FASE Backend

This is the backend for FASE (Facial Attendance Security Elevation), a Wi-Fi network access point-based attendance management solution. It's built with Django and Django REST Framework.

Check out the companion app project.

Features

• User Management: Handles user accounts, distinguishing between students and faculty. Authentication is integrated with Firebase.
• Course Management: Allows creation and management of courses, including enrolling students and assigning instructors. Students can be added to courses in bulk by uploading a CSV file.
• Attendance Tracking: Marks attendance by capturing and verifying a student's device and network information (SSID, BSSID, IP address) against predefined course parameters.
• Scheduled Tasks: Uses APScheduler for running scheduled jobs, for managing attendance windows.
• Data Export: Provides functionality to generate and export attendance data, in spreadsheet formats using pandas and XlsxWriter.
• API: A comprehensive RESTful API for the frontend mobile application to interact with.

Project Structure

The project is organized into several Django apps:

• attendance/: Handles all the logic related to marking and recording attendance.
• authentication/: Manages user login and authentication using Firebase.
• course/: Contains models and views for courses, including student enrollment.
• registration/: Manages the registration of student devices and captures network information.
• users/: Defines the custom User model and related views.
• meta/: Provides metadata and download links for the mobile applications.
• fase_backend/: The main Django project configuration.

API Endpoints

The primary API endpoints are available under /api/v1/. The main resources are:

• /api/v1/login/: User login.
• /api/v1/users/: User profiles.
• /api/v1/courses/: Course details.
• /api/v1/attendance/: Attendance records.
• /api/v1/registration/: Device registration.
• /api/v1/metadata/: App metadata.
• /api/v1/ping/: Health check.

There are also endpoints for generating reports (/generate/<course_id>/) and downloading mobile clients (/download/apk/, /download/ios/).

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd fase-backend

2. Create a virtual environment and activate it:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up environment variables:

   • You will need to configure database settings, Firebase credentials, and other Django settings. It is recommended to use a .env file with python-decouple.

5. Run database migrations:

   python manage.py migrate

6. Run the development server:

   python manage.py runserver

Future Work

As per the original project plan, a Phase 2 was envisioned to improve location verification accuracy. This phase was not implemented but was planned to include:

• BLE Mesh Network: Using a Bluetooth Low Energy mesh network to cross-verify that students are within the physical classroom (e.g., within a 10-15m range). This would add another layer of security and accuracy to the attendance system.