Smart Key Management System

Abstract

Efficient control of physical keys remains a major security concern in offices, banks, industries, laboratories, and educational institutions. Conventional key handling methods generally depend on manual registers, lockers, or supervision, which often result in poor accountability, misplaced keys, unauthorized access, and operational delays. To address these challenges, this paper presents a Smart Key Management System based on biometric authentication and embedded automation. The proposed system uses an ESP32 microcontroller integrated with an R307 fingerprint sensor, servo motor, liquid crystal display (LCD), LEDs, and a buzzer. Access to stored keys is granted only after successful fingerprint verification, ensuring that only registered users can retrieve authorized keys. The servo motor automatically unlocks the assigned key slot, while failed authentication attempts activate warning alerts. In addition, the system can maintain digital logs of user access activity, improving transparency and monitoring. The prototype is developed using Embedded C/C++ in the Arduino IDE environment. Experimental evaluation indicates that the system enhances security, reduces human intervention, minimizes errors, and provides a scalable framework for future Internet of Things (IoT) integration. The proposed model offers a practical and cost-effective solution for modern key management applications.

DOI: https://doi-ds.org/doilink/04.2026-47147233