🖐️ Portable Fingerprint-Based Attendance System

A secure and portable fingerprint-based attendance system built using Python, Pygame GUI, and a biometric sensor.
It enables real-time fingerprint authentication, encrypted data storage, and fraud-prevention mechanisms to ensure accurate student attendance logging.

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🚀 Features

• GUI-based interface using Pygame
• Fingerprint enrollment, validation, and deletion
• Encrypted storage of fingerprints using AES-128 (CBC mode) with HMAC-SHA256
• Prevents duplicate attendance marking
• Admin authentication for secure system access
• Optional integration with MySQL for data upload
• Real-time date and time display
• Confirmation dialogs and error-handling messages

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🧠 System Overview

This project replaces manual attendance with a biometric verification system using a fingerprint sensor (R307) connected to a Raspberry Pi.

Each student:

• Enrolls their fingerprint once (a unique UID is assigned).
• When validating, the scanned fingerprint is compared with encrypted templates.
• On a successful match, attendance is recorded automatically.

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🔐 Security Implementation

The system uses AES-128 in CBC mode with HMAC-SHA256 through the cryptography.fernet module.

🔸 Encryption Workflow

1. Fingerprint template → binary data
2. Binary data encrypted using Fernet(key) → ciphertext
3. Base64 encoded ciphertext → stored in fingerprints.json
4. On validation → decrypted and compared with live scan

This ensures:

• Confidentiality: via AES-128 encryption
• Integrity: via HMAC-SHA256 authentication
• Tamper protection: decryption fails if ciphertext is modified

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/SanchitNegi177/portable_fingerprint_based_attendance_system.git
cd portable_fingerprint_based_attendance_system

2️⃣ Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3️⃣ Connect Hardware

Attach the fingerprint sensor (R307 or compatible) via /dev/ttyUSB0 Ensure baud rate = 57600 Verify connection:

from pyfingerprint.pyfingerprint import PyFingerprint
PyFingerprint('/dev/ttyUSB0', 57600).verifyPassword()

4️⃣ Run the Application

python main_menu.py

🖥️ How It Works

🧩 Enrollment

• Scan finger twice to register a new student UID
• Fingerprint template is encrypted and stored in fingerprints.json

✅ Validation

• Place finger on the sensor
• If match found → attendance recorded in verified_uids.json
• Duplicate scans are ignored
• Unrecognized fingerprints trigger an error message

☁️ Upload

• Admin can upload attendance data to a connected MySQL database

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📁 Project Structure

File	Description
fingerprint_validation.py	Verifies fingerprints and marks attendance
fingerprint_registration.py	Enrolls, re-enrolls, or deletes fingerprints
main_menu.py	Launches the GUI main menu
user_interface.py	Handles GUI components (buttons, colors, fonts)
admin.py	Admin setup and authentication
data_to_upload.py	Uploads attendance data
fingerprints.json	Stores encrypted fingerprint templates
verified_uids.json	Stores marked attendance records

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🧩 Workflow

1. Launch the main menu
2. Enroll student fingerprints
3. Validate fingerprints for attendance
4. Data is securely saved and can be uploaded to the database
5. Exit using the Quit button (with confirmation dialog)

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📜 License

This project is open-source and available for educational and personal use.

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🙏 Acknowledgements

• PyFingerprint Library
• Cryptography.io
• Pygame
• Raspberry Pi Foundation

Research Paper

• Portable Fingerprint-Based Attendance System with Raspberry-pi