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RFID based Advanced Shopping Trolley for Super Market

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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115
RFID based Advanced Shopping Trolley for Super Market
Manikandan T*, Mohammed Aejaz M.A, Nithin Krishna N.M, Mohan Kumar A.P, Manigandan R
Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai
*Corresponding author: E-Mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Despite the presence of E-commerce people tend to buy many products only in supermarkets and malls for
the sake of their own satisfaction. Among the difficulties faced by the customers one difficulty is to follow queue
through the billing process. Though their intent is just to buy one or two products, waiting to bill products consumes
time and also inconvenient these days as people live in a busy environment. As per our survey money and average
time spent on each customer is high especially in over-crowded supermarkets. The shopkeepers are ready to welcome
any smart machines that automate the billing process to reduce manpower and time consumed for that process. The
main aim is to satisfy the customer and also reduce the time spent on the billing process which is to complete the
billing process in the trolley rather than waiting in a queue even for one or two products. The customers have to add
the products after a short scan in trolley and when done the finalized amount will be displayed in the trolley. Customer
could either pay their bill by their ATM cards or through pre-recharged customer card provided by the shop. We
have ensured security for preventing theft and also facilitated for users who unknowingly drop their projects into
trolley by cautioning them.
Our ultimate motto is to mitigate the time consumption in purchase by getting rid of queue ensuring
customer’s comfort and shrinking the tediousness of barcode scanning and eliminating waging of billers, thereby
accomplishing both customer and shopkeeper demands.
KEY WORDS: Shopping trolley, Super market, RFID, ATMEGA32.
1. INTRODUCTION
We see these days RFID’s are widespread and taking role in many advanced projects due to its fast and
effective response. RFID are generally tags that are used for unique identification of products by using radio waves.
These RFID’s offer more advantages over conventional Barcodes as they have a major drawback which is Line of
sight technology and also these barcode tags have constraints in its durability whereas the RFID’s tags are more
durable and able to read/write data which could even be encrypted. These tags could hold plenty of data like products
name, price, size, weight and other information using their identification number.
By implementing this RFID technology for unique representation of each product in a market shopping is
done more easily. This could be done by having Shopping trolley installed with an RFID reader to scan each product
and load it which is controlled by a micro controller. Every new customer will be provided with a unique RFID based
customer card which will hold all necessary information about the customer and also amount he recharged before.
As an additional feature IR sensors are included to warn the user if they accidentally drop products into cart without
scanning. As a concern to security, the cart is provided with Sliding door which is run by a DC motor and it opens
for every scan to let products in. When the customer is done shopping he could pay his final bill by deducting money
from the customer card or even through ATM cards.
Our concept satiates the expectation of customers whose basic demand is to ease the way of purchase. By
regulating the RFID based shopping cart, one could easily bill the products themselves without bothering the
presence of workers in shop as details of product are readily available and displayed in the cart. This outcome of the
project will not only facilitate the customers but also the shop owners by eliminating the cashiers and money spent
on them.
Literature Survey: As per our knowledge only few papers were found in the literature for the automated shopping
trolley for super market using RFID.
The automated shopping trolley for supermarket billing system implemented by Sainath (2014), exploited
barcode for billing of products, where customer scans the product using barcode technology. The bill will be
forwarded to the central billing system where customer will pay them by showing unique id. The limitation of
barcode scanning requires line of sight for scanning and it should be fixed within its boundary.
Cash register lines optimization system using RFID technology by Budic (2014), developed a system for
shopping using RFID. The RFID is employed for scanning products and the information is stored in the database
which could be paid online or in a central bill. It also uses web application to maintain entire shopping details. It
requires maintenance of web application server. No necessary steps have been taken for the products that are
accidentally dropped into the trolley by the customer.
IOT based intelligent trolley for shopping mall by Dhavale Shraddha (2016), applied RFID technology for
billing during purchase in shopping malls and IOT is used for bill management by means of ESP module. The
payment details will be sent to the server by which central billing unit will deal with customer’s payment. The ESP
module will be working as a short distance Wi-Fi chip for wireless communication. But there is a drawback which

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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115
includes constraints such as distance and interference. Server will be busy if customers are high and internet
connectivity should be stable for finishing the process.
Smart shopping trolley using RFID by Komal Ambekar (2015), implemented smart way of shopping trolley
with RFID and ZigBee by which bill is generated by scan of products in the reader and bill transmitted to central
billing department by which bill can be paid at the counter which is a major difficulty for the customer.
Smart shopping cart with customer oriented service by Hsin-Han Chiang (2016), accomplished a concept of
automated shopping trolley with automated billing where they used face recognition for customer authentication. It
is not a simple process as face recognition of customers during shopping hours will not be easy and accurate as malls
can be crowded. Many errors are possible while using recognition for authentication.
Smart RFID based Interactive Kiosk Cart using wireless sensor node by Narayana Swamy (2016), applied
RFID for automated shopping. They used dedicated website for billing maintenance and for user interaction. Every
user with the unique id access the webserver for the bill payment and invoice information. Internet service is
mandatory in this type of service. So the process may fail due to internet instability and server error problems may
also occur due to high load.
Shopping and automatic billing using RFID technology by Vinutha (2014), has an automatic billing with
server end. This scans products by radio frequency identification and then the bill is generated at the server end
which is then communicated to the customer. This requires server maintenance and internet connectivity both for the
customer and shopkeeper.
Smart shopping cart with automatic billing and Bluetooth proposed by Prateek Aryan (2014), is a process
where billing is done in a trolley and transferred to the android mobile of the user via Bluetooth. Every customer
can’t be expected to have a smart phone and Bluetooth can have connectivity issues and range is less.
Automated smart trolley with smart billing using Arduino by Suganya (2016), developed a model of
automatic shopping with Arduino and an android application which again requires network to be connected always.
Android operated mobiles may or may not be present with every customer. Network instability leads to delay in the
billing.
RFID enabled smart billing system by Vanitha Sheeba and Brindha Rajkumari (2015), did a concept model
consists of RFID and ZigBee which transmits generated bill to the server and then the bill is collected by the worker
in the bill counter by identifying customers. But this again will lead to queue for billing since only bill generation is
alone automated by scanning using RFID.
Our idea has a stable and simple billing process of making payment in the trolley itself. Since it avoids the
requirement of Wi-Fi, ZigBee, ESP module and others which is used above. It can be paid using customer card or
the ATM card. Above concepts doesn’t ensure security and theft of products either intentionally or accidentally. We
used door by which products cannot be dropped without scanning by the customer. We also have used separate IR
sensor to avoid the accidental dropping of products. To make it more effective we used code logic which correlates
the IR count and RF count in the microcontroller. For security we installed password authentication feature by which
each customer possesses unique card with unique password. Barcode technology is replaced by RFID in our system
which gives fast and accurate scanning of products.
2. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
The proposed methodology is the automated billing for a customer during shopping primarily based on RFID
supported with other simple technologies. In shopping malls or supermarkets, the products are provided with RFID
tags instead of barcodes. The shopping trolleys include the setup containing RFID reader, IR sensor, door with motor,
relay, GSM module, LED, CLCD, Keypad and a push button. Smart RFID cards are given to customers for their
unique identification.

Fig.1. Block Diagram of the proposed model

Micro-controller: ATMEGA32 is used where it is an eight bit AVR based RISC machine. It operates at 4.5 to 5.5volts
DC. It is a forty pin PDIP with thirty-two programmable i/o lines. It consists of non-volatile 32kB of in-system self-
programmable flash, 1024B of EEPROM and 2kB internal SRAM. It has features such as timers, A/D converters,
PWM and serial interface. Processing speed ranges 0 to 16MHz. So it stores the instructions and process accordingly.
Purpose of microcontroller is to control the whole process through the instructions stored.
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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115
RFID tags: These tags comprise of a microchip for storage of its unique number and a coil which acts as an antenna
for radiating its stored data. It may or may not have a battery depending upon its type either active or passive
respectively. Passive tags are used which doesn’t have a battery. As soon as the tag comes in the RFID reader
coverage range the Reader emits RF signals which gives power to passive tags and it re-emits the signal with data to
the reader. Purpose of RFID tags is to uniquely identify products.
RFID reader: EM-18 is used which operates at 5volts DC and less than 50mA. The frequency at which it works in
125kHz. It can cover a distance of 10cm. It continuously emits RF signals throughout its range and whenever an
RFID tag is inside its distance coverage it retrieves the information stored in the tag. Purpose of RFID reader is to
retrieve the product information from their RFID tags.
Infra-Red sensor: It is an object detection sensor. It operates in frequency range of 300GHz to 400THz and
wavelength range of 700nm to 1400nm. It has a photodiode and an LED. LED as usual emits light in IR range to a
certain distance depending upon the manufacturing parameters and whenever there is a reflection of emitted light
due to an obstacle, it gets sensed by the photodiode. Purpose of IR sensor is to count the objects entering the trolley
for preventing misplacement or theft.
CLCD: It is a Character Liquid Crystal Display. It consists of two rows and sixteen columns. Each element in a row
or a column can display a character which in turn has eight rows and five columns known as pixel. It has sixteen pins
where data is fed through eight pins. The supply voltage should be 5volts. It has registers to ensure proper functioning
namely data and command. Data register takes ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) values
for characters to be displayed. Command register takes values for making functional adjustments such as backlight
contrast, cursor position etc. Purpose of CLCD is for displaying information to the customer such as welcome note,
product catalogue, product details, invoice etc.
DC motor: A DC geared motor is used which has an operating voltage of 12volts and 0.5A. The frequency of rotation
will be around 150 to 200rpm (revolutions per minute). Geared motor indicates the extra ring with teeth like
projections attached to the shaft of the motor to ensure uniform speed throughout the rotation of the rotor. Purpose
of DC geared motor is for proper opening and closing of the trolley door.
Motor driver: Motor driver is a setup which has two input supply and a ground. One supply for circuit and other to
pass to the motor. We used driver circuit which is capable of controlling motor rated up to 12volts. Purpose of motor
driver circuit is to control the motor.
Keypad: Numeric keypad is used considered as a matrix which has four rows and 3 columns with numbers ‘0’ to ‘9’
and symbols asterisk ‘*’ and hash ‘#’. Each row and column is connected with a wire whereas it consists of totally
seven wires. The columns are always kept high and rows are kept low. So whenever a key is pressed row and column
at that position gets in contact which in turn makes the row high so the corresponding element is detected depending
on the row and column index. Purpose of numeric keypad is for user inputs such as password entry, selecting options
such as viewing product catalogue, finish shopping and generate invoice.
GSM module: GSM – Global System for Mobile communication. GSM sim900A type module is used which has a
supply voltage in the range of 3.4 to 4.4volts. It can operate in four bands of frequency (850/900/1800/1900 MHz).
GSM mostly utilizes 850 and 900 MHz frequency. It has the ability to transmit information in the form of voice
(call), text (Short Message Service) and data (GPRS – General Packet Radio Service). Purpose of GSM is for sending
alert for unauthorized usage and invoice in the form of text as an SMS to corresponding user.
Push button: A push button generally resembles a switch which will produce high output when pressed and low
when it is released. Purpose of push button is to enable remove operation from the trolley.
LED: A Light Emitting Diode emits light on supply voltage of around 5volts. It is a type of p-n junction diode where
it emits light due to recombination of holes and electrons when biased. Purpose of a LED is to caution when product
count between RF and IR varies.
Power Adapter: The power adaptor is used for dc supply to the setup. It acts a rectifier where it takes input of about
240volts AC and 30 amps and gives output of 12volts DC and 1 amp which will be suitable to our setup. Purpose of
power adapter is to provide a steady DC supply from an AC power source.
The process is a combination of modules whereas customer authentication is the one with which it gets
started. So first customer will be provided with a smart card which is RFID enabled. To start shopping customer
should take trolley and assign it to him by scanning his smart card across the RFID reader present in the trolley. After
a proper scan he will be asked to enter his password for authentication in the CLCD. Thereby if he enters a correct
password using keypad then he can start shopping or else if he fails to enter a correct password for three attempts
then the card gets locked and an OTP (One Time Password) is sent to customers registered mobile number using
GSM module. This helps in preventing fraudulent usage of smart cards. After successful authentication customer
details are displayed along with their total balance available in their card and then he/she is allowed to start shopping.
There is an option for product catalogue by which customer can press the asterisk ‘*’ in the keypad which in turn
displays the available products and their corresponding shelves in CLCD. Customer starts shopping and he scans
products with RFID tag in the RFID reader which initiates motor by means of relay for opening the door of the trolley
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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115
and the scanned product is dropped into the trolley. In the meantime, CLCD displays the details of the products and
total cost accumulated in the purchase. During this process IR sensor works backend in parallel mode which identifies
the count of products which are being dropped. This helps in the cross verification of number of products scanned
and number of products dropped in the trolley. If the count of scanned products and count of dropped products
mismatch thereby arousing a caution by means of a light emitting diode. This helps to avoid dropping products
accidentally which are not scanned and in preventing the theft. Thus the process repeats until customer finishes
shopping. When a customer needs to remove a product, push button should be pressed which initiates remove
operation such that door opens and product is removed by rescanning satisfying the condition that the scanned
product id should be already present in the purchased list. During this remove process the cost of product removed
is subtracted from the total cost and CLCD displays the updated cost. Remove process ends as soon as the push
button is released. After customer finished shopping he need to press hash ‘#’ in the keypad then the total bill is
displayed in the CLCD which can be paid through the available balance in the smart card or using debit or credit
cards. An invoice of the paid bill will be sent to the customer mobile as a text message using GSM module. After
successful payment the door opens and the customer can take away the products purchased with ease.

Fig.2. Process Flow

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The proposal finally resulted in an effective outcome where RFID technology replaced barcode due to its
drawback where barcode requires the line of sight and should be placed in its exact boundary while scanning, but
RFID’s only constraint to be considered is its distance coverage. RFID tags are more durable than the barcode which
damages due to temperature, water, physical tear etc. This ensures the process of scanning easy and precise. Then
the password authentication process aids in avoiding the illegal usage of smart cards and also prevents data sniffing.
The door in the trolley doesn’t open until a product is scanned which doesn’t allow to place a product inside a trolley
that is not scanned. The tracking of count of products using IR sensor placed inside the trolley aids in protecting the
theft of the products and taking away products that are not billed unintentionally. Removing a product can also be
done perfectly with the push button which guarantees customer that products can be removed whenever he changes
his mind. The product catalogue display feature enables the customer for easy search of products without any
difficulties. The GSM module sends time to time information to the customer mobile for flawless intimation about
his shopping activities. The results show that the proposed model is fine to be implemented in current shopping
environments.

Fig.3. Simulation of customer authentication Fig.4. Simulation of welcome module

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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115

Fig.5. Simulation of Product scanning Fig.6. Hardware output for Welcome note

Fig.7. Hardware output for Authentication Fig.8. Hardware output for wrong password

Fig.9. Hardware output for Product catalogue Fig.10. Hardware output for Products scan

Fig.11. Hardware output for Remove operation Fig.12. Hardware output for final invoice

4. CONCLUSION
According to customer’s point of view our project has redefined the way of purchasing. Evidently RFID has
outsmarted barcodes by its accuracy, fast response and durability. Our concept has erased the tradition of customer
relying on the shopkeeper for acquiring information about products. Billing is completely avoided which in turn
saves time for the customer and makes process easy for shopkeeper. It avoids queue for customer since billing is
completed in the trolley. It reduces one third of the overall investment of the shopkeeper for billing department. Thus
the model allows better shopping experience using improved technology which can be handled by any common man
who just knows to read and write things.
Future advancement is to use enhanced RFID readers that operate in high frequency which can read multiple
tags simultaneously. Mobile application can be developed to avoid smart card and GSM. Inventory management can
be incorporated using IOT which in turn helps in automation of stock management.

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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN: 0974-2115
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