CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND

In the past couple of years, we have witnessed tremendous growth in mobile

users all over the world as the entry of smartphones in the market at affordable

prices has triggered their usage. We have experienced a major shift in the way we

access the internet today with mobiles becoming the primary access point for

internet usage. In today’s fast paced world, phones are not just used for calling,

playing games etc. but with smartphones we can schedule our complete day, check

emails, make conference calls, connect using social network and a perform a host of

other activities. The growth of mobile phone market has generated a huge demand

for various mobile applications. Numerous mobile phone applications are available

that simplify various tasks for the users due to which we saw an accelerated growth

of software/application development for mobile devices. (Milind Koyande, 2015)

This mobile application decides to tackle a problem that are commonly known in

a neighbouring area. The community in the neighbourhood have a concern about

safety in the area. Nowadays, guards have been implemented to watch over the

neighbourhood for any unwanted activities such as crime and vandalism. The issue

is that since neighbouring areas can be in different sizes; it can be hard to know

where the guards are. Since they are physically separated, it is quite a challenge to

communicate or to meet up, should there be anything to notify or discuss about. The

community wants an efficient way to post up news around the local neighbourhood
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as well. The neighbours also want to have an easy way to locate and send an

emergency notification to the guards. (Barbara Holland, 2017).

This application takes advantage of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

technology. The development of RFID systems for use in industrial environments

has come a long way since its first teetering steps in the 1970’s. Each new

development since then has aimed to improve performance and extend the

possibilities for a variety of applications (George Perkins, 2017)

A RFID system is made up of two parts: a tag or label and a reader. RFID

tags or labels are embedded with a transmitter and a receiver. The RFID component

on the tags have two parts: a microchip that stores and processes information, and

an antenna to receive and transmit a signal. The tag contains the specific serial

number for one specific object. To read the information encoded on a tag, a two-way

radio transmitter-receiver called an interrogator or reader emits a signal to the tag

using an antenna. The tag responds with the information written in its memory bank.

The interrogator will then transmit the read results to an RFID computer program.

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1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

i) Some of the guards that are supposed to patrol the neighbourhood are not

patrolling the neighbourhood area but they just stand around in certain areas.

ii) DIfficult for households to inform the guards in case of emergency.

iii) The guards have to physically meet up to each other to communicate and

needs to announce on the happenings of the local neighbourhood.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

i) To monitor the movement of security guards patrolling the neighbourhood.

using Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID).

ii) To notify the guards with an emergency signal like notification sounds, lights

and vibrations, if there are any unwanted activities.

iii) To enable the neighbourhood community to publish news feeds on bulletin

boards and to chat with each other.

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1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

User Scope

i) There are two users which are the guards and the households. It will be

installed on both the guard and household’s Smartphone.

a) Guards

 Specific login for feature access for guards on duty

 Receive emergency sound, vibrations, lights and notifications

from household families.

 Communicate to other guards with the chat feature of the

application.

 Using RFID tags to notify that they are patrolling the area.

 Post news on bulletin boards.

b) Households

 Specific login for feature access for household families

 Send emergency sounds, vibrations, lights and notifications to

the guards in case of emergency.

 View locations of the guards through RFID scans.

 Post news on bulletin boards.

System Scope

i) The users will login to the system which will reveal the features

a) Guards

 There will be sections to choose from which are news feeds,

instant messaging and Notifications.

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  There will be notifications like sound, lights from the camera

flash or screen, push notifications on the notification tray and

vibrations that came from the households.

b) Households

 There will be sections to choose from which are news feeds,

RFID Scans and Emergency to send a notification to the guards.

 A button on the screen of the smartphone to send emergency

notifications, lights, sounds or vibrations to the guards in case of

emergency.

 A map showing the location of the guards.

 Smartphones connected to RFID Scanners to show the

households that the guards are patrolling the area and update

the location of the guards when the guards scanned their RFID

Tags.

 Publish news on bulletin boards

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT

i) The guards does not have to physically meet up to communicate with the help

of instant messaging chat.

ii) The households can locate where the guards are patrolling.

 Households are able to locate where the guards are through

RFID Tags and Scanners.

iii) Push notification feed allows the guards to get an emergency notification from

the household allowing the guards to know which household has sent the

emergency notification.

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1.6 ASSUMPTION(S) AND LIMITATION(S)

Assumptions

The assumptions are: -

i) All users have internet connection.

ii) Guards will be using RFID tags at all times.

iii) All users have an Android powered device.

Limitations

The limitations are: -

i) It needs an Android Device as this application is built for the Android

Operating System.

ii) Some notifications are hardware depended on the smartphone.

 For example, the guard’s smartphone requires a camera flash if the

type emergency notification is a flash sent by the household.

iii) Humans errors can still be made such as typo or misinformation on the

news feeds or chats.

iv) Some RFID Tags or Cards can be duplicated which allows guards to have

multiple of the same RFID Number.

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 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 CURRENT SITUATION

The Digital age is rising day by day; the mobile app industry is an exciting

area to keep an eye on. It has grown immensely over the last decade and it is likely

that it’ll continue to do so. What does the future of mobile app development hold?

What can we expect, given the current state of the industry and with knowledge of

how it has evolved over the past few decades? With people nowadays relying on

their smart phones to do information gathering about literally anything and doing

general task, the future holds bright for many developers (Sebastion Anthony, 2012)

2.2 RELATED REVIEW

The convergence of communication and computing for mobile consumer

devices is on the evolutionary course to bring interoperability and leverage the

services and functions from each and every industry. In this process of convergence,

the Smartphone ‘s are the leading devices taking the front end and playing the role

of universal mobile terminal. As a marketing strategy the Smartphone term was

introduced in the market, referring a new class of mobile phones that provides

integrated services from communication, computing and mobile sectors including

voice communication, messaging, personal information management (PIM)

applications and wireless communication capability. In real sense Smartphone is a

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mobile phone with advanced features and functionality beyond traditional

functionalities like making phone calls and sending text messages. The Smartphone

are equipped with the capabilities to display photos, play games, play videos,

navigation, built-in camera, audio/video playback and recording, send/receive e-mail,

built in apps for social web sites and surf the Web, wireless Internet and much more.

Due to same reasons the Smartphone‘s now become a common choice for

consumers along with the use in business as it was initially intended for business

users only. Initially the Smartphone‘s were only perceived for business use due to

their cost and application, but not today, today we are in a frenetic Smartphone

impact of Smartphones society (Dr.Asoke Nath, 2015)

2.3 MOBILE WIRELESS PHONES

Mobile wireless phones are the most popular mobile wireless technology used

mainly as personal communication tool. Examples of mobile wireless phones include

the following (Robert D Tennyson, 2015):

 Web-enabled cellular: similar to cellular, but has a capability of accessing the

Web. It uses wireless application protocol (WAP) as the system to connect to

the Internet through a mobile phone. Sometimes, it is called a WAP phone.

 Wireless handset: a sort of cellular phone providing a communications system

with more features, such as voice-activated dialling, a WAP browser, and two-

way text messaging.

 Smartphones: a combination of mobile phone and computers. Compared to

wireless-enabled computers of PDAs, mobile wireless.

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2.4 PREVENTION OF CRIME IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

For centuries the criminal justice system has worked in a very simple manner:

take away the "criminals" and put them behind gates and walls segregated from the

rest of the population. This method holds true today, except now people are

voluntarily surrounding themselves with concrete and metal fences to escape the so-

called "criminals" of society. Americans are scared and residential society is slowly

beginning to show it. An effective tool for some Neighbourhood Watch programs to

use is a citizen patrol. It usually is up to the community in correspondence with law

enforcement to decide whether a patrol is needed. Citizen patrols utilize volunteers

who walk or drive an area on a regular basis to report incidents and problems to the

police and provide a visible presence that deters criminal activity. They are in no way

police officers; in contrast, they carry no weapons, are non-confrontational, and

always plan their work with the local authorities. A citizen patrol, can cover a

neighbourhood, an apartment complex, a business district, or a park. They contact

the police dispatcher through two-way radios or cellular phones (Edward J. Drew &

Jeffrey M. McGuigan, 2013)

2.5 ADOPTION OF RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)

Commercial applications of RFID can be found today in supply chain

management, automated payment systems, airline baggage management, and so

on. According to RFIDupdate.com, one of the catalysts for the RFID industry has

been mandates issued by Wal-Mart and the US Department of Defence (DOD) for

their suppliers to adopt RFID technology. Although the market has not grown quickly

or as large as originally expected, these two mandates continue to be important

drivers in development of the industry (Government of HKSAR, 2008)

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2.6 SECURE USER TO TAG AUTHENTICATION

User authentication is a fundamental problem that has received a great deal

of attention in the security community, for several decades. Solutions range from

simple modifications of the standard PIN/password entry techniques to schemes that

pose more complicated cognitive tasks to users. The authentication of users to

passive devices (such as RFID tags) is a very recent

issue. In the first proposed solution by Czeckis et al. [13], users authenticate to an

accelerometer-equipped RFID tag by moving or shaking it (or the wallet containing

it) in a certain pattern. However, this method assumes that RFID tags are equipped

with an accelerometer, and it requires users to memorize movement patterns. Also,

it is prone to passive observer attacks. A similar technique called “PIN-Vibra” was

suggested by Saxena et al. [30] for authenticating to an accelerometer-equipped

RFID tag using a mobile phone. In it, a vibrating mobile phone is used to lock or

unlock RFID tags. While the usability of PIN-Vibra seems promising, it has a some

drawbacks:(1) high error rates – accelerometers on tags cannot perfectly decode

PINs encoded in phone vibrations, (2) the user’s phone must be present and

functional (e.g., not out of battery) whenever the tag has to be used, and (3)

accelerometer-equipped RFID tags are relatively expensive and do not lend

themselves well to other applications that would help amortize their cost.

The secure user-to-tag authentication solution described and tested in this paper is

most similar to Abadi et al.’s [7] proposal for authentication on smartcards, where a

displayed random number is modified by a user to match a PIN.

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2.7 REVIEW OF RELATED PRODUCTS

These applications are what can be compared to: -

2.7.1 TrackView

The application allows GPS tracking in real time to get a live feed of the location of

the target. It has remote audio and video recording for seamless recording. The app

also has access to the camera of the device for capture. However, It does not have

any feature that is remotely close to chat functions. No bulletin boards to post news

feeds of the status and non-existent of the emergency notification button to notify

authorities.

Figure 2.1 Screenshots of TrackView

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2.7.2 Surveillance

The application save logs on anything that occurs. Real time alarm is also available

as the information will be sent to the e-mail of the user. It also features motion

detection; any motion the application detects it will capture a picture through the

camera of the device. However, there is no chat feature for communication and no

push notification feature to notify the user. There is no tracking feature through RFID

in this application.

Figure 2.2 Screenshots of Surveillance

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2.7.3 AllGuard

AllGuard Mobile is an application that relies on RFID technology. It features

notifications alarms when Tag holders has scanned their RFID tags, carries multiple

users and can create new alarms for other locations. The tags can be measured and

report in real time. The application utilises maps to track the location of tag holders.

Figure 2.3 Screenshot of AllGuard

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2.8 Summary of Comparison

Table 2.1 Summary of Comparison

Features TrackView Surveillance AllGuard Neighbourhood

Security via
Android
Smartphone
Chat feature No, does No, does not No, does not Yes, features
not feature feature chats. feature chats. chats.
chats.
News feeds on No news No news feeds No news feeds Yes, features
bulletin boards feeds feature feature available news feeds on
feature available bulletin boards
available for news.
RFID for tracking No, only No, does not Yes, features Yes, features
through feature live tracking via RFID tracking via RFID.
GPS tracking
Sends emergency No, does Yes, it can Yes, it can send Yes, features a
notifications not feature send emergency button that
anyway to emergency notifications. sends an
send an notifications emergency
emergency but only notifications to
notification through e- the guards.
mail

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 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHDOLOGY

In this chapter will describe the coherent set of method used in carrying out this

project. The guidelines of the methodology chapter which consist of the research

approach and the workflow model in making the project successful is presented.

3.1 PROJECT METHODOLOGY

Figure 3.1: Agile Methodology

Agile mythology has small box iterations rather than phases. The output of each

iteration will be production release deliverable and could be evaluate and get early

feedback.

Agile was a significant departure from the heavyweight document-driven software

development methodologies such as waterfall in general use at the time.

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Agile refers more collaboration and interaction between different departments at

enterprise level and deliver the successful product with individual contribution.

Agile methodologies embrace iterations. Small teams work together with

stakeholders to define quick prototypes, proof of concepts, or other visual means to

describe the problem to be solved. The team defines the requirements for the

iteration, develops the code, and defines and runs integrated test scripts, and the

users verify the results. Verification occurs much earlier in the development process

than it would with waterfall, allowing stakeholders to fine-tune requirements while

they’re still relatively easy to change.

It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development & delivery, a time-boxed

iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change (Nitin,

2013).

Every Agile project has a number of phases that lead it from the beginning until its

completion:

1. The initial stage

At this stage, the users formulates his requirements to the final product. He must

gather the user stories and prioritize them to know exactly what he needs. After that,

he must set the term of project performance. Usually, all agile projects have quite

short terms. That is one of the reasons for the name of this software development

method. For the requirements, it is required to know what the households want in the

application for easier way to post news and to notify the guards. It is also required to

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know what guards want in the application, what ways to communicate with other

guards and post news.

2. The stage of planning

The process of planning in Agile projects is usually conducted during a special

Planning Game. It is actually a meeting where the users announces all his

requirements to the final product and prioritizes them. After that, the Agile team

estimates them in accordance with the time and cost criteria.

3. The stage of performing

After the plan of the project is ready, the team starts to perform it. Usually, teams of

Agile developers work in short iterative cycles. Each cycle is dedicated to a certain

part of the final product. Such distances may last from 1 to 2 weeks. The

intermediate result is provided to the customer after each cycle. The plan of the cycle

may be changed according to the user’s wishes. In this iteration, we are constantly

updating the software with newer features requested by the users.

4. The final stage

After all the cycles are finished and all the part of the product are tested, it is

provided to the customer. If the users are satisfied, the Agile project comes to its end

and if not it will start back in designing, prototyping and customer evaluation phase

until the customer satisfied with the system. In this stage, once everything has been

settled we will combine all the requirements as requested by the users into one

effective application, which then will be released. Any more updates will be made.

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3.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The way of gathering information is through questionnaires. Questionnaires is a
simple but effective to gather information.

1. What is the problem with guards patrolling in an area?

2. What do the community want in the Mobile Application?
3. Should there be bulletin boards to post news about the neighbourhood?
4. What are the ways to track the guards?

3.3 TOOLS AND HARDWARE

Tools

The tools that will be used to develop the application are as follows: -

Table 3.1 List of tools

TOOLS DESCRIPTION

Microsoft Visio To develop necessary software

development diagrams
Microsoft Project To develop the necessary Gantt Chart for
time development schedule
Android Mobile Operating System The mobile operating that is to be used
for the application
Android Studio The software that will be used the
develop the application
Pencil Project To design the user interface of the
application
Geny Motion To be used as an Android Emulator for
testing purposes

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Hardware

The Hardware that will be used to develop the application are as follows: -

Table 3.2: List of hardware

HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

Laptop/PC As the hardware to create the

application, testing and documentation.

Android device. A device that has the Android Mobile

operating system. The application will be

installed on it.

RFID Devices An RFID device that can read or write

information on RFID Tags or cards

RFID Tags/Cards An item that holds information, it can be

in a form of Tags or Cards.

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3.4 Project Schedule

Figure 3.2 Project Schedule

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3.5 Requirement List

Table 3.3: Requirement List

No Requirements Use Case

1. HOUSEHOLDS enters credentials for specific Log in
functions
2. HOUSEHOLDS sends emergency notification Push Forward
Notification
3. HOUSEHOLDS needs to know the location of On Screen Map
the guards
4. HOUSEHOLDS post news on bulletin boards Post new message

5. HOUSEHOLDS can edit their information Edit Household

information
6. HOUSEHOLDS gets notified when guards has RFID Scanner
scanned their RFID tags
7. GUARDS enters credentials for specific Log in
functions
8. GUARDS are able to receive sound, vibrations, Receive Notification
lights and notifications from household.
9. GUARDS are able to chat with other guards Chat
through instant messaging
10. GUARDS needs to tap on the RFID scanner Update Location
using their RFID tags to update their location
11. GUARDS post news on bulletin boards Post new message

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3.6 Use Case Diagram

Figure 3.3: Use case Diagram

22
3.7 Sequence Diagrams

Figure 3.4: Sequence Diagram for Households

Figure 3.5: Sequence Diagram for Guards

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3.9 Collaborative Diagram

Figure 3.6: Collaborative Diagram for Households

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Figure 3.7: Collaborative Diagram for Guards

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3.10 Activity Diagrams

Figure 3.8: Activity Diagram for Households

26
Figure 3.9: Activity Diagram for Guards

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3.11 State Machine Diagrams

Figure 3.10: State Machine Diagram for Households

Figure 3.11: State Machine Diagram for Guards

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3.12 Entity Class Diagram

Figure 3.12: Entity Class Diagram

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3.13 Prototype of the User Interface

Figure 3.13: Prototype of the User Interface

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 CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY AND CONLCUSION

4.1 SUMMARY

The benefit of this Mobile Application is so that the neighbourhood community

can make the area a safer place. With the power of technology, we can take

advantage of creating an application that can help our daily lives. This Mobile

Application System will help the guards to communicate with each other even if they

are not within walking near distance and household families will be able send

emergency signals to guards with a push of a button. The community will also be

able to post news feeds in the bulletin boards of the applications.

4.2 CONCLUSION

To wrap it all up, this Mobile Application System is for the neighbourhood

community who wants to make their area a safer place with ease will greatly

appreciate this application. Technology has been advancing every day since the time

of man existed. The opportunity to create a mobile application that is truly open

ended which we can access at the touch of our finger tips.

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