Invisible touch sensors-based smart and disposable door locking system for security applications

Muhammad Qasim Mehmood; Muhammad Shumail Malik; Muhammad Hamza Zulfiqar; Muhammad Atif Khan; Muhammad Zubair; Yehia Massoud

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13586

Invisible touch sensors-based smart and disposable door locking system for security applications

Heliyon. 2023 Feb 8;9(2):e13586. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13586. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Muhammad Qasim Mehmood^{1

2}, Muhammad Shumail Malik^{1

3}, Muhammad Hamza Zulfiqar³, Muhammad Atif Khan¹, Muhammad Zubair^{1

2}, Yehia Massoud¹

Affiliations

¹ Innovative Technologies Laboratories (ITL), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia.
² MicroNano Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology University (ITU) of the Punjab, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, 54600, Pakistan.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Narowal Campus, University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, 54890, Pakistan.

Abstract

Nowadays, security is one of the living essentials, and there is a dire need for reliable, secure, and smarter locking systems. The stand-alone smart security systems are of great interest as they do not involve keys, cards, or unsecured communication in order to prevent carrying, loss, duplication, and hacking. Here, we report an invisible touch sensors-based smart door locking system (DLS). The passive transducer-based touch sensors are fabricated through a facile do-it-yourself (DIY) based fabrication process by pasting the hybrid geometry copper electrodes on cellulose paper. The employment of biodegradable, and non-toxic materials like paper and copper tape makes this configuration a good candidate for green electronics. For additional security, the keypad in the DLS is made invisible by covering it with paper and spray paint. One can only open the door by knowing the password as well as the location of each key on the sensor keypad. The system can efficiently recognize the exact pattern of passwords without any false values. Invisible touch sensors-based locking systems can easily contribute to the security applications in homes, banks, automobiles, apartments, lockers, and cabinets.

Keywords: CDC, Charge-Discharge Cycles; Capacitive touch sensor; DIY, Do-It-Yourself; DLS, Door Locking System; Disposable; HMI, Human Machine Interface; Invisible sensors; Security applications; Smart lock system.