ISSN (Online) 2394-2320

International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering

(IJERCSE)
Vol 5, Issue 3, March 2018

Near Field Communication Based College Canteen

[1]
Siddharth Chaubey, [2] Dhiraj Upadhyay, [3] Bincy Chellapandi, [4] Sonali Ghige [5] Vinod Alone
[1]
BE Computer Engineering, [2] BE Computer Engineering, [3] BE Computer Engineering, [4] BE Computer
Engineering, [5] Faculty PVPPCOE
Abstract: - In this paper, we put forth an effective and user friendly Near Field based communication (NFC) based Restaurant
system for College Canteen. NFC is the technology currently trending which uses radio communication to communicate between
two NFC enabled devices to send contact information, images, make payments, etc. within a short period of time. Using this
potential of NFC, the students who order food in canteen have no longer to wait for placing the order instead she/he can directly
order the food from her/his table.

Keywords: - NFC, NFC-enabled Smartphones, NFC Tag, NFC Card, QR code.

II. RELATED WORK

I. INTRODUCTION
A. Current Food Ordering Process:
The processes of ordering food in many college canteens 1. Full Service Canteen: Current food ordering process used
comprise of several steps beginning after the students enter in most full-service canteens starts with the student
the canteen. After reading the menu, students would have to checking out the paper-based menu, and then waiting in the
go to the counter to place the order, which will be fully line to inform in the counter to place the order. This process
occupied by the students and then wait for the food to get typically requires the students to be seated in the canteen
ready. Such a process has at least two demerits, one is and
ordering must be done in the counter and secondly, the to place the order in the crowded counter.
student must struggle in the crowd to place the order. While 2. Automatic Food Ordering System: In order to enhance
the canteen is one of the business sectors in college with student experience and reduce service costs, few restaurants
high competition, removal or reduction of such demerits have invested in the automatic service system. The
will be of great benefit to the college owner in terms of automatic system takes the food order from students ranged
promoting efficiency and reducing service cost. In the in various forms, but mostly consists of an electronic device
proposed system, we are planning to use the NFC with a screen that shows the menu and accepts user input
reader/writer. The smart menu consists of QR Code and for placing the order [2].The proposed solution provides
NFC Contact-less Sticker. The student scans the QR and tap alternative ordering option to students and is beneficial to
on NFC card by his/her NFC-enabled Smartphone using currently existing process in various ways portrayed in
NFC Read Application. If both are verified, the student gets following figure 1.
the food menu into their Smartphone. They can select the
food which is displayed on their mobile screen. Now, when B. Related Technology
they confirm, the order will be displayed in the NFC- 1. Android Smartphone device: The proposed solution's
enabled device. Once confirmed, the information will go to prototype is advanced on an Android Smartphone device.
the Chef (inside the kitchen) and the Cashier. Now the chef Whereas, as a commercially graded solution, it will be
prepares the food which is served to the student. Finally, needed to support NFC based android Smartphones from
when the student leaves, he pays the total amount manually manufacturers such as Microsoft, Nokia, Apple, and
to the cashier. The proposed solution tries to overcome the Blackberry.
mentioned limitations by making use of the versatile nature 2. NFC: The Near Field Communication (NFC) is the
of Smartphone and the upcoming NFC technology to communication technology which enables transmission of
implement the service automation for the restaurant. The data between electronic devices within a short-
result can reduce cost with canteen perspective and time in range developed by Sony and NXP. Major manufacturers of
student's perspective. Smartphones are inculcating the NFC technology into their
Smartphone devices and Tablets including HTC, Samsung,
Nokia, Google, and Motorola; as for example. The 3 Means
of Application of NFC are sectioned as follows:

All Rights Reserved © 2018 IJERCSE 56

 ISSN (Online) 2394-2320

International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering

(IJERCSE)
Vol 5, Issue 3, March 2018
 Card Emulation: It Enables NFC devices to work
as contact less cards. It includes NFC-enabled
mobile phones which are used for making
payments and transit.
 Reader/Writer: It Enables NFC devices to work as
Reader/Writer and interact with NFC tags. It
consists of NFC-enabled mobile phones which are
used to read “Smart Posters”.
 Peer-to-Peer: it Enables NFC devices to interact
with each another. It connects NFC-enabled
printers or laptops or for sharing photos between a
TV and camera.

The NFC technology uses the radio communication on the

frequency 13.56 MHz, according to the ISO18092 standard.
The Smart Poster consists of the paper based poster with the
NFC tag attached on it. This tag normally contains wide Figure 1. NFC tags
information regarding the contents present in the poster. As
the NFC tag attached in the smart poster is capable of short- NFC is starting to evolve into scanning the NFC tags in
range wireless communication, when a user places the NFC the places to get the Travel information, making payment,
enabled device near the tag (usually less than 4cm), the exchange money for a ticket simultaneously, etc. All of
device is then able to detect the presence of the tag, read these actions does the same procedure, that is they induce
information from it, and then the device will carry out an action based on the user placing their NFC enabled
required actions accordingly. Even though the tag can phone (or any other NFC device) near the object that the
contain any data, the NFC Forum has put forth a standard user wants to read or interact with. Thus, NFC acts as a
named NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), which is to be bridge those gaps between both the virtual and physical
used as a standard format of data stored within the tag. This world. There is a virtual reaction by bringing two devices
proposed solution will make use of Smart Poster which near each other. NFC uses electromagnetic induction
contains data in the NDEF form with e NFC tag attached to between 2 devices operating within globally available
it. These posters can be place in crowded area to attract the unlicensed radio frequency ISM band of 13.56 MHz on
student‟s attention easily. In canteens, to obtain the pre- ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interfaces at rates ranging from 106 to
order, students can touch the poster with their NFC-enabled 424Kbps. This act of communication between two devices
Smartphone device. By the means of NDEF standard, the is called as „Tap-in‟ and the electrical communication is
Smartphone device can be setup to automatically verify the called „Inductive Coupling‟. In order to obtain the
PIN in the particular application installed to handle the data information embedded within the tag, the user has to
read[1]. If the user has not installed the particular scan/tap the NFC Tag/Reader via a Smartphone. As
application, the canteen can provide this application to the compared to NFC setup, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth do not have
student or keep a NFC tag which redirects the student to the this ease in set up. So, the key feature of NFC is
website of the canteen to download the application. automatically getting the data on to user phone‟s screen
without user accessing it. In more technological terms, NFC
III. NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION defines the way two products communicate with each other.
NFC is a short-range wireless RFID technology [6] (1-4cm.
NFC [3] [4], is an instinctive easy and technology that realistically, 10cm. theoretically), which uses low speeds
allows users to use their Smartphones for special purposes. (106-414 kbps) and a low friction setup (no discovery and
NFC tags or contact-less reader [5] can share and link to no pairing), which permits two devices to automatically
information such as web pages, databases, social media and start communicating when they are close to one another.
all other sorts of information. As described earlier, NFC can NFC uses passive targets with/without batteries and random
work in 3 modes and they are NFC reader/writer, NFC peer- devices that may/may not be powered, so-called tags or
to-peer and NFC card emulation. NFC tag is shown in the stickers, sometimes NFC contact less reader. NFC
figure 1 Tags/Readers are essentially “targets” that “want” to be
touched by NFC devices like mobile. These can contain
information, applications or services. NFC is coming to
many phones and handset manufacturers like HTC, Nexus,
Samsung, Sony and Blackberry have been pushing the

All Rights Reserved © 2018 IJERCSE 57

 ISSN (Online) 2394-2320

International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering

(IJERCSE)
Vol 5, Issue 3, March 2018
deployment of the technology [7]. The various applications
of NFC is shown in the figure below

IV. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

A. Service Scenario:
The proposed system comprises of 2 components, NFC-
enabled Smartphone and NFC Smart Menu which consists
of QR code and NFC card. The service scenario is described
below:
Step 1: The Students need to have or download NFC Read
Application.

Step 2: The Students need to register himself by providing

their information such as Name, Phone no., E-Mail id, etc.

Step 3: The Students need to tap on the QR code PIN in the

application and enter his name so that he can scan the QR
which is present on the table to obtain his/her PIN.

Step 4: The students need to tap on the Tap NFC in the

application and tap his/her NFC-enabled Smartphones on
the NFC card which is present on the table.
Figure 2. NFC Write Application
Step 5: The PIN which is obtained by scanning QR and the
table number is encrypted and embedding within the D. NFC Read Application:
NFC card by the canteen people before the customers enters The NFC reader application is the one which is used by the
the canteen. customer after they enter canteen. The snapshot of read
Application is shown in figure 4. The NFC reader
Step 6: If both PIN in QR code and PIN in NFC card are application is used by the customers to register their details
validated, then the customer can see the Menu in their (name, phone no., e-mail id and place) by pressing on the
Smartphones from which they can select the food and „REGISTER‟ button. After registering, the customer scans
confirm the order. the QR code to generate pin by providing username using
„QRCODE PIN‟ button. Then he/she taps the NFC card by
Step 7: The Canteen people can see the Students order in tapping the „TAP NFC‟ button. The card also contains a
their respective system and process the order. The Students pin, and the application validates whether the pins are same.
also obtain Bill to their E-Mail ID after the order is If the Students have checked in previously then the Pins
processed. will be same then there is No need to validate the pin again
students can get direct access to the Service and Can Place
B. Smart Menu: the order directly. The app also gives information about the
It will contain QR code and NFC Tag. Students Must Scan complete order and gives the total cost of all the items of
the QR code to get the Pin No Which will be in the form of the order so that the user can pay the final amount.
Plain text to get an Access to the Service.
E. Web Application:
C. NFC Write Application: The Web Application has the facility for Admin and
The NFC writer application is used by the canteen Support user login as shown in figure 5. Admin is a single
employees to write into the NFC tag. The details entered by person Controlling the entire Canteen and Support users are
the Canteen employees are the table number and the user Chef, Cashier, etc. The Admin can add, remove and edit
pin. The snapshot of write application is shown in figure 2. support User‟s details. Admin can also add, remove and edit
food categories and food items. She/he can also view the
order details placed by Students and obtain details about
daily transaction summary. The support users can also view
order details in order to process the Students order. For
example, a chef can see the order details as soon as Students

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 ISSN (Online) 2394-2320

International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering

(IJERCSE)
Vol 5, Issue 3, March 2018
place, in his/her screen which is placed in the kitchen so B. Context Analysis
that chef can process the order i.e., in this case, prepare By using the J2EE web application, the admin enters the
food. Support users can also clear the order placed by the details of the support users, the food items and other
Students as soon as the order is completed. In general, the information. Regarding the successful input of the data into
web application is front-end for Canteen people. the application, the admin then gets the confirmation from
the application. The support users can inquire any
F. Server: information regarding the orders placed by the users via the
The Smartphone application NFC Read App communicates web application. The web application will then display the
with the server using wireless application protocol (WAP). available information in table wise details for every user.
The server used here is the Apache Tomcat 6.0. The web On the student's side, they tap the NFC tag to get access to
app is as the front-end for canteen people and server app is the menu in the mobile application from which they can
used to communicate with the Smartphone application. place their orders. The orders are then passed through to the
support users and the admin via the web application. After
G. Database: which the user gets the confirmation regarding the
The database is used to store almost everything. MySQL successful ordering of items. The context diagram of the
Server 5.0 is used as the SQL Server and SQLyog is the system is as shown.
interface for the database. Here, the admin details, support
user details, food category, food items, order placed by C. Data Flow
customer, order summary which included date & total The working of the NFC Food Ordering System is quite
amount and table details are stored in the database. The apparent. The student first scans the QR code and gets a pin.
content of the database is shown in the NFC read Then, they tap on the NFC card. The menu is displayed to
application and web application. the customers only if both the PINs are matched. Now, the
students have access to select from the various items from
V. TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE several categories. Once the food order is confirmed by the
students, the details are sent to the web application which is
A. System Architecture: continually being seen by the canteen people. Since the
The architecture of the system mainly consists of the NFC customer's order is stored in the database as soon as they
card, android application, user-server, database, admin and select it, the orders are also seen by the support users and
the support users. In his NFC-enabled Smartphone, user admin. The students can also view the details of the order in
taps on the NFC card after which by using wireless the NFC read app as soon as they place the order. If the PIN
application protocol (WAP), Smartphone application do not match then, the students are taken back to home
communicates with the server. The food items and the user screen of NFC read app by displaying that the PIN is not
data ordered by each Students are stored in the database. validated. The data flow diagram is shown in figure 4
Also the details of the admin and the support users are
stored. The customer can communicate with the system
through the mobile application. The Student‟s Smartphone
is connected to the server, as soon as the tap in is done. The
information regarding the orders is sent from the mobile to
the database which is also displayed in admin and support
user‟s system for order processing. The architecture of the
system is shown in figure 3

Figure 4. Data Flow Diagram

VI. RESULT

The Application is Very Convenient and easy for the

Students and Canteen workers to capture pre-order
transaction. It can be summarized as, Students just have to
pick a phone, by placing it at the food poster then clicks
Figure 3.System Architecture confirm and should proceed with orders. The cost of the

All Rights Reserved © 2018 IJERCSE 59

 ISSN (Online) 2394-2320

International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering

(IJERCSE)
Vol 5, Issue 3, March 2018
solution is comparatively low as compared to other [2].Antonio Krüger, Johannes Schöning, Patrick Olivier
alternatives. The NFC based applications are implemented (2011), How Computing Will Change the Face of Retail, I
in limited Smartphones. The Application can be EEE Computer Society April 2011.
commercially very useful only when The NFC based
System is implemented in every Smartphones. [3]. Puchong Subpratatsavee, Tanabat Promjun, Wichian
Siriprom Worasitti Sriboon, “Attendance System using
VII. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT NFC Technology and Embedded Camera Device on
Mobile Phone” IEEE 2014.
The solution model can be not only used in Canteens but
also an extended to capture pre-order transaction or to Place [4]. P Elakiyaselvi, "A framework for implementing
actual order for other retail products and services. NFC MAttendance system using near field communication in
Payment is one of the latest technologies which is setting its android OS", Int.J.Computer Technology & Applications,
trend over the world. Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Vol 3 (2). Journal for Innovative Research in Science &
Pay, PayPal are examples of NFC Payment Application. It Technology, Vol. 1, Issue 1, ISSN: 2349-6010, June 2014.
completely eliminates the use of cash and credit/debit card
for payment. The users just have to save their credit/debit [5]. G. Shanbhag, H. Jivani, and S. Shahi, "Mobile Based
card details once in the application. So, in order to pay, user Attendance Marking System using Android and
just needs to tap on the NFC Payment machine. The Biometrics", IJIRST-International
transaction will be completed within a fraction of second.
The Application can be extended such that, once the user [6]. W. Yi, W. Jia, and 1. Saniie, "Mobile Sensor Data
gets the bill, he/she can tap on the NFC payment machine Collect using Android Smartphone", Circuits and Systems
and transaction is done automatically. Thus, eliminating (MWSCAS), 2012 IEEE 55th International Midwest
cash and credit/debit card. Symposium, IEEE, August 2012.

VIII. CONCLUSION [7]. B. Ozdenizci, M. Aydin, V. Co Kun, and K. OK, "NFC

Research Framework: A Literature Review and Future
The wide use of the Smartphones and Tablets gave us new Research Directions", 14th IBIMA Conference, June 2010.
opportunities for services sector business to increase its
capability in many ways; to have more reaches to its Users,
service automation can gave more efficiency, and
attractiveness can be obtained by giving good quality of
service experience. The upcoming NFC will reinforce its
possibility and usefulness. The proposed Application
provides easy, convenient and cost-effective way to capture
pre-order transaction from Users. The most part of order
process can be primarily done without the requirement of
waiter staff assistance. The process is intuitive, User just
scans the Smartphone on the smart menu, and only another
touch is required to confirm the order inside the Canteen.
The implementation can result in cost reduction incurred by
utilization of Canteen facilities and waiter staffs; also the
need to stand in a crowded environment to place the order is
eliminated. Despite the shortcomings of the Application that
requires NFC based Smartphone adoption. The solution
employs technology that is available to the mass market;
choices for implementation can be unlimited and cost
effective.

REFERENCES

[1]. Aditya., Anirudh. K., Karthik. K., Mahinder, Deepa.

S. “An Implementation of NFC Based Restaurant Table
Service” Vol. 5, Issue 5, May 2017

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