Hardware
Purpose-built physical
infrastructure.
Biometric Core
AS608 Optical Fingerprint Sensor
The AS608 is an optical fingerprint module that captures, stores, and matches fingerprint templates on-device. It communicates over UART serial to the gateway microcontroller.
Optical sensing was chosen for durability and cost-effectiveness in a hostel environment where sensors are exposed to dust, moisture, and heavy daily use. The sensor handles template enrollment, 1:N matching, and duplicate detection entirely on the module itself.
Each enrolled fingerprint is stored as a compact template (512 bytes), not a raw image — the original fingerprint cannot be reconstructed from the stored data.
Architecture
Gate Mechanism
Gate access is controlled by a relay module driving a solenoid lock. On a successful fingerprint match, the gateway microcontroller energizes the relay, retracting the solenoid bolt for a configurable duration (default: 5 seconds) before re-locking automatically.
Hardware Gateway Service
The hardware gateway is a dedicated background service that bridges the Arduino's serial communication (UART over USB) to the main NestGuard application via HTTP API calls.
Multi-Gate Support
NestGuard is designed for multi-gate deployments. Each gate has its own sensor and relay, connected to an independent gateway service instance. The central server aggregates events from all gates into a single unified feed.
Current Build Status
The hardware integration is currently demonstrated in simulated mode — the gateway generates realistic mock sensor events for demonstration and evaluation purposes. Physical deployment with AS608 sensors and solenoid locks is in progress.
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