile component. It is

responsible for gathering information about student location and transmitting this data wirelessly to

the Truancy monitor application. Information about a student location is gathered using the RFID

reader, which detects when the embedded tag being carried by a student is detected (step 1 in _figure

3.5).

Figure 3.2: A) Gumstix, B) Serial port expansion board, C) Wistix, D) Gumstix connected

to Wistix and Serial expansion board

To connect the reader to the Gumstix a small circuit is constructed which regulates a 5V power supply

for the reader and relays tag reads to the Gumstix through one of its serial ports. Figure 6.0 shows the

schematic for this circuit. Figure 3.4 shows the circuit and the RFID reader connected to the Gumstix

48
Figure 3.3: Schematic drawing of Hardware sesign: Left) Serial to RFID reader circuit

schematic, Right) Serial to LCD circuit schematic

Once an RFID tag comes into range of the reader and its ID is read successfully, the ID is taken in by

the Gumstix. The Gumstix then transmits this ID wirelessly to a server where it can be stored in a

database (step 2 in _figure 7). The function of the server is to host the online student truancy monitor

website and a database. The database stores the information which has been wirelessly transmitted by

the Gumstix (step 3 in _figure 3.5). The server runs on a laptop connected to a router. This allows the

Gumstix to be configured to connect to the router and use it to transmit data to the server and store it

in the database. Connected to the Gumstix is a 32 character LCD screen. The purpose of this is to

enhance the user to system interaction. The LCD connects to one of the Gumstix serial ports. The

LCD screen is connected to the serial port via a second circuit. This circuit regulates a 5V power

supply to power the LCD screen. Figure 3.3 shows the schematic for this circuit. The Gumstix

transfers data through this circuit which is displayed on the screen as text. Based on student that has

been identified by the RFID reader.

49
 Figure 3.4: System Architecture

1) Gumstix connected to RFID reader and LCD, 2) Router wirelessly receives data from

Gumstix, 3) Laptop server hosting database and truancy monitoring website. Figure 7.0 shows

the system architecture.

50
3.6 DATA COLLECTION

3.6.1 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

(A) Studying of Procedures Manuals

Written documents on truancy monitoring System (Nigeria) was read to obtain

information on how the system works. This form of date collection was useful in the

sense that it sealed light into the present information on truancy monitoring system.

(B) Evaluation of forms.

These provide information that is required within a section of the system and what is

contained in. The printed output form shade more knowledge on which department

representatives receive each document and where it is sent to after is has being uses.

C) Interviewing of school managements and parents. After obtaining thorough

understanding of present truancy monitoring system through evaluation of the system

i.e. evaluation of forms and manuals.

3.7 DATA PROCESSING

RFID truancy monitor requires a server used to host the Truancy monitor website and database. The

Server setup used in this project is known as Linux Apache MySQL PHP (LAMP). The LAMP server

system consists of a number of open source software technologies which are commonly used together

in server applications. It consists of an Apache server 4, MySQL 5 for managing databases, and PHP 6

scripting language used for server side data processing in dynamic web pages. These technologies are

running on a Linux operating system. The LAMP system was chosen as it encapsulates the required

software technologies for the Truancy monitor application. MySQL facilitates the storage and

retrieval of tag read data which is transmitted to the server by the mobile component. This data is

stored in a MySQL database. The Apache server hosts the web pages which are written in PHP. Using

PHP allows interaction with the MySQL database, such as storing and retrieving data, and processes

this information displaying it to the user through the website. See _figure 3.6 for a data flow diagram

51
 Tracker

Student truancy monitoring

application

Figure 3.5: Data Flow Diagram

When the Gumstix is powered and boots up, it runs a Python script. The Python script is responsible

for transmitting tag IDs to the server which have been read by the RFID reader.

52
It is also responsible for displaying information on the LCD screen. When a tagged student is read by

the RFID reader, its ID is passed through the serial port to the Gumstix, (step1 in figure3.6). This ID

is taken in by the Python script. The Python script can then transmit this ID to a PHP page running on

the LAMP server. This PHP page is responsible for storing the tag ID in the database. When a tag is

read, its ID is transmitted wirelessly via the router to the PHP page, (step 2 and 3 in figure3.5). This

ID is stored in a database using MySQL queries embedded within the PHP page. Each ID is given a

time stamp when it is stored, consisting of the current time and date. When storing a tag ID it is a

second database. The second database stores all tag ID's recognized by the system and which student

the ID corresponds to. When a tag ID is stored, this information is used to determine which student

the ID belongs to and store the corresponding item name with the tag ID, (step 4 in figure3.6). For

example, the tag ID `04162B761F' is received by the server and PHP page. This ID is checked against

the second database which indicates that`04162B761F' corresponds to `certain student'. This ID can

then be stored with its item name and is given a timestamp. Each time a tag ID is read on the Gumstix,

the Python program stores the last occurrence of the item. Each time student is identified. Its

timestamp is updated, so that the system records when last that student is located. Using this

information, the Python script sends this data to the LCD screen and displays it in the form of a

simple cue (step 5 in figure3.5). necessary to establish which student the ID corresponds to. Each item

that can be identified by the system.

3.8 USER INTERFACES VIA WEBSITE AND SMS

With RFID data stored, a PHP website can incorporate this as part of the truancy monitor

application. When a parent want to know the history of their children school attendance they simply

logon to this website and select the identity of student they are looking for, or simply by sending the

identity of their child into a short code via an SMS . Using PHP with MySQL the website can retrieve

relevant information from the database. This data is presented to the user when and where they last

the student had being (step 6 and 7 in figure3.6). One of the goals for this system is to return this

information in the form of human readable cues, or in such a way that is as close as possible to human

53
readable language. For example, `The student enter school gate by 7:00am and exit the gate by

3:45pm on 13th July 2012.. This is achieved within the PHP pages, formatting and filtering data, and

displaying relevant information in the form of the human readable cues. The aim of using human

readable cues is to create an application which people can easily relate to. It is the opinion of this

author that a person can better relate to natural human language rather than lists of data consisting of

dates, times and

IDs. The user can read a simple line of text rather than deciphering lists of data in order to

obtain useful information. This however may not always be true. The effectiveness of the two

data representations, human readable cues and a more technical representation, is discussed

in chapter 4. Based on the information obtained from these evaluations the truancy monitor

application presents data in both forms. Figure 3.7 shows a screen shot from the web site,

this displays an example of the human readable cues.

The second means of presenting useful information to the user is through the LCD screen

built into the mobile component. The LCD continues to display the last time you had

certain items. Due to the LCD's limited screen space, consisting of 32 characters, the cues

are simpler than those found on the Truancy monitor website, for example, `Last had phone @

17:38, 17/04/2008'. A second limitation with the screen is that users cannot interact with it.

Page 20 of 36 Figure 3.7: Truancy monitor website

They do not have control over the information which is displayed, the system simply cycles

through available information. While there are limitations to the LCD screen, the presented

information still facilitates user assistance in the situation where a computer is unavailable.

3.9 FULL SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The goal of this work is to use a RFID system to curb truancy and create a student monitor web based

application which helps Parent to monitor and track their children. Two main components are required

to achieve this. A mobile component and the truancy detection application. The mobile component is

carried by the user and is responsible for gathering information about a student where about on real

54
time basis. To gather this information the mobile component requires a means of retrieving data and

processing the same data. The system will be operating in the following sequence after installation:

1.The student’s old Identity -cards will get replaced with RFID Identity-cards which will be

as same as their Identity-cards having their Name, Photo and all other details.

2. The sufficient number of RFID Readers will be installed at the entrance gate of the school.

3. All readers are networked to the computer via controller and data converter

4. When the student enters the school gate he will show his ID cards to the RFID reader from

max distance of 5cm.

5. After successful reading of the card reader will blow a green light on the reader and an

audio indicator is enabled

6. Looking at the noisy conditions at the gate of the school, there will be an extra light

indicator at every reader so as to indicate the successful reading of the card and confirm the

Attendance and exit

7. The RFID Reader reads the card data that is card number and sends to the computer via

controller and data converter.

8. As soon as card is read by the reader the computer will show

9. RFID Reader reads a card within less than a second. Photo, Roll No and Name of the card

holder on the screen for a while and waits for other card get scanned.

10. The software collects the data, maintains the various masters and gives the necessary

reports. There can be special SMS’s sent like school early closed or emergency holiday etc.

on the top of the click. The system gives you the whole attendance history of a student

on the top of the click.

: Software Features:

The software performs following:

1. Masters:

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1) The student Master containing the complete data of the students with Roll no, Adress,

Name photo class and parent details etc

2) The online attendance monitoring system transactions would be handled by the software

without any propagation delay e.g.

1) Time In

2) Time Out

3) Special Time In (Late coming)

3) Data maintenance for the whole academic year.

4). Reports:

The reports can be filtered by following fields:

1) Name

2) Roll No

3) Class

4) Between dates

The Reports will be as follows:

1) Presenters Reports

2) Absenteeism Reports

3) Late coming Reports

4) % Attendance Reports

5) Class Reports

6) From date - To Date Reports

7) Weekly Reports

8) Monthly Reports

9) Half Yearly Reports

10) Yearly Reports.

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CHAPTER 4

4.0 RESULT, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Results and Comparison with other truancy monitoring system

RFID Truancy monitor is flawless automated attendance truancy monitor system of school

student. The system is based on RFID (radio frequency identification devices) which stands

to be the most advanced and reliable contactless technology used all over the world. The

system takes care of the attendance of student everyday .thereby monitoring each student

attendance. It replaces the old traditional, manual attendance system of calling roll no of

every student, which is highly time consuming. It also create a parent information system e.g.

every day system send a SMS to all parent on arrival and exit of their child from the school

There can be special SMS’s sent like school early closed or emergency holiday etc on the top

of the click, on the truancy monitoring web site.

Old truancy monitoring programme is usually a slower process because: 1) lots of time is

wasted on daily basis in the process of taking attendance, 2) we have to search over a large

database of student before we can arrive at any meaningful conclusion.

In this study all the previous problem and challenges were over come as shown in the graph.

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 Figure 3.6: Graph: Time taken for tracking vs. Size of Database (by usage of RFID)

The usage of RFID to curb truancy has lower time complexity compare to conventional to

manual truancy monitoring system .The graph of Time versus N shown in figure 5.12 .Here

N is the index of the student to be identified and monitored at any point in time .As we can

see that time was increasingly linearly with the size of database.

PERFOMANCE ANALYSIS

3.2.2 ANALYSIS OF EXISTING TRUANCY MONITORING SYSTEM

Table 3.1

Number of Students and Their Corresponding Number of truant using the existing
system.

------Number of Students by Year------

Truant 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

0 33 34 12 83
1-3 62 44 30 38
4-9 55 59 41 37
10-14 34 22 13 19
15-19 26 12 7 8
20+ 42 21 24 15
Total 252 192 127 200

Table 3.2
Percent of Students and Their Corresponding Number of
Truant using the existing system

-------Percent of Students by Year-------

Truant 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

0 13.1 17.7 9.4 41.5

1-3 24.6 22.9 23.6 19.0
4-9 21.8 30.7 32.3 18.5
10-14 13.5 11.5 10.2 9.5
15-19 10.3 6.3 5.5 4.0
20+ 16.7 10.9 19.0 7.5

58
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

A case study of Ejigbo Junior High school in Ejigbo Oshodi Isolo Lagos state of Nigeria

As we can see from our truancy monitoring experiments, this key based identification takes

very less time as compare to the existing manual system -

Table 4.1: Performance of RFID truancy monitor device on a database of 150 student
compares with manual system

Total Average Type

Tracking tracking of truancy monitoring system
Time Time

2 hrs, 30 min 1mins Manual attendance s

0.157 sec 1.05 ms RFID truancy device

This gave rise to non-uniform graph. But this non-uniformity in graph will apparently vanish

when size of database will be around thousands or millions.

Results are shown in table 4.8. We draw an expected graph.

(figure4.14) showing comparative results over database size of million students to be tracked

Time taken by our tracking technique will be roughly 0.000105*1000000=184.67

sec = around 3 minutes, while by one to one tracking technique will be roughly

0.00133*1000000=1329.33 sec = around 1/3 hour. So when database is of the order

of millions, this truancy monitoring technique runs in minutes, while Manual tracking

method takes hours to complete or even days in some cases of missing records

The usage of RFID to track truancy in Nigeria results is so good that we can use this Truancy

Monitoring for the whole Country by deploying the device to all public and private secondary

schools.

59
 Usage of Manual attendance
tracking system to track truancy

Usage of RFID to track truancy

Figure 4.1: Expected Graph for comparison: Time taken for tracking of student vs.
Size of database in million

As we can see that time was increasing linearly with size of database .this is so because size

was 150 which is of the order n. As the size will increase e.g. millions or thousand, the slope

or graph will decrease.

Table 4.1 shows the results from the evaluation of the RFID reader's range. It shows the mean

readable range of each tag type for the front, back and side of the RFID reader .For each of the front

back and sides, the standard deviation (SD) of the obtained result are given.

Table 4.1: RFID Reader Evaluation Results

Tag Type Front SD Back SD Sides SD

Rectangular Tag 6.5cm 0.5cm 6.3cm 0.4cm 3.3cm 0.4cm

Circular Tag: 50mm 8.9cm 3.2cm 8.2cm 1.9cm 3.9cm 2.2cm
Circular Tag: 25mm 3.3cm 0.3cm 2.8cm 0.4cm 1.2cm 0.4cm

60
The results of this evaluation highlighted the limitations of the RFID reader's range. However

it was found that once a tag is within this range it is accurately identified. Viewing the test

page which displayed the content of the database ,indicated that once ID is read ,it is always

transmitted and stored correctly in the database .This was confirmed using the testing web

page and the LED light incorporated into the circuit which connect the RFID reader to the

Gumstix. The Led Flashes to indicate that the circuit is receiving data. The Testing webpage

display the content of the database,

Viewing this webpage indicated that the tag reads had been successfully transmitted and

stored in the database. This indicates that the hardware setup and data processing techniques

are sound, however the readers range needed to be considered.

4.3 SYSTEM FORM FACTOR

The goal of the system's form factor is to create a system which is small, compact and easily

carried by the user. The second factor in its design was to address the limitations of the readers range

A small pouch design can be placed within a pocket or bag along with other items. Due to the

relatively small space of pockets and bags, items are in close proximity to each other at all times. The

aim of this test was to determine if this design can overcome the reader’s limitations. Although the

system is very compact and portable it is necessary to highlight that it is a proof of concept. If such a

system was designed and built commercially it would be considerably smaller and lighter. For

example the Gumstix computer is much more powerful than is necessary for the data processing

involved in the system. The circuits involved for connecting components could be constructed using

printed circuit boards which would also be considerably smaller in size. The weight of the form factor

is mainly due to the two 9V batteries it contains. Again a commercially built system could feature a

smaller and lower weight battery.

61
This evaluation involved placing the pouch inside the pocket of a bag and a jacket. Tagged student

will stand closed to the pocket, with the pouch in different combinations and positions in other to

determine if they could be identified successfully .Tagged student consisted of all 150 students tagged

with RFID embedded ID card in this study. The RFID reader is positioned at the back of the pouch, as

seen in figure3.1. For this reason it was necessary to evaluate its effectiveness at reading tags from

both the front and back of the pouch. In the evaluation the pouch was tested 30 times for each side.

4.3.1 RESULT

The results of the form factor evaluation were promising but also highlighted a potential weakness in

its design. When placed in a pocket, RFID truancy monitor successfully identified tagged students

27 out of 30 tests as long as the reader was facing toward them. If the pouch was positioned the wrong

way around it was found that the system was less effective, with 12 of 30 tests identifying a tagged

item. These results indicate that the form factor is very effective when used in a specific way,

however if the pouch was placed in a pocket incorrectly it is considerably less accurate.

4.4 HUMAN REDABLE CUE

To evaluate the human readable cues a survey was created to gather feedback on which technique

people consider more effective, the human readable cues or raw data consisting of date and time

time stamps. This was issued to 3 parents whose child is tagged who had no much knowledge. Of

computer database. To eliminate the possibility that some parent may have certain bias toward more

complicated and detailed data based on their experience with this type of data. The survey was issue

to 10 non computer literate parents whose child was tagged with RFID embedded chip for the purpose

of being monitored.

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 4.5 FINDINGS

1. Speed of tracking a student with a usage of RFID system is 2-4 seconds at most 4-

8secondse from distant range while By insertion i.e insertion of access card in slot,

test accuracy is 1/10 at most 2/10.

2. Also, a stained card test was carried out with a stained both magnetic strip card and an

RFID card with dirt and then the magnetic strip into the slot. The magnetic strip

seemed not to work as a result of the dirt making the reader malfunctioning the case

of the RFID card, the signal from transponder was retrieved because communication

is by contactless radio frequency.

3The overall finding of this work indicate that RFID is an effective and useful technology in

this system. This was indicated by the RFID prototype evaluation which showed a high

level of accuracy. This supports the finding of Schmidt and Gellerson in their research of

the applicability of RFID in wearable computing [10]. While RFID technology is shown to

be accurate it was found to be limited in its range. The system's form factor was designed

to compensate for this, where the mobile component consisted of a pouch which is placed

inside a pocket with tagged items. The results indicated that this was a successful approach,

However the pouch needs to be used in a specific way to facilitate accurate tag reading.

The goal of the truancy monitoring web site is to present the user with data recorded by the

system through the form of human readable cue.

One important result of the implementation that warrants attention is that a lot of student

carry calculator and mobile phone, when the tags are kept close to these electronic devices,

the read degrades tremendously. The students have to retry their tags in front of the antenna

to ensure they are read.

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CHAPTER 5

5.0 SUMMARY CONCLUSON AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 SUMMARY

The Usage of RFID to curb truancy Attendance System consists of an RFID reader, RFID

tags, a personal computer, and a server. The function of the entire system is very simple. It

involves using a reader to read the tags. The information in the tag is transfer to a database

.this later is published for user i.e. parent of a tagged student, to see in a legible format via

method like web server or sms, this is a possible option for replacing the current attendance

methods. Not only does usage of RFID to track truancy is quick, but it also efficient. This

device is must-have system for those schools that value every minute of their lecture time.

Assuming a “roll-call” takes about 5 minutes per lecture and that the class meets 3 times a

week for fifteen weeks in a term, then the RFID DEFICE can save up to 4 hours! This easily

gives the school 4 extra hours that can be used towards other better purpose.

5.2 CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the research questions which were stated at the start of the research project are

answered based on the research results collected during two types of research: the data from

test website (1) and the data from the practical experiment of network traffic monitoring (2).

Furthermore there are recommendations for future work proposed in order to continue the

development.

This project mainly comprised of usage of RFID technology to curb truancy among student in

Nigeria. Truancy monitoring system is very helpful in saving valuable time of student and

teacher, generating report at the required time, for storage in its database an forward same to

64
truancy monitoring website or via an sms to the tracked student. This study presented a

framework in which student tracking can be made automated and on line .A general

implementation approach to truancy monitoring was proposed using RFID device. Further an

idea for using portable devices along with wireless LAN or mobile 3G network was

suggested.

RFID truancy monitoring System used for student identification is faster in implementation

than any other truancy curbing system.

5.3 OUTCOME OF THIS STUDY

1. A Scientific approach was developed during project work.

2. Skills and self-confidence in coding and working with software like Matlab were

developed.

3. An applicable truancy monitoring system was designed for educational organization. Ideas

were presented for making whole system online using portable device and 3G mobile

networks

4. An improved and faster RFID truancy curbing system was developed for student

Truancy monitoring.

5. RFID truancy monitoring system was compared with existing manual truancy reduction

system.

the system took 0.157 sec while manual truancy monitoring system 150 minutes

in worst case for database size of 150. It was then estimated that for a database of size of

millions, this system will take around 3minutes at maximum, while the existing manual

system 2 hours 30 minutes.

6. The future expectations from this study is to actually implement usage of RFID in curbing

truancy among the entire student in Nigeria.

65
7. Usage of RFID truancy curbing system can be used in curbing truancy in all Nigeria school

If the idea is supported and financed by Nigeria government.

5.5 RECOMEDATION

In order to commercially publish the effect of usage of RFID to curb truancy among student

in Nigeria, research needs to be conducted in at least two areas to verify assumptions which

have been made during the initial design and development phase which resulted in the current

version of the prototype of RFID system that was study.

 Authentication method:

The current authentication method is based on the fact that tagged students are only exclusive

holder of their embedded RFID card only know their own login credentials. Or the other way

round; tagged student are the only known carrier. Then as, it is assumed that the person who

corresponds to this profile, is the person who is recognized and is physically present.

Since this is an assumption it is interesting to perform research to investigate the usage and

distribution of credentials and whether or not they are shared with for example family or

friends.

 Peaks in data traffic

There is discovery of peaks in data traffic around school resumption time and closing time.

The assumption is made that the students either rushing in to avoid getting late to school or

rushing out at closing time to avoid missing their school bus, around these moments. Since

these are assumptions, there is need to be verified by means of research in order to conclude

about the increase in data traffic, so that the system will be design in such a way to withstand

peak period and high data traffic.

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  Acceptance

The prototype uses personal data with more or less private information as its input. Despite

the fact that the impact on privacy of the students is low, not everybody might be able to

correctly evaluate the impact on personal privacy. For that reason, research has to be

conducted to investigate how an usage of RFID truancy detection system as proposed in this

thesis, will be received by the people, especially the target group namely the students and

their parent.

 Absence recognition

The main research question of this project is how to automatically register truancy, so how do

we register absence? It turned out that this is an ambitious goal. This research proved

automated presence registration, absence registration is however at least one step beyond.

Research needs to be conducted in order to investigate how the current results gathered with

presence registration can be used for and transformed into absence registration.

 Prototype

For the prototype there are a lot of extensions possible. Three important ones are described

below. In order to be able to receive even input than currently possible

The prototype tracked people, but it also needs to know who it has to tracked During the

practical experiment performed in the context of this study for example a teacher of the

school has been tracked in the data traffic. This is nice but this is not the goal of the system.

Besides the knowledge about who needs to be there, the truancy monitor also has to know

when the target persons need to be present.

 Administration system of the school

One of the next steps to take with the prototype is facilitating a connection with this system

or at least the database, so presence expectations can be made which need to be compared

67
with the results of the data traffic monitoring process. The difference in this comparison

shows the possible cases of truancy

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