Development of an Internet Of Things-Based Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System

Abstract

This research explores the design and implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) based fingerprint biometric attendance system. The traditional methods of attendance tracking often suffer from inaccuracies, time fraud, and significant administrative burdens. In response to these challenges, biometric systems have gained popularity for their ability to uniquely identify individuals through their physical or behavioural characteristics, offering a more reliable and secure approach to attendance management. The system proposed in this research utilizes fingerprint recognition, one of the most widely adopted biometric modalities, due to its high accuracy, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. Integrating this system with the Internet of Things (IoT) expands its capabilities. The system comprises an ESP32 microcontroller, a fingerprint module, an OLED display, and a locally hosted Hypertext preprocessor (PHP)-based web interface. The OLED display serves as an immediate feedback mechanism for users, confirming whether their attendance has been successfully recorded by displaying the appropriate message. The web interface is designed for administrative use, allowing for the management of attendance records, user enrollment, and data exportation for further analysis. The results of this research demonstrate that the proposed IoT-based fingerprint biometric attendance system is a feasible and efficient solution. It offers a user-friendly interface for both students and administrators, significantly improving the accuracy and security of attendance tracking, verifying identities quickly under 1-2 seconds, with high accuracy. The system’s modular design and scalability also allow for future enhancements and adaptations to meet specific needs.