Electronic key management system project

Thread Starter

shehryarkhan9

Joined Mar 28, 2016
4
Hi everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer and working as a design engineer/analyst. I want to do DIY project and create an electronic Key management machine\. Since I am from a mechanical engineering background, I don't know much about electronics stuff.

My idea is simple. I want to build a small electronic machine which will have a small lcd screen (maybe 2 lines) where users can enter their username and password and then the machine allows them to withdraw a key. I want to build it as cheap as possible. Designing the actual machine in CAD software is not my concern, but i really don't know how to start the electronics stuff.

Can anyone help me here which chip should I buy (which is easily programmable and cheap) and which can serve this purpose ?
I was looking into Rasberry Pi and Aurdino. But is there any better alternative that's cheaper and which can serve this purpose ?

Thank you
 

Sensacell

Joined Jun 19, 2012
3,432
You need to define your requirements a little more.

How many machines are you making?
What is "cheap"
What programming abilities do you have?
 

Thread Starter

shehryarkhan9

Joined Mar 28, 2016
4
You need to define your requirements a little more.

How many machines are you making?
What is "cheap"
What programming abilities do you have?
Thanks for your reply!

I just want to make 1 machine for now.
Arduino and Rasberry Pi is cheap for me but they offer a lot more functionalities which I might not need which is why I mentioned that maybe someone can suggest something that has less functionalities and is even cheaper than Arduino and Rasberry pi.

My exact requirements:
1. The board/chip is connected to Wifi/network because that's where it will check whether the entered username and password can access the machine or not.
2. The machines has a small LCD screen and a small keyboard (having all alphabets from A-Z) so users can easily enter their username and password.
3. The machine has some relays that unlocks the key and users can take it.

I have no programming skills but i have some really expert programmers who can help me out with the coding.
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
Is it difficult to programme rasberry pi ?
Raspberry Pi runs on a Linux distro. Most often. You do not program it, but make a program that runs on it. You can make a program in Python, or C, or you might even make a WEB based interface. Then you have the full range of Python, C, PHP, HTML available for you. :D
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
A few other points; users wouldn't need a username and a password and rather than a keypad have you considered using RFID tags? Is WIFI connection really necessary? It may be possible to achieve what you want with off-the-shelf hardware as the functional aspect of what you're proposing is no different from most electronic code locks. i.e. when the correct code is entered a solenoid is activated.
 
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Thread Starter

shehryarkhan9

Joined Mar 28, 2016
4
A couple of other points; users wouldn't need a username and a password and rather than a keypad have you considered using RFID tags? It may be possible to achieve what you want with off-the-shelf hardware as the functional aspect of what you're proposing is no different from most electronic code locks. i.e. when the correct code is entered a solenoid is activated.
Thanks for your reply!
Yes you are correct and I am considering that options as well.
Problems that I am facing with this approach is that:
We do have RFID tag cards with a serial number but the problem is that all the cards are the same, none of them has stored personal information like name of person etc, so if we use the same cards, we cannot verify that who opened the machine and has the key. There is a solution that we link each and every card to a person who has it and make a small database but that's some work and i wanted to implement this machine within the existing system.
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
Thanks for your reply!
Yes you are correct and I am considering that options as well.
Problems that I am facing with this approach is that:
We do have RFID tag cards with a serial number but the problem is that all the cards are the same, none of them has stored personal information like name of person etc, so if we use the same cards, we cannot verify that who opened the machine and has the key. There is a solution that we link each and every card to a person who has it and make a small database but that's some work and i wanted to implement this machine within the existing system.
You could enhance security by adding a camera to the reader, not to recognise faces but to record who accessed the system and when.
 
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