Raspberry Pi Based Client-Server Synchronization Using GPRSIjtet05 02 002

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 – MAY 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303

Raspberry Pi Based Client-Server Synchronization Using GPRS Geraldine Shirley N 1

Dr. S. Jayanthy2

Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, M.E. Embedded Systems Technologies geraldine.shirley31@gmail.com

Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College Professor, Department of ECE jayanthy.s@srec.ac.in

Abstract— A low cost Internet-based attendance record embedded system for students which uses wireless technology to transfer data between the client and server is designed. The proposed system consist of a Raspberry Pi which acts as a client which stores the details of the students in the database by using user login system using web. When the user logs into the database the data is sent through GPRS to the server machine which maintains the records of the employees and the attendance is updated in the server database. The GPRS module provides a bidirectional real-time data transfer between the client and server. This system can be implemented to any real time application so as to retrieve information from a data source of the client system and send a file to the remote server through GPRS. The main aim is to avoid the limitations in Ethernet connection and design a low cost and efficient attendance record system where the data is transferred in a secure way from the client database and updated in the server database using GPRS technology.

Keywords- Embedded system, Raspberry Pi, GSM/GPRS, Client-Server database, Attendance record

1. INTRODUCTION Wireless networking technology enables two or more computers to communicate and relay data using standard network protocols, without the hassle of network wiring and cabling. It is now not just limited to wireless telephony but there is now a huge demand of wireless technology for many types of applications like Internet and web browsing, video and other text and multimedia based application. GPRS stands out as one major development in the GSM standard that benefits from packet switched techniques to provide mobile subscribers with the much needed high bit rates for bursty data transmissions.

Security is an important issue in mobile networks and has gained a special attention in the GSM world. GPRS provides a security function similar to that of GSM. It is responsible for authentication and service request validation to prevent unauthorized service usage.

User confidentiality is also protected using temporary identification during connections to the GPRS network.

Attendance Management System (AMS) is the easiest way to assist the faculty and the lecturer for this time-consuming process.

There are various attendance management systems based on RFID, Finger print modules and face detection schemes. But most of these systems use Ethernet connection to connect to their server machines to update the attendance and are expensive ones. This limitation is overcome by this system which consists of Raspberry Pi (ARM11) processor with GSM/GPRS SIM900 module interfaced with it which acts as a client and through wireless connection it is connected with the remote server where the data gets updated automatically in the server database when the user logs in the client system using login id.

The client transmits the valid information at periodic intervals to the server. Thus the information of the student updated in the client database is transferred in a secured way to the server system database. Synchronization between the client and the server is done GPRS connectivity.

using the login id of the individuals is a reliable scheme than other systems.

2. RELATED WORKS

Wireless automatic attendance management system that authenticates

The main objective of Attendance Management System in PHP is to check and prepare report or attendance for any particular organizations such as for hospitals, schools, colleges, shopping mall etc. With the help of attendance management system, it will eliminate the manual calculation of working days for each and every employees, its admin will easily analyze the result based on their requirement such as number of absentees per day, number of employees required to handle their tasks etc. Nithyappriya et al has proposed a system using SSH connection to connect with the client and server [1]. The main advantage in this is it uses client server synchronization using GPRS and secured SSH connection. Some drawbacks are only when the Ethernet connection fails the message is transferred to the server from the client. Bala Saidulu et al has proposed a low-cost Internet-based data processing system for real time application so as to retrieve information from a data source of the server system using GPRS module [2]. The drawback in this system is it uses FTP server which is not a secured transmission.

Shraddha S. Chawhan at al has proposed a Mobile Phone Based Attendance System (MPBAS) a phone application which gets connected with the server through GPRS [3]. It is an efficient system but it requires a smart phone for login and to connect for each user.

Implementing a web server on an embedded system having limited resources to serve embedded web page to a web browser and which can be accessed by the client and server by synchronization [4].

Efficient and effective management system with centralized connection along with ease to manage it from remote servers to transfer the information [5]. Attendance and monitoring students Using mobile technology along with tracking system in rural places where no internet and advanced technology is available [6]. WebBased Student Attendance System where no specific software installation is required and automatically data updated to server with

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 – MAY 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303 less risk of data loss, compared to a manual filing approach [7]. A web server can be embedded into a device which can be accessed remotely from a web browser. This embedded system can serve the web documents on request by a client from other system. Such type of a web server is called as Embedded Web Server (EWS).

To overcome the drawbacks of the existing systems a low cost real time client server synchronization based on Raspberry Pi embedded system using wireless GPRS connection is established in a secured way for data transmission between them.

Fig.2. Hardware Components of Raspberry Pi

3. PROPOSED SYSTEM DESIGN 3.3 GSM/GPRS SIM900 MODULE SIM900 is a complete Quad-band GSM/GPRS module designed

by SIMCom. Featuring an industry-standard interface, the SIM900 delivers GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900MHz performance for voice, SMS and data in a small form factor and with low power consumption. It is designed as a DCE (Data Communication Equipment). It provides a full modem serial port, which is used for data transmission and for sending AT commands.

The SIM900 is integrated with the TCP/IP protocol along with extended TCP/IP AT commands are developed for customers to use the TCP/IP protocol easily, which is very useful for data transfer applications. Figure 3 shows the SIM900 Evaluation board.

The system consists of Raspberry Pi board interfaced with GPRS SIM900 module which acts as a client. In the remote the server consists of windows system with a 3G modem connection.

The Raspberry Pi board is the central module with Broadcom BCM2835 system-on-chip multimedia processor at 700MHz in which CPU core is a 32 bit ARM1176JZF-S RISC processor.

SIM900 is a Quad-band GSM/GPRS module designed with a power full single chip processor. The database used is PostgreSQL along with PHP code for Login Web page.

3.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM The Raspberry Pi is interfaced with the SIM900 GSM/GPRS module via the USB port. A 3G sim is inserted in the GPRS module for data connectivity. Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed system.

Fig 3. SIM900 Evaluation board.

3.4 HARDWARE INTERFACING The Raspberry Pi is interfaced with the SIM900 GSM/GPRS module through the USB port. Separate power supply is given to the Pi and the GPRS module. Figure 4 shows the hardware interfacing of the Pi and the GPRS module.

Fig.1. Block Diagram of the Proposed System

3.2 RASPBERRY PI Hardware is a physical device that can be touched or held, like a hard drive or a mobile phone. Software can be thought of as a program or a collection of programs that instruct a computer on what to do and how to do it. Below is an image of the Raspberry Pi which describes some of the components that make up the hardware.

The hardware description of Raspberry Pi which is shown in Figure 2 consists of the GPIO pin, SD slot, USB port and Micro USB connector. The GPIO pins are used for serial communication for interfacing GSM and GPS etc. It uses 16GB SD for installing the Raspbian OS and for storage. The USB port is used for connecting keyboard, mouse, dongle and pen drive. The power supply is given through USB connector.

Fig 4. Hardware interfacing

4. SYSTEM IMPEMENTATION Based on the system design the system implementation is done

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 – MAY 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303 and the required software’s are downloaded for the web-based login system. Raspberry Pi is installed with Raspbian OS along with a 16 GB memory card. The web page is created using PHP and html. The database used is PostgreSQL which save all the students records.

Finally the GPRS is initialized and connected to the server by python code using AT commands.

synchronization with attendance management system is described below.

ALGORITHM:

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

4.1 POSTGRESQL PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system. It allows to extend the database with user-defined functions by using various procedural languages, which often referred to as stored procedures. Reduce the number of round trips between application and database server. A database is created in the client system which contains all the details about the students and their unique login ids. Apache web server is installed in the client system to view the web page created using PHP script.

Step 5 Step 6 Step 7

Step 8 4.2 PHP AND HTML The PHP Hypertext Pre-processor (PHP) is a programming language that allows web developers to create dynamic content that interacts with databases. It is basically used for developing web based software applications and also to manage database, dynamic content, session tracking, even build entire e-commerce sites. PHP5 version was used in this project.

HyperText Markup Language is the standard markup language used to create web pages. Html Form is embedded with PHP script to develop a Login webpage for the student’s attendance management system. When the Id is typed the information about the user is fetched from the database and shown in the webpage.

: Boot the Raspberry Pi and Login as the user. : Open the Login webpage created in the web browser. : Type the User Id and press the submit button. : When the submit button is pressed automatically the GPRS module is initialized. : In the client side when the data is fetched from its Database the user Id is sent to the server system. : In the server side the data is received and viewed in SocketTester. : The PHP code in the server side automatically gets the data and compares it with the server database and if a match exists automatically the attendance is updated. : Using PgAdmin III we can view the updated records in the server database.

5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

4.3 PYTHON IDLE The Raspberry Pi is a Linux based operating system environment with python as the main programming language. To initialize the GPRS module AT commands are used in the python code. In the terminal of the Raspberry Pi using Minicom we can view the messages sent and received by the SIM900 module.

When the user logs in the webpage using the login id the information about the user is fetched from the client database and it is shown in the webpage and at the same time the GPRS python code is executed and the data is sent to the remote server through TCP/IP connection. When the Login Id is typed, automatically the PHP post function will transfer the Id to the server and the python script is called inside the PHP code to initialize the GPRS in order to transfer the data.

5.1 HARDWARE SETUP The Raspberry Pi is interfaced with the SIM900 GSM/GPRS module. Figure 5 shows the Pi interfaced with Sim900 module.

Fig 5. Raspberry Pi interfaced with SIM900 module

5.2 LOGIN WEBPAGE The Login web page for the students is written in PHP code and in the client side. Figure 6 shows the Login web page of the attendance management system.

4.4 REMOTE SERVER A windows system with a 3G modem is used as a remote server which accepts the data from the client through GPRS. Here the data obtained is updated to the database where the attendance is marked for each student when he/she logs in the client side. PgAdmin III is used to see the updated data in the server database. To view the data sent from the client through GPRS SocketTester is used. PHP script is written in the server side to get the data from the client and to update the attendance in the database. Periodically the database is updated and the attendance is marked when user logs in the client side.

Fig. 6 Login web page

4.5 SOFTWARE ALGORITHM The software algorithm

of

Now when the user types the unique Id the PHP post request fetches the data from the database and displays the information about that

client-server

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 – MAY 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303 particular user who logged into the client system.

Figure 7 and 8 shows the Login Id typed in the web page and when the submit button is clicked the data from the database about the particular user is shown.

Fig. 10 Executing of AT commands in terminal by running python script

The received data can be viewed in the server side by using SocketTester. Figure 11 shows the data received from GPRS in the SocketTester application running in the server system. Once when the data is received the PHP code in the server automatically verifies the user id and updates the attendance in the database.

Fig. 7 User typing the Login Id

Fig. 8 Information about the user fetched from the database

When the user types the wrong Id the system will show an error message. Figure 9 shows the error message when user Id is wrong.

Fig. 11 Data received from GPRS in the SocketTester

Similarly for each users a unique Id will be provided and on entering the Id they can view the details and at the same time the attendance will be updated in the server. Figure 12 shows the details of another user when the Id is submitted.

Fig.9 Error message when Login Id is wrong

When the information is shown in the web page automatically the user id of that user is sent as post request from PHP script to the python code where automatically when the id is received the GPRS module is initialized and the data is sent to the server side using AT commands in python script. Figure 10 shows the AT commands executed in the terminal when the python script runs and the data is

Fig. 12 Details of another user when the Login Id is submitted

In the server side the PHP code is written where it compares the user Id received from the client with the Id in the server database and when it matches automatically the attendance is updated in the server

sent to the remote system.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 – MAY 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303 [5] Tinashe Nyabako, Emmanuel Manzungu, “Development of a GPRS Internet Based Data Management System for Effective Dam Operation in Zimbabwe”, in Proc. International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, Vol. 1 No. 3; November 2011.

[6] Shivakumara M, Venkateswarlu, Shiva Yellampalli, “GPS and GPRS based smart school management and child monitoring system using mobile phones”, in Proc. International Journal of Advanced Technology in Engineering and Science, Vol 3, Issue 1, January 2015.

[7] Abdul Aziz Mohammed, Jyothi Kameswari U, “Web-Server based Student Attendance System using RFID Technology”, in Proc.

International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, Vol 4, Issue 5, May 2013.

[8] Ankita Agrawal and Ashish Bansal, “Online Attendance Management System Using RFID with Object Counter”, in Proc.

International Journal of Information and Computation Technology, Vol 3, No 3, pp. 131-138, May 2013.

[9] http://www.raspberrypi.org [10] http://www.tutorialpoint.com

database. Figure 13 shows the updated attendance in the server database for two users.

Fig. 13 Updated attendance record in the server system

Thus the attendance management system is designed by synchronizing the client and the server using GPRS wireless connection.

6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK In this project Raspberry Pi acts as a client system which stores the details of users in database and a server machine is maintained to administrate the databases in client machine. GPRS/GSM SIM900 module is used to synchronize the client with the server and to transfer the data from client to server. It is a low cost attendance management embedded system which uses wireless connection.

It can be used in rural areas for attendance system and when there is a failure in the cabled Ethernet connection GPRS wireless connection can be used. For future enhancement biometrics fingerprint module can be used with Raspberry Pi for attendance management.

REFERENCES [1] P.Suvitha Vani, Nithyappriya.G “Establishing SSH Connection and Interfacing GSM/GPRS Functionality with Raspberry Pi”, in Proc.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol.2, Special Issue 1, March 2014.

[2] N. Bala Saidulu, V.Rajasree, “An Ftp Implementation with ARM Processor and GPRS for Real Time Applications” in Proc. IOSR Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vol 3, Issue 2, pp 27-31, September 2012.

[3] Shraddha S. Chawhan, Mangesh P. Girhale, Gunjan Mankar, “Mobile Phone Based Attendance System”, in Proc. IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering, Vol 10, Issue 3, pp 48-50 March 2013.

[4] Girish Birajdar, “Implementation of Embedded Web Server Based on ARM11 and Linux using Raspberry Pi”, in Proc. International

Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, Vol 3 Issue-3, July 2014.

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