The problem of
fake currency plaguing the economy for years might soon be a thing of the past.
Mobile will become the vital tool that can be used to
identify fake currency. The innovative mobile technology-which uses mobile
phones to identify fake currency notes coming out from ATMs-was acknowledged at
the fifth edition of the 'Innovation Challenge' organized by Schneider Electric
India, a global specialist in energy management.
Concept for the breakthrough technology was presented by
Neha N, a final year electronics and communications student of Vidya Vikas
Institute of Engineering and Technology at the 'Innovation Challenge'.
Counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 1,69,000 crore is
unknowingly floating around in the Indian financial system, ranging from huge
business organizations to local grocery shops. Unfortunately, the main carriers
of this counterfeit cash are innocent people who have no idea how to identify a
fake note from a real one, that being left to banks and financial experts.
"Thus, after attending a recent exhibition by RBI, I decided to work on some
invention that would help the common man to identify fake currency without the
help of experts," says Neha.
The technology uses UV-visible and an optical near
infrared point light sources, low power sensor chip, and the existing cell phone
processor for detecting and notifying the user about counterfeit currency. This
scheme makes a cell phones, when in detection mode, an intelligent sensor. It
also utilizes other architectural features of cell phone such as battery,
display, and audio unit for the cited purpose. The user is notified via phone
display unit as well as the speaker. Moreover, the scheme does not interfere
with any of the regular cell phone applications, and adapts to the optimized
energy saving algorithms such as adaptive sampling and lossless data
compression.
In addition, since the proposed scheme works on a phone
battery and uses low power consumption techniques for processing, approximately
45% of energy can be saved when compared with the currently available standalone
counterfeit detection units which mostly work on AC supply. To ensure
credibility, the concepts of image processing, signal processing and pattern
recognition are used for checking genuineness of currency, as per RBI standards.
According to Anup Lewis, deputy general manager, Schneider
Electric India, IIT professionals and industry experts present on the judging
panel of the 'Innovation Challenge' had apparently expressed interest in the
invention, and mentioned that there was scope for the same in India. Taking this
forward, Neha says, "I tested this technology by first extricating the processor
from the cell phone, and then adding these motion sensors to the same. I believe
this will work in a cell phone as an added feature to be integrated with the
internal microprocessor of the phone." While RBI has expressed interest in her
project, Neha has also received a few emails from various SPs and software
installers. However, she is looking for the best fit, that is a software company
which will work with her to mass produce these chips for handsets.
When asked whether his company would have an interest in
such a technology, Vinay Chawla, senior VP and head of planning and engineering,
Reliance Communications says, "Such emerging technology is always welcome.
However, the onus is on handset manufacturers to integrate this feature in the
phones, and provide the facility at an affordable price."
"This technology need not only be restricted to
counterfeit currency, but can also be used to scan cheques, credit cards, visas,
and other important documents. This can also be installed in the ATM machines,
so that the internal process of separating fake notes from the real ones thing
will be conducted in the ATM itself. I believe this will considerably reduce the
amount of corruption in our country resulting from such scams," says Neha.
Beryl M
Berylm@cybermedia.co.in
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