Portable fingerprint-based attendance recording and monitoring system

This paper presented the development of a portable attendance monitoring system based on fingerprint identification that can be used by lecturers to monitor attendance of students. Fingerprint-based identification is one of the oldest method among all biometric or security techniques which has been successfully used in numerous applications. Every person has unique, immutable fingerprints. A fingerprint is made of a series of ridges and furrows on the surface of the finger. The distinctiveness of a fingerprint can be determined by the pattern of ridges and furrows as well as the minutiae points. Minutiae points are local ridge characteristics that occur at either a ridge bifurcation or a ridge ending. A portable fingerprint scanner has been utilized as the input to acquire fingerprint images and a laptop equipped with attendance recording and monitoring software as a mobile terminal to process the fingerprint images and record the attendance. This system can be used by lecturers to replace the old method of attendance recording, so that the integrity of the attendance record can be upheld. The actual student’s attendance can be recorded and stored in database. The system is also capable of processing the record to determine students who do not fulfill the attendance percentage requirement

UWB MAC Design Constraints and Considerations

In this paper, we consider the possibility of developing an optimal medium access control (MAC)layer for high data rate ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission systems that transmit minimal power. MAC in UWB wireless networks is required to coordinate channel access among competing devices. The unique UWB characteristics offer great challenges and opportunities in effective UWB MAC design. We first study the background of UWB and available MAC protocols that have been used in UWB. Secondly, we explore the constraints on UWB MAC design. Finally we present the considerations that need to be made in designing an optimal UWB MAC protocol

Transformation of Generalized Chebyshev Lowpass Filter Prototype to Suspended Stripline Structure Highpass Filter for Wideband Communication Systems

This paper presents the transformation of generalized Chebyshev lowpass filter prototype to highpass filter using Suspended Stripline Structure (SSS) technology. The study involves circuit analysis to determine generalized Chebyshev responses with a transmission zero at finite frequency. The transformation of the highpass filter from the lowpass filter prototype provides a cutoff frequency of 3.1 GHz with a return loss better than -20 dB. The design is simulated on a Roger Duroid RO4350 with a dielectric constant, εr of 3.48 and a thickness of 0.168 mm. The simulation performance results show promising results that could be further examined during the experimental works. This class of generalized Chebyshev highpass filter with finite transmission zero would be useful in any RF/ microwave communication systems particularly in wideband applications where the reduction of overall physical volume and weight as well as cost very important, while maintaining its excellent performance

A Low Profile Switchable Pattern Directivity Antenna using Circular Sectorized EBG

In this paper, a low profile patch antenna switchable radiation pattern diversity with total thickness o

A Novel Technique of Controlling Signal Propagation within Array Elements using Switchable Miniaturized Electromagnetic Band Gap

In this paper, a novel miniaturized capacitive loaded electromagnetic band gap (EBG) has been developed with the patch size of approximately !/36. The dimension is controllable using the lumped capacitive elements values. The surface impedance characteristic of the EBG structure is switchable as pin vias have been inserted and removed within the EBG center and the ground plane. Switching the EBG surface impedance characteristic within the array elements has demonstrated the novel application of miniaturized EBG to control the signal propagation within the array elements. Radiation pattern for the middle antenna is enhanced toward the antenna which connected with low surface impedance EBG structure resulting approximately 12dB improvement in gain. The propagation characteristics and gain of the array have been analyzed using CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS). The new application of the EBG can be very useful to realize the controlling and channeling the signal within the array elements

A Localised Cloud Detection and Masking Method Using Spectral Analysis

In satellite remote sensing, cloud blocks surface or near surface information. The aim of this study is to investigate the spectral properties of cloud and to carry out cloud detection and masking over Malaysia based on spectral analysis. A cloud detection and masking method tuned to tropical conditions have been developed based on spectral of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. Thresholds were applied to three sets of spectral measurements, i.e. reflective bands, thermal bands and brightness temperature difference of thermal bands. The results show that the method was able to detect clouds over Malaysia effectively

Temporal Changes in Urban Green Space based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

This study identifies land use changes in the metropolitan region of Klang-Langat Valley focusing on urban sprawl and green space. A technique called Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used to quantify temporal urban green space dynamics. All districts in the valley recorded a marked increase in urban area, but decreased in agriculture and forest areas. Result of vegetation index analysis showed that NDVI increases for water body, bare soil, and built-up area category for as much as 16.98% from 1998 to 2001, but during the same period vegetation experience a decrease of 22.25%

Design of Generalized Chebyshev Lowpass Filter with Defected Stripline Structure (DSS)

This paper presents the design of generalized Chebyshev lowpass filter (LPF) and integrated with Defected Stripline Structure (DSS) using Suspended Stripline Structure (SSS). The study involves circuit analysis to determine generalized Chebyshev responses with a transmission zero at finite frequency in order to produce a reduced number of elements values of prototype circuit. The LPF provides a cut-off frequency at 6 GHz with a return loss better than -19 dB, while the DSS exhibits a notch at frequency of 3.2 GHz with a stopband response better than -40 dB. Thus, the integrated LPF and DSS will produce lowpass and band reject response simultaneously. The design is implemented on a Roger Duroid RO4350 with a thickness of 0.168 mm and dielectric constant, εr of 3.48. The simulation performance results show promising results that could be proved in the experiment works. This new class of integrated LPF and DSS would be useful in any RF/ microwave communication systems particularly in wideband applications where the reduction of overall physical volume, weight and cost is critical to maintaining its good performance

Current developments of microwave filters for wideband applications

This paper presents a compilation of important review in the development of microwave filters for wideband technology used in previous years. The major research work for each year is reviewed. Several wideband filters based on the planar and non-planar circuits are compared and examined in order to propose a new topology of wideband filter using Suspended Stripline Structure (SSS). More importantly, this new proposed structure will be integrated with the Defects Ground Structure (DGS) to form an advanced hybrid system for wideband applications. This system will produce the band-pass and band-stop responses simultaneously in order to discriminate between the desired and undesired signals in the wideband spectrum. The proposed system outlined in this paper, featuring new innovation in hybrid structure as well as providing an insight of the direction of future research works. The contribution of this study is useful for applications where the reduction of physical volume is very important, while maintaining its good performance such as Ultra-Wideband (UWB), commercial radar as well as the wideband warfare receiver. As for future works, integration techniques between the UWB filter and DGS will be designed and analyzed to form an advanced new microwave device in order to produce bandpass and bandreject response in the same structure simultaneously