1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Purpose

The reason we do this project is to prevent any break in cases. Beside break in, the door knob can
be open by multiple key which mean two or more different type of keys can be use to open a
same door knob. Therefore, we propose to change the normal door knob to biometric door lock
which use fingerprint to unlock and has better security compare to normal door knob which
using key to unlock and lock.

1.2

Background

A door knob was first invented at United State in 1878 when Osbourn Dorsey introduced a patent
for improvement of door lock mechanism. Then in 1999, fingerprint door lock was invented.
Nowadays, each door in every houses are using door knob to lock the door in order to prevent
uninvited guest to enter the house easily. The normal door knob manages to prevent many breaks
in cases, but not all door knobs manage to do so because some door knobs are easy to lock
picking. Some of the door knob can be open by using different key other than its original key.
This fact had made many people worried that their precious thing might not be safe in the room
even if the door is locked. This situation had been experienced by a random guy that our group
had interviewed. According to him, his room key can be used to open other peoples door. That
guy also got mentioned that his door also can be opened by other key and door knob of some
house had broken and cause the door cannot be closed. Because of those problems we propose to
change the normal door knob to biometric type door knob which has better and effective safety
measure.

1.3

Scope

Our project will mainly focus on Emerald Park, one of the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
(UTeM) hostel. The device that we will focus on is the fingerprint type of biometric door lock. In
this report we will explain briefly on the function and how the fingerprint door lock function.
Other look such as production and price are not included in this report.
1

2.0

DISCUSSION

2.1

Approach

There are a few methods that we used to complete this report which are questionnaires,
interviews and research. Firstly we interviewed student, staff and lecturer to get information
about problem that can be overcome by applying our propose product which is fingerprint door
lock. While doing interview, other members of our group is doing another task which is
questionnaires. In this method we distributed some set of questionnaires to student, staff and
lecturer with the purpose to do some survey about what other people thing about our product
whether the product benefit or not to our daily life. After both of the tasks is done, we regroup
and do some research about our product at library and internet. We divide into a few groups to go
to different library so that we can get more information. During doing the library research, we
were assisted by some librarian there. They help us on searching information about biometric
system.

2.2

Result

After done all the research we found out many advantages and disadvantages of using fingerprint
door lock compared to normal door knob. Refer to figure 3.1 and figure 3.2 at attachment part for
the schematic diagram of normal door knob and fingerprint door lock.

2.2.1
i.

Advantage of using fingerprint door lock

Can strengthen the security of a house.

Fingerprint door lock does not depend on key to unlock it. Therefore other people cannot
copy or try to lock picking the door.
Spend less time when unlocking the door.
Fingerprint door lock only need to scan our fingerprint to unlock the door which take

ii.

only a few second compare to using key that some people might spend time on searching
the key because many key have mix with it. Sometime in dark place make people hard to
find the hole for the key.
Can prevent outsider from entering the house without permission.
As you all know, fingerprint door lock only can identify the fingerprint that has been

iii.

register in the system. Outsider that havent register fingerprint cannot unlock the door no
iv.

matter how hard they try.

No need to bring house key everywhere.
Carrying keys is a big hassle and one of those keys can easily get misplaced or lost. For
those who has lost a key and had to look for it knows how frustrating it can get. Keys can
also scratch our mobile phones and other mobile devices if it is stored together which
usually happens if you have a habit to stuff your things in your pocket. With this

v.

fingerprint door lock, you only need your finger to unlock the door.
No need to worry if our finger becomes rough from labor work.
Even if we cannot open the door by scanning, we still have backup password. By typing
the password, the door can be unlock. But make sure to make the password long enough
and hard to guess by other even we as the owner.

2.2.2
i.

Disadvantage of using fingerprint door lock

Fingerprint door lock cannot function when there is power failure.

Normally electronic device like fingerprint door lock has backup battery in it. However,
the battery cannot last long until a few days. This will cause our door to completely close

or open.
If our finger become rough from doing labor work, it might be more difficult for the scanner

ii.

to accurately identify our fingerprint.

A fingerprint scanner is just a virtual reader which cannot accurately identify the
fingerprint. This because the shape of the fingerprint is different from the registered
fingerprint. Therefore we will need to type in the backup pin to unlock the door which
will take more time.
An expert hacker can easily bypass the fingerprint door lock system
Fingerprint scanner cannot always differentiate between a picture of a finger and the

iii.

finger itself, and the scanner can sometimes be misled by a pattern of other person's
finger (rarely happen). Some readers have additional sensor and heat receptors to confirm
the finger is in existence but even with these techniques can be overcome by using a gel
iv.

or plastic printed pattern over a real finger.

High cost
Fingerprint scanner device is still new in this world. So it is now weird that the price is
still expensive. Beside most of the component and electronic that use for in the
fingerprint scanner is expensive.

2.2.3

More About fingerprint scanner

A biometric lock can be divide into physiological biometric and behavioral biometric. A
physiological biometric refer to individual characteristic that belong to a persons body. For
4

example face recognition, iris scanning, retina biometric, hand scanning, voice recognition, DNA
matching, and biometric fingerprint. Behavioral biometric refer on unique mannerisms such as
voice pattern and hand signature. A fingerprint scanner is a type of physiological biometric.
There are a few types of fingerprint scanner such as optical scanner, capacitance scanner,
ultrasonic scanner and so on. But we only explain on the optical and capacitance type. An optical
fingerprint scanner consist a Charge Couple Device (CCD) which is a light sensory system that is
normally use in digital camera. When we place out finger on the scanner, the CCD will capture
the image of the fingerprint. Then CCD compares the fingerprint image captured with the
fingerprint that stored in the system. If the images are identical, the system will unlock the door.
A capacitance scanner use electric current instead of using light. The ridges (regions
of increased gene expression) of our skin and the dermis are non-conductive electrical, while the
valleys of our fingertip, the subdermal layer, are conductive. When we touch a fingerprint
scanner, it measures the minutest differences in conductivity caused by the presence of ridges.
Then the system will compare the new picture with the stored picture to determine they are
match or not.

2.3
No

Statement of Work
Tasks

Weeks
5

1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

10

Group discussion
(topic selection)
Experiment the
problem
Distribute
questionnaires
Interview student,
staff and lecture
Library and
internet search
Consultation with
expert
Compile and
analysis data
Complete project
report
Summation of

report
To accomplish our report, a few tasks have been done as shown in chart below:

At first week, we discuss on the problem that had been faced by most UTeM students. In 1 week
time we manage to find out the problem which is relate to door knob in Emerald Park hostel. At
second week we try to experience the problem by conducting some simple experiment. After that
at week 3 and 4, in order to obtain more information we had divided into to group. One group
did the questionnaires and another group did the interview part. Because of the information
obtain is not enough we decided to do some library and internet search. We took around 3 weeks
in this part because we took time to understand the problem and to find the solution. To
understand more about the project we find an expert for consultation at week 6. After fully
understand the project we begin to analyse and compile all the data obtained. Because too many
data have been mix up, we took time to rearrange it and finally at week 8 we manage to finish
the report. We will submit the report at week 9.

3.0

CONCLUSION

3.1

Summary

This fingerprint door lock able to strengthen the security for every house by replacing the normal
door lock. Furthermore this product able to facilitate people to open door without using key and
consume less time compare to using key. The use of fingerprint door lock in every house is still
low and with all the information that we provide in this report, we hope that all the information
given will come to handy and will make other people to realize the advantage and benefit of
using fingerprint type door lock.

3.2

Attachment

Figure 3.1: Normal

Door Knob
Figure
3.2: Fingerprint
Door Lock

3.3
Reference

Biometric
s,

Wikipedia,

Retrieved

on

November

2013,

Retrieved

In
From

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics#History_of_Biometrics.
Electronic Lock, In Wikipedia, Retrieved on 7 November 2013, Retrieved From

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_lock
Door Handle, In Wikipedia, Retrieved on 7 November 2013, Retrieved From

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_handle
Ryan Goodrich, 10 October 2013, Fingerprint Scanners: What They Are and How They
Work,

Retrieved

on

November

2013,

Retrieved

From

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/fingerprint-scanners,news-17678.html
The Fingerprint Sourcebook (2011), 810 Seventh Street N.W., Washington