Competency Demonstration Report: CE2 IVRS Project - Bilal Abdullah

This report, a Career Episode 2 competency demonstration, details the development of an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for an educational institution. The project aimed to provide automated information retrieval using DTMF tones and, later, voice recognition. The report covers the project's objectives, including improved customer service, cost efficiency, and reduced reliance on intermediaries. The author's role focused on implementing the microcontroller, responsible for processing input and retrieving data from a database. The report outlines the engineering knowledge applied, including microprocessor interfacing and circuit analysis, and describes the system's operational flow, from call connection to information delivery. Key challenges included implementing voice recognition, and the solutions involved database manipulation. The project's overview highlights its potential applications beyond educational settings. The author contributed to research, microcontroller implementation, system support, and project documentation, gaining a deeper understanding of voice recognition and microcontroller applications.

Competency Demonstration Report
Career Episode 2
BILAL ABDULLAH

CE 2.1 Project Information
Name of the project:Interactive Voice Response System for Educational Institution
Location of the project:[PLEASE FILL]
Project Duration:[PLEASE FILL]
Organization:[PLEASE FILL]
Role and Designation during the time: Team Member
CE 2.2 Project Background
CE 2.2.1 Characteristics of the project
The project is targeted to be used in an educational institution to get information
regarding the student. The project was completely implemented to provide full customer
satisfaction, had a lower cost in terms of costing and it could offer newer implementation of
technology to the field of customer service. The automated device was implemented to provide
information based on input through the phone keypad. The numbers corresponded to two
frequencies. The frequency when matched with the internal database of the system found put the
number being inserted. The number was then correspondingly checked with the database again
and the corresponding command was executed. The module consisted of a database consisting of
pre recorded information which was common for all the calls being received by the module.
Another separate database consisted of the live information which corresponded to the
information being requested by the caller.

CE 2.2.2 Objectives developed for the project
The objectives which were set for the implementation of the project are listed below:
 To provide better experience in terms of customer service.
 To provide information about a student using the phone service.
 To have a low cost consumption for the service and have a long term usage for the product.
 To implement not only inputs from the touch keypad of the phone but also implement the
analysis of the caller’s voice to provide information based on speech recognition.
 To remove the college authority from being the middle man in terms of sharing of
information with the students or their parents.
CE 2.2.3 My area of work
I was in charge of implementing the microcontroller of the project which was the main
system module of the project. It was responsible for controlling all the information of the project.
Implementing the microcontroller with the visual basic software so that, the commands could
seamlessly connect to the database and fetch the required information for the caller.

CE 2.2.4 Project Group
Figure 1: The hierarchy of the project group.
CE 2.2.5 My responsibilities throughout the project
I was responsible for implementing the microcontroller of the project module. This
process would require my skills in the grounds of electronics which I had acquired from self
learning. The microcontroller would collect the data from the dialler pad input and process them
to produce the output which would then be used for fetching the information from the database.
CE 2.3 Distinctive Activity
CE 2.3.1 Comprehending the theory of the project
The Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) is a new innovation in the field of voice
assistance as a part of the customer service system. The system can be used to retrieve data from
the database with the help of the telephone. The data retrieved is of interest for the user. The
system has the ability of using the resources on a shared basis and the integration of the existing
database into the system. The project was made with the help of visual basic and the data base
Head of Electrical
Department Project Supervisor
Project Team
Member 1
(ME)
Project Team
Member 2

was saved in a Microsoft access file. The software would first convert the data into the voice
format which would be then sent to the telephone network for the user to hear. The response
once heard by the caller the replies can be for the fee structure or the due status, test results,
homework of the student, test schedules, vacancy for faculties and voice mail accounts.
CE 2.3.2 Engineering knowledge and skills applied in the project
The knowledge of microprocessor interfacing and circuit analysis has been applied to
complete the project. The engineering skills were taught to me during my bachelor degree which
was helpful for the implementation of this project. The procedure which is followed by the IVRS
when the call has been connected to the system are as follows:
 The caller dials the IVRS number and after a specified number of rings the computer
connects the call
 A pre-recorded audio is dialled which corresponds to the diallers requirements.
 The menu is then presented to the caller in a voice format based on the requirements of the
caller.
 If the information that is being requested is of high credential then the caller has to input the
pin password from the keypad.
 The inserted requested is cross referenced with the database and the information is relayed
back to the caller in the form of voice.
 The caller can then request more information, ask the system to repeat the voice or terminate
the call.

CE 2.3.3 Accomplishment and task performed
The microcontroller 89C2051 is a 2 KB flash memory that has been used to control the
whole hardware of the project. The microcontroller is responsible for the collection of
information from the voice of the dialler and accesses the information saved in the database. The
information is understood by the use of the key pad frequencies. The corresponding two
frequencies are matched with the table and the information is collected from the data base and
shared with the caller.
1209 Hz. 1336 Hz. 1477 Hz.
697 Hz. 1 2 3
770 Hz. 4 5 6
852 Hz. 7 8 9
941 Hz. * 0 #
Table 1: The frequencies corresponding to the numeric keypad.
From the above table it can be seen that if the caller dials a 5 from the keypad then the
frequencies received by the microcontroller is 770 MHz and 1336 MHz. This type of frequency
which is being received from the telephone is known as Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF).
CE 2.3.4 Identified issues and their solutions
The main issues which i had faced during the implementation of the project were related
to the use of the microcontroller to implement the voice recognition module. The module was
configured to work with voice inputs. The addition though a new innovation in this field was
tough to implement completely. The voices were then stored inside a separate database before
processing and changing to the equivalent text code to be recognized by the microcontroller.
This required an extra amount of work but i was satisfied with the end result. We had also faced

problems in choosing the platform in which we would be implementing the project coding. We
had settled in using Visual Basic but it later turned out to be platform oriented. We have decided
to implement the similar project in a Linux based system so that the files will not get corrupted
overtime.
CE 2.3.5 Plan to produce creative and innovative work
I had thought that the whole system would take input by the use of only key pad tones.
This was the initial project objective. Later on during the study of the different modules of the
system i found out that voice recognition and analysis can also be added in the system as there
was no need to add new extra hardware to the project. It only required a database for the
questions being asked by the caller and the addition of the voice recognition coding portion to
the Visual Basic code to connect the phone module to the database.
CE 2.3.6 Collaborative work
To produce the final working module of this project i had taken the help of my team
mates and my supervisor at the university. Studying the implementation of how voice
recognition systems are implemented and used in the real world was a challenge which was
overcome by the helpful insights provided by my subject supervisor. This project was done as a
part of an interactive activity in the university.
CE 2.4 Project Review
CE 2.4.1 Project Overview
The interactive voice response system provided the new system which has been designed
to provide a new interactive responsive system for the customer service company. This project

has been made to implement in a university environment. However, if the modules and the
database are configured correctly then the project can be implemented into providing navigation
information to tourist from public phone booths and to provide customer service conversations to
companies. The system has been made to provide intelligent information and to process the voice
requests provided by the caller. The future prospect has been thought to implement the project
with a stronger database which can be updated with the gradual use of the project.
CE 2.4.2 My contribution to work
For this project I had done the extensive research on voice recognition to implement the
theory in this project. I was also in charge of implementing the microcontroller which was the
main module of the project. Apart from this I was there to help my team in implementing the
whole system from start to finish. I had also done the documentation of the project findings and
the components used in the project. This project had helped me to understand the true working
nature of the voice recognition module and the use of the microcontroller to complete the project.