The number of students joining universities is
increasing fast congesting existing registration systems.
Online registration with student web portals common in
many institutions of learning was adapted to solve this
problem. Online registration has helped alleviate some of
these problems, however it has not entirely eradicated the
problem. Long queues and delays are still experienced
during registration exercise. The reason is due to the huge
number of students trying to access the web simultaneously.
Accessing the web through the internet becomes slow and
tedious process. The purpose of this research is to
demonstrate the application of USSD protocol in students
registration system. The USSD platform described below is
not intended to substitute existing systems, but rather to
enhance the reach of facilities to the target users using the
most popular and commonly available technology with
student populations.
Rajab Philip Muchiri : Computer Science Department
Egerton University
20115 Njoro, Kenya
USSD Protocol, Mobile Communications, SMS
This research has demonstrated how USSD platform can
be cooperated in online student registration system. The
purpose is to enhance registration management services.
It is not meant to replace them but to enhance their
usability. Though USSD protocol is efficient it however
should be applied with caution. In GSM, all requests to
Service Codes in the range *100# to *499# should go
through the originator's home HLR while requests to code
*500# and above in theory need to be handled by the VLR
of the visited network and routed to a local USSD
Gateway[23]. In ordinary circumstance, HLR validates by checking that the subscriber is active in its records and
the service code is active and valid then routes the request
via a USSD Gateway to the appropriate application. The
application may perform its own validation during the
session such as verifying the IMSI of the request or or
performing multi-phase authentication. This may enable
someone to sniff on the radio interface or to hi-jack it
entirely and record these inputs for subsequent fraudulent
use[24]. End-to-end encryption between a client (SIM
toolkit or Java) on the handset and the application
attached to the USSD Gateway is the only way of
guaranteeing the security of such services[25].
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