THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If organisations think punching and swiping cards for
marking attendance is remotely ancient, perhaps it's time they thought of using
the radio frequency identification micro terminal (RFID) developed by Keltron.
The device was specially developed for VSNL Mumbai but can be configured
according to the employee strength of organisations.
RFID uses radio frequency to detect a card that is shown against the display
panel eliminating the need for punching. The microcontroller (8 bit CMOS) can be
interfaced with different types of readers such as barcode, magnetic and
proximity.
"The main advantage of this system is that it is tamper proof and will
receive signals from the card shown from any direction," said, V P
Balachandran, Deputy General Manager and Ravi Kumar, Deputy Manager of Keltron
Equipment Complex, the brains behind the device said. Therefore, the device can
be concealed and still receive signals from the ID card of the employee. The
cards cannot be tampered without destroying the IC based cards. For Keltron, who
have manufactured optical punching card systems, barcode and magnetic systems
earlier the facility to read from proximity cards is a movement up the value
chain. "However, the main impediment in making proximity cards is its cost.
At Rs 200 it is much costlier than optical and magnetic cards which could be
produced for Rs 15-20," Balachandran and Ravi Kumar said. No wonder those
going for RFID still prefer not to have proximity cards, they added.
Unique features of RFID include non volatile RAM to store attendance data,
memory capacity to store 2000 records expandable to 6000, 10 hour battery
backup, PC connectivity through RS232C/RS 485, optional siren interfacing, modem
connection option for downloading from remote location, in built 16 character
backlight liquid crystal display with provision for 32 characters and it weighs
only four kilos.
It also has a Micro-controller based UPS Information system.
The engineers Balachandran and Kumar were conferred with an award by the
Keltron management for devising an innovative solution replacing punching cards.
The duo had earlier introduced a micro-controller (Intel 80C31) based UPS
information unit to be interfaced to a central computer for monitoring the
performance and parameters of UPS systems in large organisations. It displays
such parameters current flow, voltages in all the three phases and its
frequencies. This system is already functioning at NTPC Singrauli, ITI Palakkad,
Vizag Steel Plant and a few other locations where Keltron UPS has been
installed. The system UPS system is capable of giving audiovisual alarms and
real time print out. This package developed in Visual Basic is capable of
logging data the print out of which provides information on power supply
parameters and health of UPS.