International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)

Volume No.6, Issue No.2, pp :82-86 1 Feb. 2017

Automated Restaurant Ordering System Based on Embedded Technology

Indu S1, Lyla B Das2
Dept. of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Calicut
1
[email protected], 2 [email protected]

Abstract :In this project, an automated food ordering system wireless modules, can save the development costs. However, the
using Cypress’s Programmable System On Chip (PSoC), has user interfaces needed to be more friendly. And because of using
been implemented. This system is based on wireless infrared ray communication, transmission range will be extremely
communication technology for transferring data between limited in those systems.
various modules. The system includes the food ordering
instrument and the receiving section. The system uses Cypress’s 1.2 WIRELESS FOOD ORDERING SCHEME
ARM based PSoC5 as the controlling chip of the food ordering The construction of a typical wireless ordering system is
instrument. It uses a 4*4 matrix type keyboard to realize data shown in Figure 1.
input that includes choice of food, quantity of dishes etc. It uses The main sections are: the wireless ordering terminal, the
Nokia 5110 graphical LCD to display. Through the Cypress’s admin section and the kitchen. The customers can order their food
CyFi wireless module, the receiving section receives the data through the ordering terminals placed at their tables. This order is
that is transmitted by the food ordering instrument. The system transmitted via wireless communication to the receiver section
uses PSoC5LP as the controlling chip of the receiving section. which is connected to a PC where the restaurant owner or admin
This microcontroller unit is connected to a PC which acts as the can view the data and store them in database. The data transmitted
user interface, through which the owner or admin can save the can also be viewed by the kitchen personnel on the LCD display,
data that is transmitted, into the storage database. In the case of for the preparation of food.
small to medium restaurants, the automated food ordering This type of wireless ordering system can give benefits
system can provide more flexibility to the customers, improve to both the restaurant owners and customers [iii]. Customer can
management efficiency and reduce labor costs and therefore, directly make an order from the system thereby reducing the
this system has many application prospects. misunderstanding which might arise as in the case of placing
Keywords: Automated restaurant ordering system, orders through waiters. It will also improve data collection since
embedded, food ordering system, PSoC, Cypress, CyFi the order made by the customer is sent to the database where it can
be stored and retrieved electronically. On comparing the various
1 INTRODUCTION types of wireless ordering systems, the key difference lies in the
1.1 BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW selection of ordering terminal and wireless communication. This
Information and communication technology can be used project is based on the software-hardware platform of C/ARM
to improve service quality and management efficiency in the based Cypress’s family of Programmable System on Chip namely
catering industry [i]. Traditionally restaurants around the world PSoC5 and Cypress’s CyFi wireless communication technology.
use manual ordering system which relies on waiters to note orders
from customers, bring orders to kitchen, write receipts and deliver
the ordered menu [ii]. Although such routines look simple, the
conventional food ordering system may significantly increase the
work load of waiters or may even be prone to human errors in note
making with more number of customers during peak hours.
However if too many waiters are hired, it may be waste of
resources during the non-peak hours [iii]. It may also give extra
work to the restaurant manager to record all the transactions.
Many business data cannot be made full use of by the manager in
the manual order taking and billing system [vi]. Wireless
Ordering System can help catering enterprises reduce the cost of
human resources and improve work efficiency. Most of the
prevalent designs concerning wireless ordering system are
divided into two schemes: one is for large-scale hotels, adopting
Figure 1: Wireless food ordering scheme.
commercial PDA and wireless adapter card; it is characterized by
simple operation, powerful functions and magnificent user
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
interface. But because of using high-end processors and
Efforts have been made to replace the manual ordering
commercial embedded operating systems, such as Windows CE,
process used in restaurants. An example is a PDA-based wireless
the development cost is high and the product is expensive. The
food ordering system [vii]. However this system is only trying to
other is for minor hotels; Using Microcontroller Unit (MCU) and

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 International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890 (online),2347-5013(print)
Volume No.6, Issue No.2, pp :82-86 1 Feb. 2017

replace pen and paper used by the waiter to take an order. A 4.1.1.1 Ordering terminal
miscommunication still can occur since customers have to order The ordering instrument of the system includes three
through the waiter [iii]. PDA-based systems do not support parts: the input modules, graphical LCD display module and CyFi
ubiquitous communication, have lower hardware and GPU based RF module. It uses the ARM Cortex-M3 based PSoC5 as
(Graphical Processing Unit) capability and, are considerably more the controlling chip which is a part of the CY8CKIT-001 kit used
expensive for business to operate when a large quantity is needed. in this project. The input module consists of a 4x4 matrix keypad.
Furthermore, due to hardware and GPU limitation, more intuitive The keys are used to realize the data input like choice, quantity of
interfaces, customization and real time communication cannot be dishes etc. The graphical LCD display used is Nokia 5110. The
easily done on PDA [ii]. Another system is A Customizable LCD display shows the menu and commands for the user to make
Wireless Food Ordering System with Real time Customer selection. The RF module is used to transmit data using wireless
Feedback (CWOS-RTF) [ii]. This system requires the customer to communication to the receiving section. The RF module used in
make an order through their smart phone using web based this project is the Cypress’s proprietary 2.4 GHz CyFi wireless
application. However, all the customers may not have a smart communication module.
phone and as such customers cannot use the system if they don’t 4.1.1.2 Receiving section
have one. This project aims to develop a system based on The receiving section mainly consists of MCU, CyFi
embedded technology using ARM based PSoC5 microcontroller based wireless module and the PC with USB port. Here, ARM
and Cypress’s CyFi 2.4 GHz wireless technology which is very Cortex-M3 based PSoC5 LP microcontroller chip is used.
reliable, robust, low power and cost effective. It can operate in the PSoC5LP chip is part of the CY8CKIT-050B kit used in this
wireless range of 50m within line of sight. The graphical display project. This kit has been selected as it contains a dedicated USB
to customer is implemented using Nokia 5110 graphical LCD. port for data communication which is required for communicating
the data from PSoC microcontroller to the PC. The wireless
3 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM communication module used in this project is the Cypress’s 2.4
The main objective of the project was to realize an GHz CyFi technology. The data received through wireless
automated food ordering system which would be an answer to the communication is transferred by the microcontroller to PC using
conventional waiter based system in terms of providing a solution the USB serial bus communication. The PC runs a Windows host
which uses least human interfacing, is paperless and at the same GUI application for visualizing the received data. This Windows
time is cost effective. Because of its low cost, it can be useful for GUI also provides the restaurant owner or admin user with an
small to medium restaurants also. Since the details of food interface to access database.
ordered by each customer are being recorded in database, it is 4.1.1.3 Overall Workflow
useful for business analysis by the managers anytime and is free The overall workflow of the proposed food ordering system is
of hassles and errors of manual processing of data. shown in Figure 3.

4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 PROPOSED SYSTEM
4.1.1 Overall architecture
The overall architecture of the proposed system is
shown in Figure 2. The proposed solution is an embedded system
based on Cypress’s PSoC5 family of microcontrollers. There are
two main sections in this system: the ordering terminal and the
receiving section.

Figure 3: Workflow of the proposed system.

When the customer enters the restaurant, the ordering

instrument is placed on the table. The instructions to make an
order are provided to the customer on the graphical LCD display
Figure 2: Proposed overall system architecture. of the ordering instrument. After this, the menu items are
displayed one by one along-with the pricing information. Using
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Volume No.6, Issue No.2, pp :82-86 1 Feb. 2017

the up/ down keys, the user can browse through the menu display. peripherals. This kit was used to construct the receiving terminal.
User can add menu item alongwith required quantity to his/ her • Nokia 5110 Graphical LCD which is a basic LCD screen and
order. The added menu item is sent to the admin PC where it is was used to implement the display section of ordering terminal.
displayed in GUI for the corresponding table. When the user • Artaflex module AW24MCHL-HR which is a 2.4-GHz
wishes to finish the order, the total bill is displayed on the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) complete radio module
ordering terminal as well as admin PC. The user waits for food which includes the Cypress radio integrated circuit CyFi™
and makes payment. Once the payment is done, the admin can CYRF7936, integrated Antenna, and all external components.
store the details of the order to the database.

4.1.1.4 Functional Overview

The functioning of the automated food ordering system
can be divided into the following stages of operation:
• Data input through keypad
The ordering terminal uses a 4x4 matrix keypad for data
input by the customer. The main functions done using keypad are:
starting a new order, adding menu item to the order, adding
quantity, navigating up and down the menu, ending an order etc.
Separate keys are provided for each of these functions. Figure 4: CyFi wireless RF module.
• Processing/ control at transmitting end
The PSoC5 microcontroller used on transmitting end controls It operates in the unlicensed world-wide Industrial, Scientific and
a graphical LCD module which displays the welcome screen and Medical (ISM) band (2.400 GHz - 2.483 GHz). This module was
menu to the customer. The customer uses the keypad module to used for the wireless radio frequency transmission and reception
make selection from menu and these are then input into the PSoC5 between the ordering and receiving terminal.
microcontroller. The data from the customer is prepared for • PSoC Creator IDE: Cypress’s PSoC Creator software is a
transmission to the receiver side controller PSoC block. The 8-bit state-of-the-art, easy-to-use integrated development environment
data is transmitted with the help of the Artaflex AW24MCHL (IDE) that introduces a hardware and software design
module that is interfaced to the PSoC device. environment based on classic schematic entry and revolutionary
• Wireless transmission/ reception embedded design methodology. The software tool was used along
The AW24MCHL radio module holds an integrated with the Cypress’s PSoC5/LP development kit for software
transceiver chip, CYRF7936. The module communicates with the programming of the system.
PSoC block with the help of SPI protocol. At the transmission • PSoC Programmer: Is a simple GUI that connects to
end, the 8-bit data from PSoC is loaded into the transmission programming hardware to program and configure PSoC devices.
buffer of the radio module. The controller on the receiver end From the GUI users will be able to select the target device,
continuously listens for radio signals and the 1-byte data is configure programming selections and execute a number of
received and stores into the receiver buffer. The value is then used programming actions such as Program, Read, Verify and Erase.
by the receiver end controller for further processing. The MiniProg3 programmer kit was used in this project to
• Processing/ control at receiving end program the PSoC processors.
The receiving end controller receives the data from the • Laptop with USB port: PC was used for interfacing with the
transmitting PSoC board. It also controls the communication with PSoC processor on the receiver side through the USB port. The
the PC though USB for GUI display and database storage data from the ordering terminal could be displayed on the GUI
respectively. The controller processes the data and transmits the application built in the PC as well as get stored in the database for
value through USB for input to the GUI module and database. future use. A Windows based application was developed to
• USB communication/ User interface interface the PC with the PSoC5 LP device in the receiver end so
The receiver side controller unit is the PSoC5LP device that the two can communicate. The user interface consists of a
present in the PSoC5LP development kit. The PSoC5 LP board is GUI form with section to display data regarding order
connected to a PC which provides the interface to admin or corresponding to each table. The GUI also has controls to allow
manager. Manager can view the status of an order placed from a the user to save data into the database.
table, in his/ her PC. The manager can also update the database
with the order details using the GUI interface. 4.3 USER INTERFACE
This Windows host application was implemented using
4.2 MATERIALS USED the Microsoft Visual C Sharp Express IDE. It was written in the C
The following materials were used for the Sharp programming language using CyUSB as the USB library in
implementation of the system: the Windows 7 operating system. The two main functions
• PSoC5 development kit (CY8CKIT-001) with the PSoC5 performed by user interface are: GUI display update and database
(CY8C55) family processor module and other peripherals. This update.
forms the main part of the ordering terminal. 4.3.1 GUI Display Update
• PSoC5LP development kit (CY8CKIT-050B) with the The data is sent from the PSoC controller on receiver
PSoC5 LP(CY8C58) family of processor module and other
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Volume No.6, Issue No.2, pp :82-86 1 Feb. 2017

side, at a fixed interval, to the PC, over the USB. This data is
displayed on the GUI form in the corresponding field. The data on
the GUI is refreshed at a regular interval with updated data from
the controller. When customer starts on order from a table, a green
color is shown to indicate that table is occupied. The text field is
then updated with the menu items and quantity sent by the
customer. When the customer finishes the order, the total bill is
displayed and the occupied status of table is changed to red color.
Figure 5a shows a view of the GUI at the start of a customer order
while Figure 5b shows the view of GUI when a customer finishes
an order.
Figure 6: Test setup of the system.

Figure 5a: GUI at start of ordering.

Figure 7: Setup of the transmitter side.

Figure 5b: GUI at end of ordering.

Figure 5: Screenshots of User interface.

4.3.2 Database Update

When the customer starts an order, the corresponding
table field in GUI is updated with the data. After the customer has
paid the bill, the restaurant owner or admin of the PC, can click
the Save button corresponding to that table. On clicking, the Figure 8: Setup of the receiver side.
details of the order are saved into the database. The database has
been implemented using the Microsoft Visual C Sharp Express 6 CONCLUSIONS
2010 IDE. The data so collected can be used for analysis and An automated wireless food ordering system has been
efficient management at a later point of time. implemented. The ordering instrument could send menu selection
details to the receiving section via wireless communication. The
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION receiver end controller could send the order details to be displayed
The automated food ordering system was tested by on the host computer via USB. The data could also be stored
placing the ordering terminal and receiving section on two electronically using this system.
separate desks separated by a few meters. The data was keyed in The wireless food order system achieves the ordering
on the ordering terminal and it was successfully received on the without use of paper. The automated system achieves the digital
receiver side and displayed on the PC. The wireless data ordering which can provide more flexibility to customer. The
transmission and reception was tested and found to be working digital processing and management of data makes sure that
correctly by viewing the output on character LCD. The USB managers can get all kinds of data about sales etc. more
communication between receiver controller and PC was also efficiently. These features can provide more efficiency and
tested and found to be correct by viewing the display on PC. The systematization and reduce labor costs in small to medium sized
database updating function was also happening correctly and the restaurants.
order details were getting stored in the database successfully.
Therefore, the functioning of the overall system and it various 7 SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
parts was tested and found to be working correctly. The In future, the following could be implemented:
experimental setup for testing the automated food ordering system • Add more number of customer nodes and implement a star
is shown in Figure 6. The experimental setup of the transmitter network with the receiving section as the central hub.
side is shown in Figure 7. The experimental setup of the receiver • Adding touch screen at the customer interface side instead
side is shown in Figure 8. of keypad/LCD module. The touch screen can provide easier user

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Volume No.6, Issue No.2, pp :82-86 1 Feb. 2017

interface. iv. Cypress semiconductor website. http://www.cypress.com

• Adding more number of interface features in software both v. How people build software - GitHub. https://github.com/
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features can be easily incorporated in software which can be implementation of ordering system based on ARM”. IEEE, 2011.
vii. K. J. Patel, et al. “PDA-based Wireless Food Ordering System
supported by the present hardware without much changes. for Hospitality Industry - “ A Case Study of Box Hill Institute”.
Wireless Telecommunications Symposium 2007, Pomona, CA, 2007,
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