Getting Started With The FIM3040 FingerPrint Sensor

*This tutorial is part of a series of tutorials on an entire setup using the FIM3040 Fingerprint sensor with the BCore100, an OLED Display, and a micro DB (uDB).

So you’ve got your FIM3040 Fingerprint Sensor Module, and you’re not sure what to do next.

In this tutorial, we show you step by step how to enroll your first fingerprint, how to set Admin and User modes for different fingerprints, and more.

What you will need for now:

Hardware

• FIM3040LV Fingerprint Sensor Module  
• Cable for the FIM3040 Fingerprint Sensor Module 
• 2 Power cables  
• MAX232 level shifter  (DIY)
• JST 5 way Cable 
• A USB to UART Converter (Either of these will work: FTDI / Prolific)
• 2 Separate Power Supplies: 5V & 3.3V
• A PC with a USB 2.0 Port.

Software

• Driver for the FTDI / Prolific Converters
• EvTools Evaluation Software by NITGEN for the FIM Sensors

Hardware Setup

The FIM3040 Supports both I/O Port Operations and RS232 Interfacing.

In order to perform the initial settings for the FIM Sensor, we have to connect it to the PC through its RS232 Interface.

We made a simple circuit on a perfboard/ strapboard consisting of a MAX232 to convert the UART levels obtained from the USB to UART Converter,  to an RS232 level for the FIM sensor and vice versa.

Do note that while it might seem like we used a long-winded way to convert from USB to RS232 when you can just use a USB to RS232 Converter like one of these at the bottom, there are many reasons why we used this method.

• We figured a lot more people would have an RS232 chip & a FTDI/Prolific converter from other projects.
• As you would tell from the tutorials later on, it’s a lot easier to separate the 2 modules since we won’t need to prepare yet another circuit to interface the microcontroller to the sensor.
• You will notice that the RS232 circuit also includes some connections for the I/O interfacing pins. This is so that we keep them in its inactive state thus not affecting our RS232 interfacing later on.

The connection of the MAX232 circuit for the FIM sensor can be seen as such.

Important Note:

The colour coding for the power lines of the FIM3040 Sensor’s cable is reversed. (In this case, you’ll see that the red wire is attached to the ground line of the sensor and the black and attached to the VCC of the sensor).  Be careful when wiring it up!

Power up the entire circuit by providing the 5V & 3.3V Power, and launch the EvTools Program.

Apply the following settings:

File > Select Device > FIM3040

File > Serial Comm…

Baud Rate:  Select (Default) 9600 | Click “Set Baud Rate”

Port:  Select COM Number assigned to your Prolific/FTDI USB to UART Converter| Click “Set COM Port”

To find out what the COM number is, check out this tutorial.

You will notice that the Program only allows you to select from COM1 to COM4, if your USB to UART Converter is assigned to any other COM Port Numbers, you will need to manually set it to a number in the range of 1 – 4.

If your COM Port Number is not within the range of 1 -4:

Here are the steps to manually change the COM Port Number assigned to your USB to UART Converter:

1. Go to Device Manager (Win7 Users); Go to “Start”, Type “Device Manager” and hit the ENTER key.
2. Expand “Ports” Node.
3. Select your USB to UART Device.
4. Right Click on it
5. Click on Properties
6. Go to Port Settings Tab
7. Click on “Advanced”
8. Select a COM Port in the range of 1 – 4.
9. Apply Changes.
10. Go back to EvTools and set the COM Port to the number you just changed it to.

If your COM Port Number is within the range of 1 -4:

Great! Let’s move on to the next step.

All other buttons in EvTools should be disabled except for the "Connect" Button. Click on it.

If your comm. Settings and hardware interfacing were done up correctly, you should see a pop-up stating that the Connection was successful.

The first thing that you will need is to set a master fingerprint. This master fingerprint will have access to all administrative controls, (eg. Registering new fingerprints as a User/Master)

Enrolling a Master Fingerprint

Click on the “Enter Master” button, and then click on “Enroll”.

I usually use the following settings;

1. Make sure “Auto-Generate ID” is checked. (This automatically creates numerical IDs based on the number of users.)
2. Since there are no users in the Database, the Master fingerprint will be assigned the ID of “0000”.
3. Set Authority as “Master”
4. Click on “OK”
5. The fingerprint sensor will be blinking now. Place your finger on it.
6. When the dialog box pops up to inform you to Lift your finger, do so, and click “OK”
7. Then place your same finger back onto the Sensor.
8. If done properly, you should get a dialog box saying the enrollment succeeded.

Try it out by using “IDENTIFY” on the EvTools Menu.

Enrolling a “User” Fingerprint

So we know that a Master fingerprint can have access to all the administrative functions. If you want to enroll a fingerprint that does not have access to any of these facilities but is assigned an ID of sorts and is recognized in the database, we’ll assign it the role of “User”.

To enroll a fingerprint with the role of a “User”, follow the steps used to enroll a “Master” as above, however, at step 3, set the Authority as a User instead.

Suggested/Further Reading: 

EvTools User Manual