Proceedings of the 2

nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
132










SHOPPING AND AUTOMATIC BILLING USING RFID TECHNOLOGY


Vinutha M L
1
, Harshitha P Bale
2
, Sushma R
3
, Suchitra M
4


1,2,3
B.E 8
th
sem students, ECE,
4
Associate Professor
Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore, Karnataka, INDIA




ABSTRACT

Nowadays, large grocery stores are used by millions of people for the acquisition of products.
Barcode scanners are a time consuming process engaging the customers to stick to the billing section
for a long time. Hence there is a need for an innovative product with the societal acceptance that aids
the convenience, comfort and efficiency in everyday life.
In this paper, an architecture is presented which blends Radio frequency identification
(RFID) and wireless technology to provide on spot billing in super markets. It uses the RFID based
system application in the shopping trolley and the RFID card which is used as a security access for
the product. The Liquid crystal display (LCD) that is fixed to the trolley displays the product name,
cost and the total cost of all purchased products. The bill is transmitted to the server end through the
zigbee technology. The software simulation is done using Proteus software and hardware is
implemented using 18F46K22 microcontroller. This promotes quick shopping and immediate pay
without any queuing process. It reduces labour efforts and increases efficiency by minimizing errors.

Keywords: RFID Tags, RFID Reader, Zigbee Technology, 18F46K22 Microcontroller.

1. INTRODUCTION

In recent years a deep structural change has occurred, with consequences on economic
growth and society, especially in factors such as territorial occupation, urbanization, openness to
global markets, demography, family structures and cultural and consuming patterns. Innovation in
communication and information technologies has caused a revolution in values, knowledge and
perceptions in all areas. The grocery industry sector is nowadays extremely important in worldwide
economy, with its recent evolution in technological, political, social and economic terms making it
one of the most convenient and diverse businesses across the globe.
The challenges and opportunities created by electronic business have caused the sharing of
information between business partners to improve operational performance, consumer service and
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Volume 5, Issue 8, August (2014), pp. 132-138
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Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
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solution development. The emergence of new technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) and wireless networks, makes the traditional retail processes faster, transparent and efficient.
The main objective of proposed system is to provide a technology oriented, low-cost, easily
scalable RFID system for shopping. The objective of this project is to improve the speed of
purchase by using RFID. This project is designed to use the security system application in the
shopping trolley. If the product is put into the trolley then it will display the amount and also
the total amount. RFID card is used for accessing of the products. So this project improves the
security performance and also the speed.

2. LITERATURE SURVEY

Bichlien Hoang, Ashley Caudill[1] and Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Sandhu, Neeraj Mohan,
Parvinder S.Sandhu[2] have discussed briefly about Radio frequency identification technology
(RFID) i.e. its working principle, standards and the areas where it can be applied based on its
advantages.
P. Rohitha, P. RanjeetKumar, Prof.N. Adinarayana, Prof.T. Venkat Narayana Rao[3] and
Dr.S.S.Riaz Ahmed[4] has described about Zigbee technology, its applications, characteristics,
different types of Zigbee topologies, traffic types, architecture, frame structure and device types.
Ankit Anil Agarwal (Corresponding Author), Saurabh Kumar Sultania, Gaurav Jaiswal and
Prateek Jain[5], Diana S.S.Santos, Antonio M.J Pereira and Ramiro M.R.M. Goncalves[6] have
presented the proposal of an architecture and solution of an innovative system for acquisition of
products in grocery stores. S. Raghupathi and V. Karthikeyan[7] have implemented the architecture
for automatic billing using Context Aware Shopping Trolley (CAST) technology. Darren Black, Nils
Jakob Clemmensen and Mikael B. Skov [8] have described about the advantages and disadvantages
caused through the usage of CAST technology. Zeeshan Ali, Reena Sonkusare [9] have developed
system comprises of Cart location detection unit (CLDU), Server Communication unit (SCU), User
Interface and display unit (UIDU) and Billing and Inventory management unit (BIMU).
These issues will have to be resolved specifically with respect to billing to promote consumer
confidence. Further, a more sophisticated micro-controller and larger display system can be used to
provide better consumer experience.

3. SYSTEM METHODOLOGY

This section deals with the system architecture of billing using radio frequency identification
and zigbee technology.

3.1 Block Diagram
In the development and discussion of the proposed shopping trolley, all the product
information is stored in a database at a main server. RFID tags are used to uniquely identify
products.
As the products are selected and added into the cast, the RFID reader will identify the product
and the price will be displayed on the LCD display. If the customer chooses to drop a selected
product, another RFID reader which is at the outlet side of the trolley identifies the product and its
price will be deducted from the total price and the value will be displayed on the LCD display.
After the completion of the shopping the customer has to press the complete button. This
enables the total bill being generated after confirmed purchase of all the selected products in the
shopping trolley. At the same time, this information is sent to the database server through the
wireless zigbee unit. The server database is then updated to reflect the existing stock available after
deducting the number of products purchased. This ensures a smooth inventory management. The
Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
134

integrated system is built around 18F46K22 microcontroller, 16x2 LCD display and miscellaneous
circuit including power supply as shown in Fig 3.1.


Fig 3.1: Block diagram of the system

3.2 Flow Diagram
The flow diagram shown in the figure below describes the system methodology. Fig 3.2
explains the complete overview of the system with its operation. Flow diagram is explained as
follows.
Step 1
Firstly initialise all the items/products in the shopping mall in the database of the main server
also initialise two flags which represents RFID readers, servomotor, ports of microcontroller liquid
crystal display(LCD). Also product number must be initialised to zero since there will be no products
inside the trolley.
Step 2
RFID readers will check for the encountering of RFID tag continuously. The two flags used
here represent two RFID readers, one is for updating of the purchased products and another is for
deletion of the removed products. Here flag represents the reader that is used for updating
purchased products and flag1 represents the reader that is used for updating removed products.
Step 3
When the flag is set high, i.e. when reader encounters the tag, then it checks for the product
number scanned and the product number that is in the database. If both the product number is same,
then the motor rotates and door opens for a certain time. Then number of products and its cost are
added up. Finally the product name, its cost, total number of products and total cost is displayed on
the LCD display which is embedded on the trolley.
Step 4
Similarly when the flag2 encounters the RFID tag, it scans the product number and
compares with the product number in database. If the product number is same, then the number of
items and its cost are subtracted from the total items and total cost respectively and finally updates
the new data on the LCD display attached to trolley.
Step 5
When RFID reader scans the product tag number, if the scanned number is not equal to the
product number in database, then the motor will not rotate and the door will not be opened.
Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
135

And hence only the product with valid product tag number can be inserted into the trolley.
This avoids or minimizes the errors. Hence RFID technology is more advantageous.
Step 6
Finally, after all the products which are to be purchased are put into the trolley, then there
will be a provision for a switch called complete is pressed. If there is any product in the trolley then
bill is updated to the main server and hence LCD display which is embedded on the trolley displays
update billing and no further products can be added or removed.
This shows the whole process that is incorporated inside the trolley using RFID and the
wireless technology called zigbee technology to avoid waste of time in billing process.


Fig 3.2: Flow diagram of system methodology

4. RESULT ANALYSIS

This section deals with the software and hardware analysis of the results that are obtained
when the system is implemented as described in previous section.

4.1 Software interfacing and simulation results
Fig 4.1 shows the output that is obtained after the data entry (i.e. after the RFID Reader scans
the product number). Here the data is entered in one of the virtual terminal. The servo motor will
rotate which represents the opening of door. It displays the product number along with its cost,
quantity and total cost on the LCD display. The servo motor will again rotate with some delay which
represents the closing of the door. This is the result obtained in the hardware implementation part as
well when the valid product is scanned by the RFID reader. Here all the other virtual terminals are
Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
136

just initialised and not transmitting any data to the server pc through the wireless technology. This
process repeats until all the required products are purchased. Also it displays the entered product
number with its cost, quantity and total cost. In software the output obtained when the product
number is entered is as shown in Fig 4.1.

Fig 4.1: Result obtained after valid data entry

After the valid data entry the switch is made to close. Once the switch is closed no more data
entries can be made. LCD displays Updating Billing along with one of the virtual terminal
indicating the transfer. This process of transferring the data to the main server through the virtual
terminals (i.e. the UART ports) occurs until the bill is generated. These serial ports use Zigbee
technology to implement the same in the hardware. Finally the bill is generated in the server end and
it is shown in Fig 4.2.
The steps listed above have been implemented in hardware which is also discussed in the
section hardware interface.

Fig 4.2: Updating Billing




Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
137

4.2 Hardware Interface and simulation results
After all necessary connections are made and complete circuit is built, all the components are
initialised. And then, as the products are selected and added into the cart, the RFID reader will
identify the product and the price will be displayed on the LCD display as shown in Fig 4.3.
If the customer chooses to drop a selected product, another RFID reader which is at the
outlet side of the trolley identifies the product and its price will be deducted from the total price and
the value will be displayed on the LCD display. After the completion of the shopping the customer
has to press the switch.
This enables the total bill being generated after confirmed purchase of all the selected
products in the shopping trolley. At the same time, this information is sent to the database server
through the wireless zigbee unit.


Fig 4.3: Identification of the product and price displayed on LCD display

The information about shopping is sent to the main server through wireless zigbee unit and is
displayed on the server side system as shown in Figure 4.4.The server database is then updated to
reflect the existing stock available after deducting the number of products purchased. This ensures a
smooth inventory management.


Fig 4.4: Bill is updated on the server side system
Proceedings of the 2
nd
International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management ICCTEM -2014
17 19, July 2014, Mysore, Karnataka, India
138

5. CONCLUSION

The intended objectives were successfully achieved in the prototype model developed. The
developed product is easy to use, low-cost and does not need any special training. This architecture
of the system can be used in the shopping systems for intelligent and easy shopping in the malls to
save time, energy and money of the consumers. In this project RFID card is used as security access
for product. If the product is put in to the trolley means it will shows the amount and also the total
amount. In this project RFID card is used for accessing the products. So this project improves the
security performance and also the speed. This project also best suit for present fast growing RFID
technology.
There are a few challenges that can be resolved to make proposed system more efficient by
using a more sophisticated microcontroller, larger display system, GPS to track the product, internet
facility inside the card to browse the offers, facility of payment within the cart by using swapping
card can be used to make cart more advance and to provide consumer a better shopping experience.

REFERENCES

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portal, 2006-2012.
[2] Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Sandhu, Neeraj Mohan and Parvinder S.Sandhu, RFID
Technology Principles, Advantages, Limitations & Its Applications, published on
International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol.3, No.1, February, 2011.
[3] P.Rohitha, P.RanjeetKumar, Prof.N. Adinarayana and Prof . T. Venkat Narayana Rao,
Wireless Networking Through ZigBee Technology, published on International Journal of
Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, Volume 2, Issue 7, July
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[4] Dr.S.S.Riaz Ahmed, The role of zigbee technology in future data Communication system,
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[5] Ankit Anil Agarwal (Corresponding Author), Saurabh Kumar Sultania, Gourav Jaiswal
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