Development of a Microcontroller-Controlled Security Door System.

A.O. Oke1, O.M. Olaniyi2*, O.T. Arulogun1, and O.M. Olaniyan2

1
Department of Computer Sciences and Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology,
Ogbomoso, Nigeria.
2
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering,
Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun-State, Nigeria.
*
E-mail: olaniyimikail@bellsuniversity.org
engrolaniyi09@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT motels and so on; some are controlled by

switches while others are controlled by the
Over the years, several security measures have biometrics technique. The idea of this technique
been employed to combat the menace of is to enable automatic verification of identity by
insecurity of lives and property. This is done by computer assessment of one or more behavioral
preventing unauthorized entrance into buildings and/or physiological characteristics of a person.
through entrance doors using conventional and Recently, biometric methods used for personal
electronic locks, discrete access code, and authentication utilize such features as the face,
biometric methods such as the finger prints, the voice, the hand shape, the finger print, and
thumb prints, the iris and facial recognition. In this the iris patterns of an individual [4, 5 ,7]. Each
paper, a prototyped door security system is method has its own advantages and
designed to allow a privileged user to access a disadvantages based on their usability and
secure keyless door where valid smart card security [6, 9].
authentication guarantees an entry. The model
consists of hardware module and software which In [1] two distinct technologies in Artificial
provides a functionality to allow the door to be Intelligence are outlined: Artificial Neural
controlled through the authentication of smart Networks and Facial Recognition were used to
card by the microcontroller unit. develop a security door system where
authorization of facial appearance of privilege
(Keywords: access control, security, card reader, users in the database is the only guarantee for
smart card, computer control) entrance. In the system, the personal computer
processes the face recognized by the system
INTRODUCTION digital camera and compares data with privileged
users in the database. The control program either
Security over the years has been a source of sends a control signal to open the
concern to organizations and companies. This electromechanical door upon facial existence or
has caused quite a significant amount of capital deny entry.
being budgeted for improvements on security
systems, simply because it has been discovered Also in [3], an intelligent voice-based door access
that the access control system mechanism is an control system for building security was proposed.
important part of an organisation. One of the The proposed intelligent voice-based access
important security systems in building security is control system is a performance biometric which
door access control. The door access control is a offers an ability to provide positive verification of
physical security that assures the security of a identity from an individual's voice characteristics
building by limiting access to the building to to access secure locations (e.g. office, laboratory,
specific people and by keeping records of such home). In the system Perceptual Linear
entries [3]. Prediction (PLP) coefficients features are
extracted from the person voice data and then an
Most doors are controlled manually especially by Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference
security personel employed by the organisation, Systems (ANFIS) is used to develop models of
through the use of handles and locks with key to the authorized persons based on the feature
operate the locks. Examples are banks, hotels, extracted from the authorized person voices.

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Although, these proposed models provided a effective design. The readers are usually made
novel approach to door security systems, they are with durable plastic to withstand harsh
dependent on the control program written on environments. The microcontrolled door card
computer system and provided access control reader is usually equipped with a two way-
using the parallel port. The PC‟s parallel port is supervised and secured communication, for the
affected by cross talk and significant reduction in person to gain entrance through the door and for
performance in long distance parallel him to exit through same door when inside.The
transmission. Besides, computer process control term used to describe this is card-in and card-out.
systems are generally affected by high initial
costs and increased dependence on maintenance The two-way communication between a card
[2]. reader and the microcontroller is usually
monitored. The Card In reader is located outside
In other to overcome the problems of these PC- and used to enter into a building. If there are
based door acesss security control systems, this multiple doors in the room for one to gain
paper presents prototyped low cost, low entrance, the Card In database is incremented for
complexity door security system designed to all the doors in the room. Such a database list is
allow a privileged user to access a secure keyless technically known as a Muster list. The card out
automated door where valid smart card reader is located inside the building and used
authentication guarantees an entry. In the when exiting a building. In the case of multiple
proposed system an automated door is controlled exit doors in a room, the card out database is
with a card reader and the card reader is incremented for all the doors in the room.The
controlled by a control program embedded in a card acess system is configured to generate a list
microcontroller unit. Implementing the system of people that have „Carded In‟ to enter the
with a microcontroller will be of great value, building.
cheaper, portable and much benefit to
organizations who consistently seek a better Upon entrance, user‟s name stays on the muster
means of door access control for their firms. list until the user „Carded Out‟ when leaving the
building. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the
basic principle involved. In the proposed
THE SYSTEM DESIGN system,the card reader is a slot where the card
will be inserted by the user. On insertion of the
The system consists of a hardware module and card into the card reader, the card reader
an application program for microcontroller unit decodes the information in the card by conducting
developed in Mikrobasic programming language. current from one end of the card to another.
The hardware module comprises three stages: The decoded signal is send to the microcontroller
The card reader, the door electromechanical relay unit which works according to its program code
interface, the microcontroller stage and the power specification.
supply unit.

The control action is actually performed by the Microcontroller PIC16F84A: The system is
microcontroller. It processes the signals designed around PIC16f84A microcontroller. The
(requests) that are inputted from the card reader PIC16f84A is used because it is readily available
upon the insertion of the valid smart card at the and is relatively simple to understand. The PIC
entrance. The output section of the implements the software based control and
microcontroller is connected via relays for the commands the electromechanical interface circuit
desired operational actions. The stages involved to open and/or close the door. The PORT (RB6,
in this design are shown in the Figure 1. RB7) of the PIC was designed to send the output
control signals to the door circuit through the relay
The Card Reader: A card is a small piece of switch of the electromechanical interface circuit
plastic that holds information in a magnetic strip and the PORT A (RA0 and RA1) is configured as
or microprocessor used in activities such as analog input to receive voltage values that specify
getting cash from the Automated Teller Machines the state of denial and acceptance of entrance
(ATM) or making phone calls (i.e. SIM) or opening parameter form the card reader. These parameter
and closing of a microcontrolled based door. controls produces voltage which is reduced to a
Based on highly optimised construction, the card maximum of 5V s.
readers are very compact with a discreet and cost

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 POWER SECTION
(AC TO DC)
DC DC

CARD READER THE DOOR

MICROCONTROLLER ELECRTOMECHA
NICAL SYSTEM

Electromechanical
RB6 Interface
PIC16f84A
The Card Reader RB7
RA 0

RA1
Door System

Figure 1: The Functional Block Diagram of the System.

NAME ON THE MUSTER LIST CARD OUT

MUSTER LIST) JOY (DELETE NAMES
BEN FROM THE
....... MUSTER LIST )
........

Figure 2: Muster List Card Access Configuration.

For example, if the card reader accepts valid card circuit is triggered or not (1 = YES, 0 = NO) [7,
upon the decoding from the PIC, 5V is produced 11].
and 0V for an invalid card. The voltage is read
through the PORT A of the PIC as analog input Electromechanical Door Interface Circuit: In
and is interpreted to mean high or low depending the model, a simple 12v DC motor and Rack and
on the input. PORT A status is read, the status (1 Pinion motion transmission systems were used to
or 0) determine if the electromechanical interface provide translatory motion for the door to open
and close upon the command of the

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microcontroller unit to the relay circuitry as shown if PortA.2 = 1 then
in Figure 3. PortB.4 = 1 on red light(busy)
portB.5 = 1
delay_ms(2000)
PortB.5 = 0
Delay_ms(5000)
portB.6 = 1 open door
delay_ms(5000)
PortB.6 = 0 close door
PortB.4 = 0
End if
Goto Eloop repeat
End.

Figure 3: The Interface Circuit. THE SYSTEM OPERATION

After the system is turned on, the door indicator‟s

The relay circuit is responsible for performing the light emitting diode(LED) come ON after some
switching action that energizes the motion few seconds, indicating that the door is in the
transmission systems to perform door translatory ready state. The colour for the ready state is
motion operations [8, 12]. The relay circuit yellow. The yellow LED continually blink to show
transforms the electrical signal from the PIC into that the card slot is ready to accept the card. The
mechanical movement that performs a switching yellow colour also indicates that there is no card
mechanism to allow the door to open or close. inserted into the card slot, hence a card can be
inserted as shown in Figure 4.

THE SYSTEM CONTROL PROGRAM When a valid card is inserted into the card slot
(the reader), the LED light changes from its
The system control program can be accomplished yellow colour to the red colour. The red colour
using program written in either low level or high signifies the busy state of the door.The card
level language such as C, Java, mikrobasic. A reader only functions when the LED is in the
compiler for a high level language helps to reduce ready state. The PIC16F84A decodes the name
production time. Although inline assembly is on the card and compares it with specific name
possible, the programming was done in the on its memory.The privilege user gain entrance to
Mikrobasic language. The source code has been a restricted application area by triggering the
commented to facilitate any occasional future interface circuit.
improvement and maintenance. The code written
followed all the three steps of microcontroller The interface circuit thererefore triggers the direct
program development that is, Compilation, motor driven electromechanical door to slide
Burning and Evaluation before it was transformed from the left to the right, opening the door for five
to the microcontroller through the programmer.A seconds. The door however closes after some
fraction code fragment for the system is given few seconds. The number of seconds it takes the
below : door to slide back is a function of how the
microcontroller is programmed.The timing can be
Program Autodoor changed if need be by modification of the
Dim i as byte program code in the microcontroller. This is the
Main: competitive advantage of designing this proposed
TRISB = 0 door access control system around PIC16f84A
TRISA = 0 microcontroller unit.
PORTA =0
PORTB = 0 However, an intruder is denied an entry upon the
Eloop: insertion of an invalid card.The overall system
PortB.2 = 1 on green light(ready) design and system operation diagram are shown
Delay_ms(1000) in Figure 5 below.
portB.2 = 0

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 Process Description Connects the Card Connects to the Port B
reader to Port A of of PIC
1. The Card Reader awaits the insertion of smart card by a privilege User the PIC
2. The smart card is decoded by the Reader using the PIC program memory
3. The PIC16f84A command the interface circuit to trigger the door
4.Interface circuit receives the signal and ‘Normalize’ it
6. ‘Normalized’ signal is forwarded to the electromechanically Interface
Circuit
7. The DC Motor on the door makes use of the ‘Normalized signal to either
OPEN or SHUT the Door

RB 7
RA 0
5 Access
2
RB 6 Interface Circuit
Granted
4
RA 1
Smart Card 6

The Card Reader PICI6F84A

3 Electomechanical
7 M
Door
DC Motor

Decoded Name in The PIC

Memory

Privilege User
Decoding section Software OR Application Section Electromechanical Section

The Card reader accepts valid The PIC compares the the The Interface circuit responds to
smart card from a privilege user information on the card with the the control signal from PIC to
coded instruction in the memory allow or deny entry.

Figure 4: The Overall System Design and System Operation Diagram.

Figure 6:The Proposed Model.

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CONCLUSION Embedded Systems (CHES2003), LNCS Volume
2779:137 - 151.
This paper has successfully presented a
functional, low cost and low complexity 10. Hageman, S. 2008. “PIC Development on a
Shoestring”. (Retrieved on May 24th ,2009).
microcontroller based door access control http://www.sonic.net/~shageman.
system. The proposed security door system
adopted a valid smart card to authenticate and/or 11. Microchip Technology, Inc. 2009. “PIC16F84A
deny entry to a room or building. A real-life Data Sheet”. (Retrieved May 30, 2009).
equivalent of the prototype can be developed with http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/devicedoc/
minimal development costs and with relatively low 39582b.pdf
operational costs for environment where high
degrees of security are required like banks, 12. Adoghe, A.U. and I.A. Odigwe Adoghe. 2008.
military research areas, and big private “Remote Monitor and Controller System for Power
Generators”. Pacific Journal of Science and
investment companies. Technology. 9(2):344-350.

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