PowerPoint

Slacker Tracker

Project Proposal

For

ENGT 4050

Senior Technology Capstone

Prof. Richard Springman

Project Team 7

Matthew Fey, Team Leader

DeAiris Jefferson

Eric Thomas

Mohammad Aldeghalbi

September 13, 2016

The University of Toledo

College of Engineering

Engineering Technology Department

INTRODUCTION

The following proposal for senior capstone project is to design, build, and test an attendance tracker for class and the various meetings that take place at any university or business respectively. The idea for an attendance tracker was brought to the team’s attention by Professor Steven Shrake and originally was aimed strictly towards use at The University of Toledo for implementing a system into the classrooms to track attendance using student ID’s and an RFID reader. Striving to push the limits of the project there was a decision made to broaden the range of potential clients interested in the product by removing the university as the sole user. In order to achieve a cookie-cutter like functionality, the creation of a GUI interface for end-users to modify, add, and delete pertinent information is needed. The GUI interface would be accessible by both parties and would modify the client’s data to reflect the most current room schedule and individuals associated to said room. The physical system itself will be created by the group through the use of a Raspberry Pi with an RFID card included and design of a case to house equipment. Through the use of private Wi-Fi connections, Raspberry Pis would then pass the data being read from RFID cards to a web server. Once the data is received, the web server would identify the person and record their attendance. Below are all the steps necessary to complete what the team has named Slacker Tracker.

Background

The problem at hand stems from the university lacking a solid way to track attendance aside from the current method of passing around a sign in sheet that can easily be spoofed. It was brought to the group’s attention that it is also very valuable to track dates of attendance in the case of students “abandoning” a class. Instructors need to be able to provide a date of last attendance in order to justify failing grades. It’s an interesting obstacle as it’s a classic case of upgrading an old manual system (recording attendance on notebook paper) to a smooth digital solution. There are similar systems already in place for many businesses where card swipe systems are already in place as a form of time punch when arriving and leaving work. These systems usually are implemented by swiping an id badge like a credit card. There are definitely improvements that can be made especially when it comes to being used in a university setting. Some possible improvements being looked into would be contactless cards using NFC readers as well as having the option to monitor which rooms/labs are being accessed and providing reports usable be instructors.

Summary

By completing this project, universities or businesses looking to upgrade/implement attendance tracking will have an option that will be cost effective, completely digital and will aid in security. The University of Toledo will get the benefit of being able to track the important attendance dates the instructors need to be able to produce while also having a way to see who is sitting in on classes. Classrooms/Labs will have records of who is using them and can hopefully integrate the system with room security.

Project Details

Scope and Elements

There are a few very important elements to the project that will need to be in place for it to be effective. Fairly cheap Raspberry pis with the appropriate scanners will be needed for every room/lab that will be getting attendance tracked. A custom housing for the raspberry pi so it will be safe and have a uniform look between classrooms. A database that contains information on the students, classrooms, instructors and table to house attendance record will need to be developed. Software that will transmit data gathered from the scanners to the database will need to be written.

The project will require an environment such as notepad++ to write the necessary code for the scanner and database to interact. The database itself will either require Microsoft Access or MySQL server in order to create and store the data. Access to a 3D printer in order to uniformly create cases to house the hardware will be needed as well.

Implementation Issues and Challenges

There are two main challenges the group will face in completing the project. Setting up the raspberry pi will be the biggest challenge due to the team not having a ton of experience in using them. Along with setting up the raspberry pis themselves, configuring the scanners to work with it as well as creating RFID cards that will be used for testing the scanners functions will also need to be figured out.

Unfamiliarity with the outputs of the raspberry pi will make coding the software slightly more difficult as it will require some experimentation to figure out what will need to be done to make it interface with the database correctly. The python programming language is able to be used for the coding and is recommended for interfacing with the raspberry pi which will help greatly. The only special equipment required will be a 3d printer to create the housing and due to much of the project being software related will not require any specific location to work on it.

The project will be able to be carried for the most part by the group members as the the raspberry pi box should be fairly small. As the project is software based, the group will be required to possess key software skills such as Microsoft Access, MySQL server, MySQL and python knowledge in order to connect all the pieces throughout the different phases of the project.  

Deliverables

At the conclusion Slacker tracker should be able to complete at the very least attendance tracking for universities or businesses where applicable. In order for this overall product to be complete there are quite a few objectives that will be required. As stated previously there will be a device containing a Raspberry Pi and the added components needed to make it fully functional. The added components may vary throughout the project, but initially there is a need to purchase two Raspberry Pi’s along with RFID card readers. Two Raspberry Pi’s are needed to  test for situations where rooms are within a close proximity to each other with accurate results for each room. In order to achieve both of the above requirements the use of the University of Toledo Incubator building will be needed. The UT incubator has vacant offices at this time that can be used for testing, as well as, a 3D printer lab that can be used to build the housing for the physical device being created. Building manager for the UT Incubator Jordan Valdiviez will be contacted with specifics on what is needed from the UT Incubator to complete the requirements. Mr. Valdiviez has already stated he would be willing to authorize the use of equipment he has at his disposal to assist where needed if contacted prior to testing.

Along with the physical device the project will also contain a program for professors and administrators to interact with to be able to add, delete, and modify information relevant to their specific attendance criteria. The program will operate as a gateway between the database and the end user to simplify the modifications needed to reflect current participants and meeting times. Discussions have occurred where the group concluded it may be advantageous for the program to have a setup wizard where the client can load their database into the program to eliminate the need for tedious setup. This is definitely an optional objective being something that would not be necessary for Slacker Tracker to work correctly for the finished product. The program, if setup correctly, will receive data from the Raspberry Pi devices placed in the room and place those into a spreadsheet or database which will either be accessible to the meetings moderator or have a predetermined destination, be it the moderators email for example. Where the data gets sent after being constructed poses a great problem, there are so many mediums of communication available it’s not beneficial to limit communication to any single medium, but email is going to be the focus on passing the fully constructed spreadsheets to the moderators.

If the above is completed with reasonable accuracy additional components and functions will be  added to the finished product.

Timeline

While working toward the completion of capstone project, here are important dates to keep us on track:

October 1st Buy Raspberry Pi, Rfid chip reader and bluetooth adapter

October 15th Done coding and start 3d printing

November 1st Completed prototype

November 15th Small scale test presentation complete

December 1st Completed project ready to present

Table 1: Gantt Chart of Timeframe

Objective	Week 5&6	Week 7	Week 8&9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13&14	Week 15	Week16
How do we want the device to work
Coding with Raspberry Pi
Building prototype
Working on Expo spreadsheet (Needs)
Work on demonstration for expo
Presentation to class
Finishing touches on complete design
Expo

Budget

The cost of all the components needed will not exceed $300. Costs include buying a Raspberry Pi device, Rfid chip reader, and bluetooth adapter. Access to a 3D printer is available on campus, so there is no cost there. The focus will be on how the device needs to function with the user. Raspberry Pi devices range from$10-$100 depending on what it needs to do. Rfid reader $50-75. The wireless Adapters are very cheap $10-$30. Once construction of the prototype has began cost my go up or down depending on design. Addition cost will be split between the group members as the extra cost should not be much.

Conclusion

It is a very exciting project. It will be great to create something that could actually solve one of today's problems. Instructors  have a very heavy workload,  removing the need to have to keep track of attendance should help them.  The vision is a small device that scans students rfid chip in their rocket cards and marks them present. In addition, a bluetooth adapter may be added so connection can happen right from a cell phone. Students and staff would have access to record of attendance, and there no issues.