User:Tfantano1947/enes100/enes100/attendance

Write problem/project Goal
What is your wording of the overall problem/project goal?

My First Task
What are you going to do for the team this first weekend?

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I reviewed the previous attendance teams webpage specifically paying attention to the next steps part of their webpage. I have decided to try to either modify the previous teams camera stand or come up with a new better design for the camera stand that would make it easier for the camera to scan student's faces as they enter the classroom.

Week1 Narrative
I am going to design a new door hanging suspended stand for the facial recognition camera. I have taken measurements of the length, width, and height of the door and have evaluated the heights of students in the class ranging from the shortest to tallest person.

My Second Task
I am going to investigate the possibilities of constructing my own metal brackets to be used in the suspended camera stand and I am going to search what tools will be needed to precisely bend the metal to the exact size i need for the brackets.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
Initially my task for this weekend was to review the previous attendance teams tutorials on how to install and work the yaw cam to take pictures of the students as they entered the classroom, then use camstudio.org to recreate the tutorials that can already be found on youtube. After reviewing all the tutorials meticulously for about an hour, I realized a more effective alternative method to taking the class attendance had to be proposed instead of trying to replicate what had already been done on the previous attendance teams project. There were many problems with using the yaw cam to take the class attendance and quite frankly it proved to be a very ineffective method. I decided to spend the rest of the time over the weekend to push the project forward and develop more effective alternative methods to take class attendance that could be universally used for all the classes on campus at HCC.

Week2 Narrative
I have taken time over the weekend to conduct research and suggest alternative methods to take class attendance more effectively, rather than use the previous teams method which was using a webcam camera and the facial recognition software which through trial and error proved to be ineffective.

After reviewing my teams work on the project last week I found several problems with my teams presentation where we suggested the idea of adding a bar code to the front of every students engineering notebook, and using the camera to scan each individual student's notebook as we entered the class as a form to take attendance.

The problems with this idea:
 * A student may forget to bring their notebook and still attend class that day. It would be unfair for a student to lose all the credit for that day of class just because they forgot their notebook.
 * A student may bring another students notebook to class and scan it for them even though they were not present in class. This leaves room for margin of error in the attendance records and could potentially destroy the integrity of the attendance archive.
 * It would take too long for each student to individually scan their own notebook at the beginning of class, potentially the first 10 to 20 minutes of class could be wasted.
 * The engineers notebook is specific to engineering classes. If we are striving to create a new effective way to take attendance all throughout the college it will have to be a universal method which could be applied to all classes.

Alternative methods to taking attendance: 1. Usb Finger Print Scanner Reasons to use Usb scanner: 2. Usb Student Id/ Credit Card scanner
 * The fingerprint is unique to each individual student on campus. This is a universal method of taking attendance that would be applicable to all classes on campus.
 * After being set up, using the fingerprint scanner would be the fastest and most accurate way to take class attendance on a daily basis. Literally when students walk into class they place their finger on the scanner and the information is sent directly to the computer where through a program it can be archived in an attendance records database.
 * Cost effective. The cost of the Usb fingerprint scanners range from $16 up to about $80 for high definition models. If the college ordered them in mass quantity the individual price per unit would significantly decrease.

Reasons to use the Usb Id/ Credit Card scanner:
 * Every student who attends Howard community College has a student id card. This is definitely a universal method that can be used for all classes.
 * Like the finger print scanner, it is a very fast way of taking attendance. A student literally swipes their card as they enter the classroom and the data is will be archived through a program into a database.
 * Cost effective. Like the fingerprint scanner, the card scanners range from about $20 to $50 when ordered individually. If the college ordered them in mass quantity the individual price per unit would significantly decrease.
 * Security. If it became the norm for a student to scan their student id card every where they went on campus the college would be a much safer place. Every time a student enters a room and swipes their card, a log with the time and date the student entered would be recorded. This would help to cut down on possible theft/vandalism and prevent intruders who do not attend the college from entering areas they do not belong. Visitors could be given a temporary card and use a sign in sheet at one of the administrative offices to gain access to explore the campus.

3. Vascular Scanner Reasons to use the Vascular Scanner:
 * Similar to the fingerprint, every student on campus has a unique vein structure in their hand/arm. This is a universal method of taking attendance that would be applicable to all classes on campus.
 * Like the fingerprint scanner and the credit card scanner, the vascular scanner is a fast way of taking attendance. A student simply puts their hand under the vascular scanner and it examines the user's vein structure determining who the person is. This data can then be automatically cataloged into an attendance database.
 * This method is the least practical out of the three ideas proposed simply because of the high cost of the individual vascular scanners, however it would showcase cutting edge technology that HCC could use to impress visitors or other colleges.

My Third task
I am going to compile a package together for Professor Foerster which will provide details and options regarding where these new items for the attendance project can be purchased. Additionally, I am going to continue researching the alternative attendance methods discussed and learn as much information as possible, so that our groups chances of getting a working attendance model together by the end of the project will be increased.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week3 Narrative
After consultation with Professor Foerster, our team received information regarding which attendance items were ordered. The information was uploaded to our team page under the discuss section. I am going to search the web to find the appropriate software associated with each item and provide links on this page to the software so that the software will be readily available for the next attendance team when the items are received.

$130 Microsoft Fingerprint Reader http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/fingerprint-reader

$50 Id-Tech Credit Card Reader http://www.idtechproducts.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=230&Itemid=79

$40 Taotronics TT-BS003 Barcode Scanner

My Fourth task
''Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the final weekend of project work. ''

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
Over the weekend I have conducted research on how credit and bonus cards work. I specifically conducted research on the magnetic strip on the back of the cards called the magstripe. The magstripe is made up of tiny iron based magnetic particles in a plastic like film. the tiny bar magnets can be polarized in the north south directions. there are 3 tracks on the magnetic strip that store all the data on the card. Track 1 is 210 bpi, holds 79 six-bit plus parity bit read only characters. Track 2 is 75bpi, and holds 40 four bit plus parity bit characters. track 3 is 210 bpi, and holds 107 four bit plus parity bit characters. your credit card typically only uses tracks 1 and 2 for your personal data. track 3 is a read/write track that includes an encrypted pin, country code, currency units, and amount authorized.

Week4 Narrative
My teammate and I made a video tutorial on setting up the laser bar code scanner showing how it works. We also took many detailed pictures showing how to assemble the bar code scanner stand. We also got the credit card scanner hooked up and got it working as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Thd0ocPro&feature=youtu.be

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).