A Micro-Controller Based Door Access Control System Using Radio Frequency Identification

ABSTRACT

There have been several cases of unwanted entries into the laboratories and offices within the

school environment, and in a quest to reduce these occurrences, this project "a micro-controller

based door access control system using Radio Frequency Identification" was proposed to control

access to restricted areas within the school. Access control is a process by which users are granted

access and certain privileges to systems, resources or information. Radio frequency identification

(RFID) is a wireless communication technology that has been widely deployed in access control

and security systems. The aim of this project is to develop a micro-controller based door access

control system using Radio Frequency Identification.

This RFID-based system is built around a micro-controller, programmed to read in data from an

RFID tag through the RFID reader. The RFID reader sends this data (ID number of the RFID tag)

to the micro-controller which checks whether or not the data from the RFID reader matches with

the data that is programmed into the micro-controller. The micro-controller serves as the database

and contains the information of each of the RFID tags to be used to access the doors. The RFID

reader which is placed at the door post will read the data of RFID tags, and only users with

authorized tags will be granted access.

The developed system reads and responds to both registered and unregistered tags, but grants

access to only registered tags. The developed system can't read more than one card at a time and

it doesn't save tag infonnation. The power source of the system must be powered by an AC power

within the range of 110-240V AC as any power outside this range may damage the system.

The developed system can be adapted to securing various kinds of doors such as in libraries,

laboratories, office equipment, etc. Further improvements can be made on this ·work can by

incorporating concepts such as database implementation and management, alternative source of

power (such as a UPS) for the entire system, addition of another security measure like biometrics, etc.