Proceedings of International Conference on Electrical Information and Communication Technology (EICT 2015)
Password Protected Multiuser Wireless Electronic
Noticing System by GSM with Robust Algorithm
Sayidul Morsalin, Abdur Rahman
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology
Chittagong-4349, Bangladesh
morsalinbd@yahoo.com, kakoncuet9@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper elucidates a wireless digital noticing system
to provide information in an innovative and smart way. The
proposed notice board is a multiuser password-protected SMS-
based system fabricated with an LCD. The communication and
information transfer between the authentic user and the LCD
display unit is done via GSM to ensure remote display facilities,
so any notice can be displayed on the electronic board from the
user’s mobile SMS from distant places. To ensure system
flexibility, a multiuser noticing and displaying system has been
implemented in the system which can display several notices
simultaneously. In addition, the user also can print any notice
which is of concern to them. The total system is designed with
simple logic with a robust algorithm and fabricated with a PIC
midrange microcontroller, LCD, GSM module and other
commercially available electronic devices to ensure efficiency and
reliability with less cost.
Keywords-digital notice board; electronic notice; GSM; LCD;
microcontroller
I. INTRODUCTION
A notice Board is a place where an authenticated authority
can leave public messages to advertise things, announce events
or provide information of general concern for any important
issue [1]. Traditional analog notice boards are usually made of
cork, timber or aluminium, which facilitating the addition and
removal of paper messages. But some shortcomings make this
analog notice board unpopular in general. Ascribed personnel
are always needed to change any notice or originate a new one.
Also, multiple people gather, struggle and cluster in front of a
single traditional notice board for information in case of any
urgent notification [1]. Sometimes malicious intentions of any
persons can manipulate, remove or perish paper notices
attached in a board, leaving other people uninformed. If the
boards are placed in busy places, e.g. near entrances or exit
points, then a busy person does not get enough time and scope
to access and read all the informations posted on a notice
board. It become more problematic when no digital printout is
possible. One other disadvantage is that these traditional boards
often get dirty, having wear and tear on notices and an
unorganized pattern, which make the notice board quite
inconvenient for users. There is also an unregulated display of
information, difficulty in storage and no efficient reference to
978-1-4673-9257-0/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 249
Md Abu Bakar Siddiqe, Prattay Saha, Md. Reduanul
Halim
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Chittagong University of Engineering and Tech, Chittagong
Chittagong-4349, Bangladesh
abubakar.khadachara@yahoo.com,
prattayeee08@gmail.com, mrh.eee.cuet@gmail.com
pass relevant information. This paper deals with an attempt to
efficiently overcome the shortcomings of traditional notice
boards. Here a system is developed for a modern electronic
notice board using SMS-based wireless technology along with
secured password protection to allow efficiently people
toaccess a notice at a convenient time. With this systems high
officials surely don’t need to relay on the peons for the notices
to hang over. Whenever or wherever the user is, they can just
type what information they want to provide on a cell phone and
just press the send button. The message will be sent to the
board and displayed. Presently almost all electronic notice
boards are designed using a wired system [2]. One of the
drawbacks of the design is that the system is inflexible in terms
of placement because of the messy wires [2]. Since the
proposed system is wireless, this problem is alleviated. This
system is user-friendly because authenticated personnel display
the message at notice boards situated at different locations
through a single SMS from the mobile phone. Thereby it
eliminates the wastage of paper and ensures the immediate
transfer of information. Information can be displayed page by
page and expired notices can be stored in the database for a
long time. In addition, people can print out multiple copies of
any posted notices. So it can be concluded that the proposed
system can used successfully in traditional Schools and
Colleges, Waiting Rooms, Company Reception Areas, Factory
Production Areas, Hospitals, Public Transport Timetables,
Exhibition Centres, Art Galleries, Car Show Rooms, Exhibition
etc. without errors and maintenance. The users can read notices
posted from anywhere provided that the computer is connected
through a local area network (LAN) facility.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 shows the overall block diagram of the system
and shows how an effective and reliable communication
between a mobile phone and a microcontroller is established
by using a GSM modem. The system consists of two modules;
transmitter and receiver. The transmitter module is accessed
by a user to place a message through an input module such as
a keypad or keyboard. The information then transmitted using
RF technology to the receiver. It is then be decoded and
displayed on an electronic notice board. The RF wireless
communication system operates in the presence of a periodic (whether it is on or off), passing through a resistor 47k between
noise environment, includes first and second wireless devices, pins 20 and 40 of the modem. Microcontroller PIC 16F73 is the
each such device having, a source of power, a transceiver central processing unit of this system. A crystal of 20 MHz is
coupled to the power source, and a controller/CPU for used between pins 9 and 10. Pins 17 and 18 pins are used for
controlling the operation of the transceiver . the data transmit (RXD), data receive (TXD) and for
interfacing the data to pins 29, 31 of the GSM module [4]. Pins
25, 26, 27, 28 are the data inputs connected to pins 12, 13 and
14 pin of the LCD display. 23, 24 are EN, RS pins connected
to pins 4 and 6 of the LCD display. SIM slots are connected by
pins 17, 19, 23 of the GSM modem to pins 6, 5 and 4 pin of the
sim card slot. Pin 6 is used for the VDD of the sim and pins
and 5 are the reset and clock pins respectively. Pin 21 is the
data terminal of the GSM modem and is connected to the I/O
port of the sim card and pin 3 is grounded. Pins 1, 4 and 5 are
passed through 22k resistors for current limiting. A battery
source of 12 volts is passed through a diode so that it gives a
protection from polarity mismatch of the loads [6]. If the
polarities are mismatched then the diode will not permit the
flow of current, saving the instruments. The GSM modem is
run by a 3.8 volt battery source and the microcontroller is
powered by 5 volts. Voltage regulators 7805 and LM317T are
used for this purpose. From a battery source 12 volts is passed
through voltage regulator 7805 to generate 5 volts which is
connected to port 1 to power up the microcontroller and to the
VDD port of the LCD. LM317T gives a steady output of 3.8
volts to power the GSM modem and is connected to the 2, 4, 6,
8 ports of the GSM modem [6, 13]. 10nf and 100 microfarad
Figure 1. Block diagram of the system capacitors are used in the battery source to make the output
smooth.
A PIC microcontroller is the heart of the proposed system. The
microcontroller is interfaced with GSM modem. A 20×4
Character LCD display is attached to the microcontroller to
display messages as notices and notifications. The messages
are displayed on the notice board until any new message
comes. The new message will trash the old message
automatically. Multiple users are authorized to update notices
on the electronic notice board by providing password and
sending an SMS from their mobile.
III. SYSTEM CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
The overall circuit diagram is depicted in Figure 2. The
circuit diagram illustrates interfacing a PIC 16F73 (Peripheral
Interface Controller) with GSM module Sim908c, LCD (20×4),
7805, 7812, LM317T voltage regulators, transistor BC547BP
act as a power key, and another BC547BP transistor for
network lighting. Sim908c is a 60-pin GSM modem; 8 pins 1,
3, 5, 7 are connected to ground and 2, 4, 6, 8 are connected to a
12 volt battery source [3]. Point 13 acts as the power key and is
activated generally by a switching mechanism which is to be
pressed for at least 1 second. But in our project we made the
switching mechanism software based. So a transistor BC547BP
along with current limiting resistors 2k, 22k, 47k has been
used. When current flows through the base of the transistor
then it connects the collector and emitter terminals, which
powers the GSM modem [4]. The network light is a red LED,
which blinks on the availability of the network. Pin 16 is
connected with a voltage-divider circuit of two 47k resistors
and then connected to the base of the transistor BC547BP and Figure 2. System circuit diagram
which turns ON so that the NET-Light blinks [5]. Whether the
GSM modem is enabled or not is indicated by a green LED

250
 IV. HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
To reduce the complexityof the design process, simple
algorithms and commercially available devices have been used
to implement the system.
A. Central Processing Unit
A PIC 16F73 microcontroller has been chosen as the
central microprocessor unit of this system. It is a 28-pin DIP IC
[8-9]. It has a Program Memory of 4096 bytes (Single Word
Instructions), Data SRAM of 192 bytes, 22 I/O Ports, 11
Interrupt pins, five 8-bit A/D channels, two timers 8 bit, one
timer 16 bit, Operating Frequency DC - 20 MHz, FLASH
Program Memory 4K (14-bit words) and instruction set of 35
instructions [8]. Basically its low cost and commercial
availability make it attractive as the main processing unit.
Moreover, all necessary peripherals are already built into it,
saving time, space and cost. Sometimes analog circuitary with
different control approach [19] can be used for the information
processing, however for the simplicity microcontroller is
recommended for this system [9].
B. GSM SIM908C Modem
A GSMSIM908C Modem has been used in the system to
send messages from an authenticated authority to the main
monitoring unit i.e. the notice board. It sends and receives data
by wireless so that it can easily communicate from a distance.
SIM908 is a new version of the ARM926EJ-S module and it
enhances the main frequency performance compared to the
previous ARM7 type. Moreover, this advanced module can
save power consumption by up to 40% in sleep mode over the
current industry average [11]. This modem has an internal GPS
system which is integrated with the main circuit. This type of
modem offers reliability, performance, efficiency, cost, and
space. It occupies less space and weight: about 30*30*3.2 mm
and 5.2 grams. It controls by AT commands. Its voltage range
for GPRS and GPS is about 3.2- 4.8V and 3.0- 4.5 V
respectively, with a very low power consumption. Its operating
temperature range is 40~ 85ºC [11, 14].
C. System Power Supply Unit
The power supply of the system is designed specially. The
system is run by the main power system which is placed
adjacent to the digital notice board. So the system doesn’t
need costly battery circuitary. A rectifier converters the main
supply power to the system operating level. To regulate the
voltage, an IC LM 7805 voltage regulator has been used [12-
14].
Figure 3. System power supply unit
251
D. AT Commands for Transmission or Reception of SMS
Basically AT commands are used as the control
instructions of the modem. To control the dial-up modem or
the GSM/GPRS modem several AT commands are used. The
ATO command is used to return to the online data state, ATH
is used for hook control, ATA is used for answer, ATD is used
to dial. These commands are also supported by the mobile
phones [15]. The message or information which is stored to
the subscriber identity module (SIM) can be read by
appropriate AT commands also. GSM/GPRS modems support
some additional AT commands for same purposes side by side
the standard AT commands. To read messages or information
via the SIM by the computer, mobile phones or GPRS/GSM
modem should support two AT commands: +CMGR (this
command is used to read information or messages through the
PC at a specific location of the storage) and +CMGL ( This
command is used to list messages, to read messages that have
specific status in storage like stored unsent, stored sent,
received read, received unread) [15] [18]. The +CMGL AT
command is used to cover messages from the storage section.
To active short message service (SMS), an authentic SIM
should be used in the mobile phone or GPRS/GSM modem,
and to connect to the computer [16]. Table 1 shows some AT
commands which are used in the system for writing, sending,
reading, status checking and others [12].
TABLE I. SOME AT COMMANDS USED IN GSM DATA TRANSFER
MODULE OF THE SYSTEM
AT Command Description
+CMGC Sending the command
+CMGS To send message/information
+CMMS Additional SMS to send
+CMGW To write message/information
+CMGD To delete message/information
+CMSS Send message from storage
+CMGI Module testing
V. SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION
A flowchart for the software algorithm to implement the
system is depicted in Figure 4. High-level programming
language in the microcontroller has been used to implement
the firmware of the system. “Proton IDE of PIC” compiler
facilitate this firmware development by providing useful built-
in routines and flexibility in writing code for the
microcontroller [15-18]. The reason for using this software as
a programmer is that this program is compiled easily and
provide instant feedback on syntax errors while writing. This
facility provides less hassle and uninterrupted workflow to
write the code and compile using the program. This is suitable
for all levels of user. The Proton Development Suite allows
them to develop code in a brand-new IDE, then compile a
BASIC program and view the resulting assembly language
commented with its own code. Proteus software has been used
for microprocessor simulation, schematic capture and printed-
circuit-board (PCB) design. The suite mixes combined-mode
SPICE circuit design, microprocessors models, and animated
components which is convenient in the microcontroller-based
design process and simulations [16]. It simulates input/output
ports, interrupts, timers, USARTs and all other peripherals
present on each supported processor and allows creating
clinical executable decision support guidelines with little
effort. On completion, the HEX file generated from Proton
IDE is loaded into the microcontroller.
Figure 4. Flow chart of the system
VI. IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM VISUALIZATION
The implemention of the wireless noticing systems is
illustrated in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Arrangement of implemented system
252
When an authenticated person transmits a notice, they should
write the password first, then text. The receiver unit receives
the SMS and match the password to see whether the person is
authenticated or not. If so then there is a display ‘Powering
Up…. Modem Ready!!’ on the LCD which is shown Figure 6.
Figure 6. Initializing the system
The notice to be displayed is always determined and
maintained by the assigned authority. For this system a notice
of text ‘Welcome to the very new technology of messaging.
This is first time in C.’ is displayed on the LCD, as in Figure 7.
The notice can be printed depending upon the viewer
inclination.
Figure 7. Notice on LCD display
VII. CONCLUSION
The proposed system works very effectively. Due to
password protection, security is maintained strictly which
makes it user friendly to officials. Also the viewer can store
the notice by printing if they are in hurry. Some additional
features can make the system more attractive, for example
interfacing an EEPROM with the system can allow it to store
more messages at a time and also can give a revive facility at
any hazardous condition like power failure or other power
problems. The proposed implemented system’s alphanumeric
LCD can be replaced by a large LED display without
changing the cardinal algorithm and design methodology, and
can gives more space for noticing, better resolution and a more
attractive display.
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