School Bus Attendance Tracker

A school attendance system for students who ride the bus — embedded devices mounted in each vehicle let children tap RFID cards in and out, logging pickup and drop-off events at home and school while notifying parents in real time.

• Bus-mounted ESP32 device — MFRC522 RFID reader, Nokia LCD menu, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, buzzer/LED feedback for tap events
• Tap modes — pick up / drop off at home and school, recorded against student ID and bus plate number
• Real-time parent notifications — events posted to a backend API so guardians know when their child boards or leaves the bus
• Companion Android app (Qt/QML / Felgo) — Bluetooth pairing to the bus device, student card management, Wi-Fi setup, and driver-side logs
• Web interface — backend dashboard for monitoring attendance across buses, students, and routes

A contract engagement for a school transport client — they needed reliable visibility into who was on which bus and when, without manual roll calls. Parents wanted immediate confirmation of pickup and drop-off; operators needed a central view across the fleet.

• Hardware: ESP32 firmware with RFID tap reader, rotary-selector UI on an onboard LCD, Wi-Fi upload and Bluetooth pairing to the driver app
• Bus logic: Arduino sketch records tap events (ph, dh, ps, ds modes) and POSTs to a REST API with student ID and plate number
• Android app: Felgo/Qt Quick companion — Bluetooth discovery and pairing, card registration, settings, logs, and encrypted local storage
• Backend & web: cloud API for attendance records and parent notification routing; web interface for fleet monitoring
• Security: AES encryption helpers in the companion app for sensitive local configuration data

Bus attendance is an offline-first problem — the device has to work through spotty mobile data, confirm taps instantly to the child with sound and lights, and sync reliably once connectivity returns. Parent notifications only build trust if the tap-to-alert path is fast and unambiguous.