A Comparative Analysis of Low Cost Solutions for Quiz Controller and Classroom Access Control Systems

Abstract

The quiz buzzer systems are widely used in schools, colleges, quizzing championships and TV programs. In the buzzer round of quiz contests, the question is thrown open to all the teams. The person who knows the answer hits the buzzer first and then answers the question. Sometimes two or more players hit the buzzer almost simultaneously and it is difficult to detect which of them has pressed first. In television shows, where the whole event is recorded, the actions are replayed in slow motion to detect the first hit. Such slow motions are possible only where huge funds are available to conduct the show. For this reason buzzer rounds are avoided for quiz contests held in colleges. This project is an electronic quiz buzzer that is affordable by the colleges and even individuals. Three different approaches have been used to operate the quiz buzzer with the same concept of sounding an alarm sound and display of the team number who hits the button first. These approaches are Fastest Finger First Indicator Circuit which uses the basic functionality of all the microprocessors, Quiz Game Controller using Microcontroller PIC16F877A which uses the characteristics of this microcontroller along with UNL2003 and Quiz Buzzer using 8051 Microcontroller AT89C51. All the three approaches are implemented and compared with each other based on the cost employed to develop the product, efficiency of the product and performance. After the successful completion of all the three products, we will try to incorporate unambiguous real time quiz buzzer to the concept of smart classroom by further adding RFID capabilities.