AN INEXPENSIVE RFID ATTENDANCE SYSTEM*

David A. Scanlan
California State University, Sacramento
MIS Department
6000 J Street
California State University, Sacramento 95819
(916) 622-0762
dscanlan@csus.edu and davescanlan@starstream.net

ABSTRACT
This article illustrates an inexpensive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
classroom attendance system. The attendance system performs the following
major functions: (1) tracks each student's classroom attendance for any number
of courses, (2) emails attendance records and messages to all students, (3)
supplies unique 5-digit numbers for use on Scantron test forms and for posting
grades, and (4) tracks the issuance and return of test booklets given out during
an examination.

INTRODUCTION
Over many years, the author has tried a variety of attendance tracking systems. For
example, the author has had students sign or initial an attendance sheet. The main
problem with this method is that students will occasionally sign or initial the sheet for one
or more friends who are not in attendance. Also, if extra credit is given for each day in
attendance, the total days in attendance must be manually counted at the end of the
semester. This counting process is time-consuming, especially if the instructor has 200
or more students. These types of problems have been eliminated using the RFID
attendance system described in this article.
The system described in this article is inexpensive: It consists of a Phidget RFID
reader [1, 2] that retails for $55.25 and RFID cards that cost 71 cents each. (See Figure
1.) The attendance system software will be supplied free from the author for beta testing.
The system requires a notebook computer with Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, or Vista.

___________________________________________
*
Copyright © 2009 by the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Permission to copy
without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or
distributed for direct commercial advantage, the CCSC copyright notice and the title of the
publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the
Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a
fee and/or specific permission.

19
JCSC 25, 2 (December 2009)

Figure 1. Phidgets RFID reader and two RFID cards.

[1, 2]

The RFID reader has a standard USB connection and a terminal for three wires that
allow for the placement of a large two-color (green/red) LED as shown in Figure 5. When
the reader is ready, the LED light is green and when the reader is not ready, the LED light
is red. This RFID reader can instantly read an RFID card from a distance of about five
inches. Typically the students just tap the card onto the body of the reader.
Figure 2 shows eight, side-by-side buttons. Pressing one of these buttons will cause
anyone of eight forms to be displayed. These forms are (1) Start, (2) Enter Courses, (3)
Enter Students, (4) Take Attendance, (5) Main Control, (6) Exam Monitor, (7) Send Mail,
and (8) System Status. These eight forms will now be discussed briefly.

START FORM
When the program is run, the Start form in Figure 2 is displayed. The instructor can
now choose any one of seven other forms by pressing on the appropriate button. The
function of each form is indicated on each of the eight, side-by-side buttons.
There are three additional buttons (See Figure 2, below.) at the top of all eight
forms: (1) Lock button, (2) Unlock button, and (3) Exit button. When the Lock button
is pressed, all buttons on all eight forms become inoperable so that curious students can't
tamper with the system when it is unattended. To unlock the buttons, the Unlock button
must be pressed exactly when the Clock displays XX:XX:30 seconds. Why 30 seconds?
The value in seconds on the Clock must match the dialed-in value on the dial control
located in the top, left corner of the form. Its present setting is thirty. The dial control can
be set to any value between 0 and 59. In affect, this serves as a combination lock for the
system. Finally, the Exit button terminates the program.

20
 CCSC: Rocky Mountain Conference

Figure 2. The Start form is used to select a course for attendance

When the Select a course button in the middle of Figure 2 is pressed, a dialog box
(not shown) appears and the instructor selects the course they wishes to monitor. When
selecting a course, it is assumed that the course selected and students in that course have
already been entered into the database; this is done using the ENTER COURSES form
and the ENTER STUDENTS form. (See Figure 2 and Figure 3.) Note that the Course
number
. and Section number of the course selected for attendance taking is displayed at
the top of most forms. For example, CS210_01 is Computer Science 210, Section 01.

ENTER COURSES FORM

The Enter Courses form in Figure 3 allows the instructor to (1) add courses one at
a time, (2) delete courses one at a time or (3) delete all courses at once. All one needs to
do is follow the steps shown on the form. Pressing the View DELETE course button will
make visible controls (not shown) for deleting a single course, or for deleting all the
courses at once. The delete controls are identical to the ones in the add course procedure,
but perform an opposite function.

21
JCSC 25, 2 (December 2009)

Figure 3. The Enter Courses form is for adding/deleting courses

to/from the attendance system.

ENTER STUDENTS FORM

Pressing the Enter Students button displays the form for entering basic data into the
system. First, the student scans his/her RFID card, and the last five digits of the card's
16-digit RFID code are displayed on the screen as seen in Figure 4. These unique five
digits are used for the student's ID number, and for the database primary key. Next, the
student enters his/her first and last name, followed by his/her email address that is entered
twice. Typical data-entry error checking is done for all data entered. After, checking
over the entries, the student presses the SAVE button. Immediately after the SAVE
button is pressed, a form (not shown) is displayed telling the student that he/she is
finished. This form is displayed for one second and the data entry form in Figure 4 is
redisplayed.

22
 CCSC: Rocky Mountain Conference

Figure 4. The Enter Students form is for entering basic student

information into the system.

TAKE ATTENDANCE FORM

The Take Attendance button is used for taking attendance. The instructor presses
the Add One Class Meeting button and the students begin scanning their RFID cards.
Immediately after a student scans their card, the student's first and last name replace the
READY indicator at the bottom of the form. This assures the student that his/her
attendance has been recorded. Since the instructor can see each student's name after each
scan, an opportunity to learn the names of the students in the class is provided. After
each scan, the READY indicator reappears.

MAIN CONTROL FORM

Attendance Summary Table
The Main Control form in Figure 6, displays the records in the database. The
Attendance Summary Table displays each student's cumulative absences, days present,
and the number of days the class met. For example, Mary Brenner attended the class two
times and was absent once. By moving the horizontal scroll bar to right, the current date
is displayed. The Expand button, expands the table vertically so that many more records
are visible, and the Clear button clears all records from the form and the database. The
Add a Class and Sub a Class buttons allow for addition and subtraction adjustments in
case too few or too many class days are accidentally entered.
Also, changes can be made directly to any record in the table in case of errors; for
example, a student may have forgotten to scan their card. In this case, the student's
absence can be corrected. If a change is made directly to the record, the Save After

23
JCSC 25, 2 (December 2009)

Changing Spreadsheet button starts blinking. The instructor would then press the button
to make the change permanent.

Figure 5. The Take Attendance form is used to take attendance.

Figure 6. The Main Control form displays the class's attendance

records.

24
 CCSC: Rocky Mountain Conference

Log Table of All Scanned ID Cards

Each time a student scans their RFID card their record is updated in the Attendance
Summary Table, and a copy of that updated record is copied to the Log Table of All
Scanned ID Cards. For example, BEN SCANLAN's record is only entered once into the
Attendance Summary Table and his record is updated each time attendance is taken.
Now, every time attendance is taken, BEN SCANLAN's updated recorded from the
Attendance Summary Table is copied directly to the Log Table of All Scanned ID
Cards. Thus, if the class meets forty-eight times during the semester, and BEN
SCANLAN is in attendance all of those times and scans his RFID card, BEN SCANLAN
will have forty-eight entries into the Log Table of All Scanned ID Cards. This Log
Table keeps a detailed record of all students' scans, such as attendance date and time, total
number of absences, and number of days present.
The second set of Expand and Clear buttons have the same functions as previously
stated for the Attendance Summary Table, but operate on the Log Table of All Scanned
ID Cards. The View Delete button makes visible controls (not shown) for deleting
student records from the system. The Restart button allows for initializing the system.
The Restart button will be removed when the system is no longer in beta testing status.
The ERROR MESSAGES label displays any system errors such as "RFID reader not
working."

EXAM MONITOR FORM

The Exam Monitor form in Figure 7 is used during tests to track examination
booklets. To use the form, the instructor simply follows the five steps indicated on the
form. The main two steps are: (1) the student is given a test booklet after they scan their
RFID card and the check-out time and date are recorded; and (2) when the test booklet
is returned, the student scans their RFID card and the time returned is recorded. Let's
assume the test is over. What does Figure 8 indicate? It indicates that Susan Applebee
did not take the test, and that George Jackson did not return the test booklet.
At the bottom of the form, there is an area where messages are displayed to the
student such as "Next Student Please" or "Repeated Scan". The "Repeated Scan"
message is displayed when the student tries to scan the test out and in at the same time.
If a "Repeated Scan" were allowed, a student could keep the exam booklet and the system
would show that the student returned the test when he/she did not. To reduce the
possibility of exam theft, the student must wait at least five minutes after taking a test
booklet before the system will accept a second scan of their ID card.

25
JCSC 25, 2 (December 2009)

Figure 7. The Exam Monitor form is used during tests to track

examination booklets.

SEND MAIL FORM

The Send Mail form allows for sending a single email message to the entire class
or for sending all students' individual attendance records. The Send Email Only and
Send Attendance Records buttons are used for this, respectively.

SYSTEM STATUS FORM

The System Status form in Figure 9 displays whether the RFID reader is functioning
properly. It checks for the proper functioning of the LED lights and the antenna. Also,
it displays the connection status, the port status, and the serial number of the reader.

26
 CCSC: Rocky Mountain Conference

Figure 8. The Send Mail form is used to send messages and

attendance records to students.

Figure 9. The System Status form displays the status of the RFID
reader

27
JCSC 25, 2 (December 2009)

GETTING STARTED PROCEDURES

In order to illustrate the main steps necessary to use the system, the following may
be helpful:
First Week of Classes
1. Install the software and connect the RFID reader.
2. Use the Enter Courses form and enter all the courses in which you want to take
attendance.
3. Use the Enter Students form for each course and have the students enter their RFID
card number, name, and email address into the system.

Second and Subsequent Weeks of Classes

1. Use the Start form and select a course for attendance.
2. Use the Take Attendance form to take attendance for the selected course.
3. Use the other four forms as needed.

SUMMARY
Only the primary functions of the attendance system have been illustrated and
described in this article. These primary functions include how to (1) enter courses, (2)
enter student information, (3) select a course for attendance, (4) take attendance, (5) view
and modify attendance records in the database, (6) use the test monitoring system, (7) use
the mail system for sending attendance records and messages, and (8) check the system
status.
Although this system is a beta version, it operates reliably. Further human factors
improvements will be made to facilitate ease of use. For example, the following help
features will be added: (1) tool tips for all buttons, and (2) 4 x 4 inch panels with
instruction messages will appear when the cursor is positioned over a button or form and
a right-click is made. In addition, feedback from instructors using the system will be give
careful consideration in future versions.
The following question often arises concerning this system: How can the system
keep a student from scanning two or more cards while standing in front of the system's
laptop? Answer: The author is considering adding a proximity detector in front of the
laptop. The detector could be set for a radius 20 inches and an angle of 45 degrees. Any
attempt to scan two cards without moving out of the detector's "vision," would set off an
alarm and the second card would not get recorded.
The author will be using this system in all his classes during the coming semesters,
and the results from this pilot study should provide more information for further
improvements. The author will distribute beta copies of the program free of any charge.

28
 CCSC: Rocky Mountain Conference

Notes
The system was written in Visual Basic.Net, Version 2005 and Access, Version
2003.
The RFID cards are technically called transponder tags.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.trossenrobotics.com
[2] http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store/p/3606-Phidget-RFID-Reader-USB-.aspx

29