Journal of Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences

SMART PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

1
Rajesh P.Deshmukh and Pravin W. Raut
Associate Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Nagpur, India
Email: {[email protected], [email protected]}

Abstract- Ration card is an important government document used for the purchase of subsidized food grains by most of the
households in India. But this system has two major drawbacks A) Inaccurate quantity measurement of food grains caused by
human errors or by intentional use of inaccurate weights. B) High probability of fraudulent sale in the market in case of partial
consumption of food grains allotted every month. To make the process more streamline and transparent, a Smart Card Based
Public Distribution System using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is proposed.

Keywords: RFID:EM 18 RF Reader Module, Arduino UNO, ATMEGA328P

1. Introduction 2. Material and Method

Public distribution system (PDS) is a government based To get rid of the drawbacks of existing ration system the
network of fair priced shops intended to distribute essential Smart Public Distribution System is useful. Smart card with
food and non-food items to poor section of society. Through RFID technology acts as ration card. To procure items from
PDS majorly staple food grains such as rice, sugar, wheat ration shops user needs to scan the RFID tag into the RFID
and essential fuels are distributed on large scale. Ration card reader, then the controller checks customer attributes and
is an official government issued document to eligible details from the back end database. After verification, customer
households for the purchase of subsidized essential goods. needs to enter the required items and quantity by using keypad.
However, there are certain loopholes that are taken undue After receiving the input controller triggers the automatic
advantage of by fraudsters leading to high corruption. Two dispensation system and accurate quantity of item is dispensed
major drawbacks in the current system are: to the customer. The amount is transacted from the linked bank
A) Inaccurate quantity measurement caused by human account. After the transaction backend database is updated.
errors or by intentional use of inaccurate weights
B) Fraudulent sale in the black market in case of partial A) RFID : EM 18 RF Reader Module
consumption of food grains allotted every month.

In this paper, we propose a concept on automatic RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is one of the methods
distribution of ration products using RFID technology to for identification unique attributes using radio waves. The
compensate for the major drawbacks of existing PDS and RFID system mainly consists of: readers, antennas and tags
prevent corruption. Smart Public Distribution System uses a which can carry the data on a single microchip. Nowadays,
Smart Card based of RFID technology instead of existing RFID technology is used in many fields, including security and
Ration Card. Smart. Each card is mapped to a unique access controlling, transportation and supply chain tracking
number, details of household, family head photo ID and etc. Bar Code scanners are popular means of inventory
mobile number through the database. Once the smart card is tracking. However, RFID has additional benefits. RFID has
swiped, the user needs to enter the type of item to be longer reading range than barcode, does not require employee
procured and also the quantity. The servo motor based at shop to be within line of sight of the item, and it also
system allows accurate dispensation of specified item mitigates the risk of theft and frauds.
according to the quantity specified. After the transactions,
available quota of each item for the month is updated Information collected from the tags is transferred through a
automatically in the back end database. To maintain communications interface to a host computer system where
transparency, recorded transaction details are text messaged attributes checked. Here, EM 18 RF Reader Module is used. It
on the registered mobile number associated with the smart has Operating voltage of +4.5V to +5.5V, current consumption
card. To assure security, back end database is not accessible of 50mA, operating temperature of0ºC to +80ºC, operating
to the shopkeepers at ration shops. frequency of 125KHz and communication parameter of
9600bps.
Main aim of this system is accurate distribution of items
according to specified quantity by user. Servo Motor based B) ARDUINO UNO
dispensation writes off any chance of intentional use of
inaccurate weights. Real time data is updated in the back end The micro-controller used here is ATMEGA328P. Arduino
database which helps to track overall quantity of each item is an open source computing platform, flexibly designed with
and prevents black marketing. Automatic system generated the help of micro-controller and software development
text message on the registered mobile number helps the environments. The Arduino integrated development
consumer to keep track of the monthly ration budgets and environment (IDE) is a cross platform application written in
also keeps the system transparent. Java and most of the programs are written in high level
language. It can run on all operating systems like Windows,
Mac OS and Linux. It has 20 input/output pins, 16 MHz
resonator, a power jack, USB connection, ICSP.

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 Fig 3: Load Cell

E) SERVO MOTOR

It is an electrical device which can push and rotate an

object with great precision. The position of servo motor is
decided by electrical pulses and its circuitry is placed inside it.
Fig 1: ARDUINO UNO
For the accurate dispensation of items in specified quantities,
automatic dispensation system is governed by servo motors for
precision rotation and position of vessel
from which items are dispensed. Servo motors used here
has the rated output of 200W, rated torque 0.64 Nm and peak
torque of 1.91 Nm and rated speed of 3000 RPM

F) METHOD
First the user has to scan the RFID card by using EM18 RF
Reader Module (passive) which works in the range of 125Mhz
frequency to check whether card is valid or not. After scanning
the card, if attributes are valid, screen will display the user info
and various types of items on screen for selecting. This is
achieved through Visual Studio. Once the customer inputs the
item and quantity to be procured, the command goes to the
microcontroller which triggers servo motor. Servo motor then
changes its shaft as per the signal from microcontroller to drop
the wanted item through vessel. The accurate quantity is
sensed by the load cell at the end of circuit. As the required
Fig 2 : ATMea328P and Arduino Uno Pin Mapping quantity value is attained, the load cell feeds back the signal to
servo motor to stop working and hence the feedback flow is
C) Power supply generated. The quantity is displayed on Arduino screen as an
output. System generated message is sent to the registered
The Power Supply is most important for micro controller mobile number and backend database is updated.
and all other electronic circuits. Here 12V power supply is
required. It consists of 230V, 50 Hz step down transformer
which gives 12volt, 1A AC voltage. Rectifier is used in order
to convert AC voltage to corresponding DC voltage. Then
filters are used to remove the ripples in the output.

D) Load cell

A load cell is a weight measurement device useful for

any electronic scales that display weights in digits. Load cell
is a passive transducer/ sensor that converts applied force
into electrical signals just like any weighting machines in
grocery shops.

Fig 4: Block diagram

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 Each account is associated with unique username and
password in order to check the correct user access [1]. If the
user is correct, input can then be given on the touch screen.
When the products are procured from the automated ration
shop, amount is debited from the bank account linked to the
smart card. For the real time update, the proposed ration shop
system is mapped to the government database through GSM
modules [2], which further sends the up-to-date information
to the government and the consumer

The smart card uses RFID technology to read the user

data [3]. Using GSM, data is fed to the microcontroller [4].
Microcontroller compares the data with the database which
is stored in the computer. On confirmation of credentials,
user is asked to enter items to be procured and also quantity.
Automatic dispensation system in then actuated by sensor,
and items are dispensed through operation of valves[5].

Required items are distributed through automatic system

without any manual efforts. The dispensation system governed
by servo motor and load cell ensures accurate distribution of
items. This system is very simple in construction and has low
power consumption. Real time update of backend database and
delivery of text message to registered mobile number makes
the system transparent.

Fig 5: Flow chart

3. Result and Discussion

The Public Distribution System in India was first started

in January 1945, during Second World War. During the
Bengal Famine, to ensure distribution of essential food and
non-food items to poor section of society at subsidized rates,
rationing system was introduced. This rationing system was
revived during acute food shortages in 1960s. Since then,
there has been hardly any effective change in the system to
make it efficient. India’s PDS has the coverage of around 40
million below poverty line families. Numerous structural
shortcomings and disturbances have been discovered in the Fig 6: Dispensation through Smart PDS
existing system by different studies and reviews. Ration shop
owners have been found to create large number of bogus 4. Conclusion
ration cards to sell food grains in the open market. Intentional
use of incorrect weights leads to the corruption on large This is a ration system based on RFID technology. The
scale. India’s grain stock is highest in the world besides aim of the system is to automate the distribution process and
China. The government spends almost 1 percent of GDP, yet make it convenient for the customers to track their quota of
21% remain undernourished. Hence, it is very important to the month. Fully digital interface and real time update of the
make the existing system more transparent, accountable, database makes the system very transparent and protects the
accurate and efficient. interests of the public by countering the malpractices. This
system has greater scope in future. This system has no manual
In the proposed smart cards are used instead of ration interface and all information is stored and updated in database.
cards. Unique number is associated with every smart card Database is accessible to very limited the higher authorities
and linked to the back end database. This ensures that no those are accountable.
bogus cards are running in the system. Sensor based
dispensation system ensures accurate distribution of items. Servo Motor based dispensation writes off any chance of
System generated text message on the registered mobile intentional use of inaccurate weights. Real time data is
number makes the system more transparent. Real time updated in the back end database which helps to track overall
updating of back end database makes it more accountable quantity of each item and prevents black marketing.
and efficient.

ISSN (Print): 2456-6411 | ISSN (Online): 2456-6403 50 JREAS, Vol. 06, Issue 01, Jan 2021
 Automatic system generated text message on the registered [2] S. Valarmathy, R. Ramani, “Automatic Ration Material
mobile number helps the consumer to keep track of the distributions Based on GSM and RFID Technology”,
monthly ration budgets and also keeps the system International Journal of Intelligent Systems and
transparent.
Applications, vol 5,pp.47-54, October 2013.
[3] Bhalekar D, Kulkarni R, Lawande K, Patil V, ”Online
Acknowledgement
Ration Card System Using RFID and biometric,
We would like to show our gratitude to IT Education, International Journal of Advanced Research Computer
Nagpur for giving us a good guideline for this project and Software Engineering(10), pp-849-81, October 2014.
through numerous consultations. We would also like to [4] Smart Card Based Public Distribution System (IJSR)
expand our deepest gratitude to all those who have directly ISSN (online):2319-7064 Rijo PC, Chirsti Paulicen,
and indirectly guided us in writing this academic research Manoj A, Rahul M Jaya Pal, Riya Banarjee, Raisy Raphi
paper.
K Shreenivas R. Jog, M.S.Sutaone ,V.V.Badawe ©2011
IEEE
References
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based e-Public Distribution System”, International Noor Aliba, SaumyaPrlyam, VikasPathak.
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