Smart Canteen Management System with Real Time – Order Handling with Load Balancing

Smart Canteen Management System with Real Time – Order Handling with Load Balancing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Smart Canteen Management System with Real Time – Order Handling with Load Balancing Mugil Ignatius S, Naveen Kumar R, Rithika V, Pradheep J S, Justin Jayaraj K This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The proposed Smart Canteen Management System with Network Traffic Control is suggested to streamline the processes within the canteen to provide fluid and digital operations and make sure that the flow of data is managed effectively. Some of the problems with the traditional canteens include long queue, errors in manual billing, delays in payment and overcrowding during peak operational hours. The suggested system will implement a centralized canteen management system that will deal with taking orders, menu change requests, online payments, and billing via a web or mobile app. One of the notable inventions of this system is the use of network traffic control measures in the management of the exchange of data between client devices and the central server. The system will be able to maintain low latency, less congestion and continuous delivery of service even when there is heavy traffic by prioritizing such critical operations as order confirmation, payment authorization and update on the stock position. The bandwidth allocation and queue management methods are used to eliminate bottlenecks and streamline the performance. These proximal saves time on key areas of waiting, sales and transactions and honors user satisfaction as the administrators of the canteen could view sales, transaction and inventory levels in real time. Smart Canteen Management System (SCMS) Network Traffic Control Congestion Management Queue Management Collision Avoidance Load Balancing Digital Payments Automation User Satisfaction Interface Design System Security Waiting Time Real-time Updates Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 I. INTRODUCTION High percentage of adult learners in colleges in India are relying on canteens in their institutions to get their daily meals and this gives much weight to the importance of these food places in the lives of the students. In the interest of college curriculum, over half of all college students (about 53 percent) patronize their college canteen daily and buy food and drink with an average disposition of [?]50-[?]100 each daily [1]. The number of students in higher education amounts to almost 4.33 crore in the country, and the demand to have convenient, cheaper and hygienic canteen services is tremendous. The majority of students are fond of fast and fried food and such dishes as samosas, cold-drinks, noodles, pav bhaji are at the highest place in the popularity of the menu [1]. Although the campus canteen is not merely a food court, but rather a venue where people socialize and interact, in most cases, it struggles with the issues of food quality, nutrition as well as managing crowds and providing service in real-time. These trends and issues imply the necessity of new technologies in canteen management that would help to cope with the expectations of the students, optimize food preparation, and guarantee the efficient and healthy eating experience within the university. With the current digital age of innovation, technology is at the forefront in transforming the manner in which services are handled, consumed, and delivered in the day to day lives. The food industry is one of the many industries that have been radically changed with a drastic digitization and automation trend. The conventional canteen operation model, wherein people have to wait in long lines to order and pick the food, is typically ineffective, time-consuming and falls under human error. The need to be fast, transparent and provide excellent customer satisfaction has resulted in the need to adopt intelligent systems like the Smart Canteen Management System (SCMS). A smart canteen is not simply a digital ordering system, but a holistic solution with a connected automation, e-payments, and intelligent scheduling to streamline the work of the canteen and improve the overall experience of people at the table. Traffic collision during ordering of food is one of the biggest challenges that canteens are likely to experience particularly at the busy times. This difficulty is more comprehensible with references to the traffic collisions in computer networks. In a network, when two or more data packets are transmitted at the same time and using a shared medium, there are collisions and hence, retransmission, delay and inefficiency. An identical scenario can be recorded in a canteen where a big number of customers attempt to place an order at once fighting either physically to get to the desk or by utilizing a computerized ordering program through online or simultaneous connections. These customer order collisions, just like those caused by the data packet collisions, will cause confusion, increase the waiting time, mismanagement of the resources, and bad service delivery. So, traffic optimization to prevent such collisions is an area of concern of a smart canteen system. The Smart Canteen Management System uses similar concepts with the network traffic management to deal with this problem. Some of the techniques employed in networks such as: collision detection, collision avoidance, time slot allocation, and congestion control protocols are applied in order to facilitate smooth transmission of data. Similarly, in a smarter canteen, a system of pre-ordering, electronic tokens, temporal slots, and load balancing is brought in where optimization of customer traffic is implemented. Instead of letting all users flood the system or the counter at the same time, the orders are distributed in a smart manner over time and resources. Every customer request is handled as a packet of data and the system makes sure that it is passed, examined and delivered without any interference. Examples include the use of mobile applications where employees or students can order their food as they go hence, they are scheduled to be prepared and taken at a specific time slot. This technique helps to avoid overcrowding, delivery is done systematically and breakdown of services that happen during peak rush are avoided. The other point that further enhances this analogy is the acknowledgment and tracking mechanisms. In networks, data are not lost or duplicated; this is made possible by confirming the successful delivery of data in the form of acknowledgment packets. On the same note, an intelligent canteen means real time updates and follow-ups so that clients do not have to make repeat trips to the counter to check the status of their orders. This helps to increase transparency, less stress among canteen employees and earn customer confidence. Moreover, the smart canteen is doing a load balancing as orders are spread across the counters, preparation teams, or collection slots as well, in order to effectively use the available resources, as load balancing does with network traffic distribution among the servers to avoid network congestion. There are several advantages of optimal traffic collision at the time of ordering food. Customers have the benefit of less time wasting in waiting bays, greater accuracy in orders delivery and an easier dining experience. The administrators of the canteens can get a clearer insight into the demand trends, busy hours and the consumption of food materials, thereby enabling them to arrange resources more efficiently and minimize on the wastage of food. The efficiency of the staff is also enhanced as the stress caused by the management of disorderly queues is substituted with the orderly workflows with the help of the system. Most importantly, the level of customer satisfaction increases considerably, since the cases of delays and conflicts are reduced to a minimum. In a bigger context, the system is also related to the trend of digital and cashless working settings where the idea of contactless payments and minimizing reliance on manual procedures is promoted. The Smart Canteen Management System can thus be regarded as a network inspired optimization model that implements technical methods of controlling traffic flow and avoidance of collision to a food service scenario. Implementing the orders intaking of food as data packet and handling it using smart scheduling, token distribution, and load balancing, the system is able to avoid colliding and overloading of orders. The outcome is a dining ecosystem, which is more efficient, transparent, and easy to use. Besides, the system is very scalable and any institutions and organizations can manage increasing numbers of users without failure to the system. With digital payments, automated billing and analytical reporting, it does not only enhance day-to-day buses management of the canteen, but also gives long-term strategic information on customer behavior and utilization of resources. II. RELATED WORKS The use of digitization-based canteen services has been receiving frequent research attention, and the idea of Smart Canteen Management Systems (SCMS) has been proposed in multiple articles as the solution to the problems of manual operations inefficiency. Most of the literature published so far indicates the need to create mobile or web-based application to solve manual ordering and billing. Indicatively, the architecture of Android systems was described by such studies as Joshi et al., Dalal & Barmare, and Fegade et al. in which customers are able to navigate menus, order, and order history to save time in the queues. The other notable research driver is the incorporation of special purpose hardware and payment systems to facilitate operations. There are articles where the authors explore the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to recognize users and automatically pay them. Such systems normally relate an RFID card to a user account or e-wallet, which allow quick touch-less payments. Similarly, other reports have been focused on the application of cloud backends to process inventory and sales data or the application of IoT equipment to create a more connected and automated kitchen area. Even though these studies are effective in solving the problems of manual errors, payment operations, and just queue maintenance, they also overlook a highly significant scalability problem the congestion of the data. Many users can effectively cause a traffic collision as noted in this paper, by attempting to gain entry into a digital ordering system at they can. This digital bottleneck can lead to slow-downs and failures of payments and delays in the processing of orders within the system in other words, it recreates congestion that the system was meant to get rid of. The existing literature is primarily on the creation of the digital interface and payment portal, but it does not provide much analysis of handling the traffic of this data when it is under a heavy load. This paper bridges that specific gap. The introduction of the presented system is not solely the digitization of the canteen services, but the direct use of the network traffic control methods in controlling the data flow as well. The system is optimally configured to offer low latency and also ensure steady service delivery even during peak demand, by the implementation of bandwidth allocation, queue management and data prioritization of priority operations such as verification of payments and confirmation of orders. This work stands out of the previously used models because it is network based and is used to manage the digital canteen. III. OBJECTIVE To design a smart canteen management system that will automatically show display of menu, order, bill and processing of digital payment. To implement network traffic control methods to facilitate the efficient communication between the users, servers and administrators during peak periods. IV. RESEARCH METHODLOGY This paper aims at developing and testing a Smart Canteen Management System based on Network Traffic Control to achieve efficiency in this area and minimize the amount of waiting during peak times. To realize this purpose, a research is conducted within one of the academic institutions where the demand in using canteens is high and the quantity of data flow is high during the mealtimes. These are organized and a structured framework is drawn and data is gathered on both canteen staff and users of the site which is the students. The research will attempt to determine how network traffic control processes can maximize address, and the manner in which users will be satisfied with the set up as far as speed, reliability, and convenience are concerned. A system is rated by filling a questionnaire that has six sections: i) Knowledge of the current services of cafeterias online. ii) Battery type (preferred method of placing orders- manual or digital) iii) The smart canteen system should be convenient and easy to use. iv) Customer satisfaction levels with waiting time and speed of service. v) System interface design opinion and accessibility. The questionnaire will develop on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 (Strongly Disagree) and 5 (Strongly Agree) are the points. Awareness related questions will assist in undertaking research on whether students and staff know the available digital or semi- digital canteen services. Preference-based questions define whether the users would accept a traffic-controlled systems of smart canteen system compared to manual order. In order to gauge efficiency, questions pertaining to convenience are worded. The satisfaction level is assessed through inquiries concerning the response time of service and queue. The questions that are based on interface are considered to determine the degree of design expectations, whereas the reliability and security-based questions are aimed at the safe treatment of digital payments. After making the questionnaire, face-to-face survey is undertaken by describing the system features and then eliciting views of a sample of 250 respondents using the convenience sampling technique. The response analysis is performed to see whether the network traffic control integration provides a significant improvement in the efficiency and popularity of the smart canteen management system. V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. WILLINGNESS OF A USER TO THE USE OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. In the opinion study, the researcher focuses on the young adult generation that is aged between 18 and 35 years, which is frequent users of the canteen services in an educational institution. There are 250 samples that are collected in various departments of the institution. First, the survey shows that there are both students and staff, who already know about the usage of digital ordering systems and those who do not utilize but are inclined to use the smart canteen system in the future provided they guarantee quicker services. This pilot survey will be required in order to go ahead with the structured questionnaire. TABLE 1. The Willingness of the people to utilize Smart Canteen Management System. Opinion No of Respondents Willingness in Future Yes 120 120 No 130 94 B. CONVENIENCE FACET OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The samples obtained are analyzed using the six sections of questionnaire. The average response values are computed and reflected in Fig.1. The convenience of the Smart Canteen Management System use involves five key points, namely the decreased waiting time, increased speed of processing orders, the availability of cashless/digital payment methods, real-time menu availability and stable network effectiveness during the busy time. The analysis reveals that the young adults attach the utmost weight on a reduced waiting time, which is the most attributed reason of adopting the system. This is then accompanied by the requirement to process orders and confirm payments faster which becomes a possibility through the application of network traffic control techniques. The second valuable aspect is the real time menu changes whereby customers choose their food wisely without misunderstanding or misinterpreting anything. Discoverability of online forms of payment was also appreciated by the respondents who were guaranteed of transparency and ease of transaction. Lastly, the network also had to be relatively reliable during the peak lunch hours which was also considered an important factor since continuous delivery is a requirement to the users. C. DELIVERY OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The second factor of significance in the management of a smart canteen system is grounded on service delivery aspect. This will involve preparation and serving of food at the right time, food quality and accuracy in providing the ordered meals. These results in Fig. 2 reveal that the expected service of the canteen users like students or employees is that the service would serve them with proper food quality and in a period of time less than one hour. D. SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: WEB ASPECT The interface design is the key factor to the users, i.e. a student or an employee, in regards to placing an order-to-order food via a smart canteen system. In this aspect comes the aesthetics of the interface (e.g., kiosks or mobile apps), responsiveness, usability and access to advanced menu entry. As shown in the data of Fig. 3, users of the site value the interface aesthetics, the responsiveness, and the presentation of an advanced menu equally. They also want interface to be ease to use. This implies that quality interface design would be high in the consideration of users when choosing their canteen service provider. E. SECURITY COMPONENT OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Security is another factor to consider when managing a smart canteen system and it is also one of the significant factors in the food ordering service. This incorporates privacy of data, secure transactions and secure environment. According to the data provided in Fig. 4, such participants as students or employees are very concerned with the security of transactions. They demand that their personal information should be safeguarded. That is why, fully secured system will be chosen by users. F. SELECTING THE SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM According to the Table 2, interface design and then the security of the transactions is preferred by users like students or employees when adopting a smart canteen management system. Therefore, the two factors are put into consideration when making a perceptual mapping. This mapping would be used to define the most desirable smart canteen system in a particular place. As indicated in the Fig. 5, Canteen Pro is the most preferred and it is followed by the Smart Eats and Quick Serve, and finally the meal master. TABLE 2. Significance conferred by the Customers to the Choose Smart Canteen Management System. Factors Values Convenience 3.74 Delivery/Service 3.92 Interface Design 4.88 Security 4.37 G. USER PERCEPTION OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Studying the correlation between gender and preference of a smart canteen management system by chi-square is done. As it can be observed in the Table 3, the obtained value is 0, which is less than 0.05. Thus, the correlation between gender and the smart canteen management system that they like the most is substantial. H. PREFERRED SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM H0: The gender of the users is correlated with the preferred smart canteen management system It is concluded that there is a relationship between the gender of the users and the desired smart canteen management system as found in Table 3. This figure (Fig. 6) shows that the rate of attraction to Canteen Pro is high among the female users in contrast to the male users. Another fact that interests especially is the fact that there are no male users of Smart Eats and 34/85 users of Smart Eats are the females whose ordering food system is Smart Eats. I. FACTORS THAT IMPACT ORDERS IN SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Researchers used regression analysis to determine the impact of convenience, delivery/service, interface design, and security on selecting a smart canteen management system. TABLE 3. Regression Analysis of Factors Affecting System Selection Factors Coefficient of Factors Influencing Selection Sig values Constant 5.12 0.001 Convenience 0.08 0.053 Delivery 0.15 0.051 Website 2.17 0.051 Security 1.14 0.016 The factors that influence the user to choose a smart canteen management system have a coefficient as in the form of equation (1): Y = 0.08X 1 + 0.15X 2 + 2.17X 3 + 1.14X 4 + 5.12 (1) Y is the one that is represented by the coefficient factor X 1 - Convenience, X 2 - Delivery/Service, X 3 - Interface Design, and X 4 - security. As shown in the Table 3 and Fig. 6, the Interface Design was the most relevant factor that could make users choose a smart canteen management system, then Security then Delivery/Service and then Convenience. The users want the interface (i.e., kiosks or apps) to be appealing and user-friendly and provide various menu options. They also anticipate that their personal information will not be exposed to other persons. J. IMPORTANCE OF INTERFACE DESIGN ON SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AMONG STUDENTS To determine the changes in the significance of the interface design in the smart canteen management system among the students, independent t-test is employed. H0: The significance of the students on interface design of smart canteen management system varies with the gender. CONCLUSION Students are eager to embrace recent technologies to their fullest potential and are highly familiar with smart canteen management systems. The majority are existing users of these systems, while others are also willing to adopt them in the future. Students place greater importance on interface design and security when selecting a smart canteen management system. Declarations ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The findings herein reflect the work, and are solely the responsibility of the authors. References Auti, P., Bawankar, M., Bochare, P., Harane, V., & Rajgure, N. K. (2023). *A Review on Smart Canteen Management System*International Journal for Research in Applied Science&Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.56698 Joshi, S., Kasaju, B., Karki, P., et al. (2022). *Smart Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/smart-canteen-management-system Dalal, M., & Barmare, Z. (2021). *Android Based Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/android-based-canteen-management-system Bagre, R., Akshatha, Y., Nanaiah, J. H., Sabri, M. M. A., & Karkera, N. S. (2020). *Smart Canteen Management System Using RFID*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/smart-canteen-management-system-using-rfid Borole, S. (2017). *Web based E-wallet Canteen Management System using RFID*. Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute. https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/web-based-e-wallet-canteen-management-system Kale, G., & Dube, S. (2020). *Web based E-wallet Canteen Management System using RFID*. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET). https://www.irjet.net/archives/V7/i8/IRJET-V7I8123.pdf Fegade, R., Nandge, G., Patil, P., Gaikwad, T., & Bastawade, P. P. (2019). *Canteen Management Android Application Using E-Wallet*. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 6(3), 6624-6628. https://www.irjet.net/archives/V6/i3/IRJET-V6I3123.pdf Lorusso, N., Tanda, A., & Malavasi, F. (2023). *A Review on Smart Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/a-review-on-smart-canteen-management-system Toma, S. T. F., et al. (2021). *Automated Canteen Management System Using NodeMCU and RFID*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/automated-canteen-management-system Jakhete, S., & Mankar, V. (2015). *Wireless Cost-Effective Touch Screen-Oriented Restaurant Managing System*. International Journal of Computer Applications,117(20). https://www.ijcaonline.org/archives/volume117/number20/20710-2015910173 Chitrakar, B., et al. (2021). *Better Management of Food Fabrication Systems During COVID-19*. Journal of Food Rahman, M. M. R. (2021). *Smart Canteen Management System*. International Engineering. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260877421001234Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology (IJSRCSEIT). https://www.academia.edu/44421029/SMART_CANTEEN_MANAGEMENT_SYSTEM Rony, M. M. R. (2021). *Canteen Management System Using RFID Technology Based on Cloud Computing*. International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology (Ijesrt). Anonymous. (2024). *School Canteen Management System*. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science (IRJMETS). https://www.irjmets.com/uploadedfiles/paper//issue_4_april_2024/53982/final/fin_irjmets1714418744.pdf Anonymous. (2013). *Cloud Based Canteen Management System*. International Journal of Research in Electronics & Applied Management (IJREAM), 2(8). https://www.ijream.org/papers/IJREAMV02I082013.pdf Anonymous. (2023). *Smart Cafeteria*. Journal of Survey in Fisheries Sciences. https://sifisheriessciences.com/journal/index.php/journal/article/download/802/783/1540 Anonymous. (2025). *Enhancing College Canteen Efficiency through Online Food Ordering*. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5091610 Anonymous. (2023). *An Internet of Things-Based Approach to Innovate Canteen Management*. Defence Technical Information Centre (DTIC). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1185013.pdf Anonymous. (2024). *Smart Serve Cafeteria Automation for Efficiency and Accuracy*. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 168977. https://ijirt.org/publishedpaper/IJIRT168977_PAPER.pdf Anonymous. (2022). *Implementation of a Smart Canteen System for a University Campus*. IEEE Conference Publication. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9780900 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8268462","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":554563230,"identity":"4005a09b-abd7-4f77-b7b0-ee9dcdaf95e0","order_by":0,"name":"Mugil Ignatius S","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mugil","middleName":"Ignatius","lastName":"S","suffix":""},{"id":554563231,"identity":"759b0317-b928-4080-9266-4c708bfb6d22","order_by":1,"name":"Naveen Kumar R","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Naveen","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"R","suffix":""},{"id":554563232,"identity":"ea32564e-a873-4ca7-927b-99c43680d080","order_by":2,"name":"Rithika V","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rithika","middleName":"","lastName":"V","suffix":""},{"id":554563233,"identity":"e713698d-e70c-4217-8f5e-35db8c52fe4f","order_by":3,"name":"Pradheep J S","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pradheep","middleName":"J","lastName":"S","suffix":""},{"id":554563234,"identity":"0dc04e01-4d6a-430c-a574-7a7e5aba67bb","order_by":4,"name":"Justin Jayaraj K","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Justin","middleName":"Jayaraj","lastName":"K","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-03 09:23:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97666484,"identity":"5ea5c2ef-431c-459b-8c39-5b48da8482d6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:21:20","extension":"jpg","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":48995,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/8596af244d40dd95c493a722.jpg"},{"id":97665194,"identity":"ff7f6c25-4d0b-4811-9aaf-22562f09047d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:17:13","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":131072,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/43ed7b2596e28bd9506c4013.docx"},{"id":97406655,"identity":"12848365-1271-4f50-b18b-d7cd1eb6d899","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:17","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":15341,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/20c082163b2a1a18dc792457.jpg"},{"id":97406657,"identity":"08081889-2297-486f-ac41-7ec7a3de1628","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":20746,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/13d00e10534f3d3e176c29c6.jpg"},{"id":97666435,"identity":"1023ecb3-fb18-447a-aba2-466f9d756f5e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:21:10","extension":"docx","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":15484,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Tables.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/5c56aa0af8048edf39470bb1.docx"},{"id":97406663,"identity":"492a722d-0123-4009-b4df-646a203c8e1b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"jpg","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":16927,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure4.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/dd5088fbc5b370aae19631f7.jpg"},{"id":97406664,"identity":"93769e65-64e9-413a-b18e-b9b2609383e1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"jpg","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":21542,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure5.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/b2994c292742dc13b3f6a748.jpg"},{"id":97406667,"identity":"21e558a0-c024-481c-8bbb-3fd1f828eca6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"jpg","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":12347,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Figure6.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/138a2921e855440449ff2ff3.jpg"},{"id":97406665,"identity":"77a8bbc2-eeb7-4d40-9f10-79dbb0c31a99","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"json","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":131072,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"62e252277b854186845d78ed859d0f4d.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/13bfa43a92113b1aa2d78500.json"},{"id":97406653,"identity":"a3fd4406-7d31-47b8-b250-114e7860b520","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:17","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":48995,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eOpinion of Convenience of users.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/ebf037583516375be98bd07f.jpg"},{"id":97665706,"identity":"b071678b-d798-4709-9b88-558e22a44f2e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:19:29","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":15341,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCustomer Opinion regarding delivery\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/30d728ffff14c26f16fd2e5c.jpg"},{"id":97666658,"identity":"c91c6d3d-a9b8-4ca5-b001-8ff940efcef8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:21:47","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":20746,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eUser Opinion about Website\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/fd33e08e09c08db8989f88fb.jpg"},{"id":97666758,"identity":"44f798bf-19b9-418c-99e8-f4afcea5d1e0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:22:03","extension":"jpg","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":16927,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eUser Opinion about Security\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure4.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/7ddb5e90f252d3cab5c85fc7.jpg"},{"id":97406659,"identity":"77e70902-c245-416c-9cf4-a16c23421919","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-04 04:03:18","extension":"jpg","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":21542,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eGender Preference of Smart Canteen System by users.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure5.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/8fe5d52f9bfbef10475c783c.jpg"},{"id":97666547,"identity":"8aeef1a9-cd96-4655-8f78-bd8e9f3fb725","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:21:31","extension":"jpg","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":12347,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eConceptual Model of Factors Influencing Smart Canteen.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Figure6.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/a2c36142db218b2e7e853605.jpg"},{"id":97677313,"identity":"72fc03d5-6243-4292-93cb-d06daea434ab","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:52:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":623670,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8268462/v1/447e6f43-4c45-434e-92ce-285aed1e6275.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Smart Canteen Management System with Real Time – Order Handling with Load Balancing","fulltext":[{"header":"I. INTRODUCTION","content":"\u003cp\u003eHigh percentage of adult learners in colleges in India are relying on canteens in their institutions to get their daily meals and this gives much weight to the importance of these food places in the lives of the students. In the interest of college curriculum, over half of all college students (about 53 percent) patronize their college canteen daily and buy food and drink with an average disposition of [?]50-[?]100 each daily [1]. The number of students in higher education amounts to almost 4.33 crore in the country, and the demand to have convenient, cheaper and hygienic canteen services is tremendous. The majority of students are fond of fast and fried food and such dishes as samosas, cold-drinks, noodles, pav bhaji are at the highest place in the popularity of the menu [1]. Although the campus canteen is not merely a food court, but rather a venue where people socialize and interact, in most cases, it struggles with the issues of food quality, nutrition as well as managing crowds and providing service in real-time. These trends and issues imply the necessity of new technologies in canteen management that would help to cope with the expectations of the students, optimize food preparation, and guarantee the efficient and healthy eating experience within the university.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the current digital age of innovation, technology is at the forefront in transforming the manner in which services are handled, consumed, and delivered in the day to day lives. The food industry is one of the many industries that have been radically changed with a drastic digitization and automation trend. The conventional canteen operation model, wherein people have to wait in long lines to order and pick the food, is typically ineffective, time-consuming and falls under human error. The need to be fast, transparent and provide excellent customer satisfaction has resulted in the need to adopt intelligent systems like the Smart Canteen Management System (SCMS). A smart canteen is not simply a digital ordering system, but a holistic solution with a connected automation, e-payments, and intelligent scheduling to streamline the work of the canteen and improve the overall experience of people at the table.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTraffic collision during ordering of food is one of the biggest challenges that canteens are likely to experience particularly at the busy times. This difficulty is more comprehensible with references to the traffic collisions in computer networks. In a network, when two or more data packets are transmitted at the same time and using a shared medium, there are collisions and hence, retransmission, delay and inefficiency. An identical scenario can be recorded in a canteen where a big number of customers attempt to place an order at once fighting either physically to get to the desk or by utilizing a computerized ordering program through online or simultaneous connections. These customer order collisions, just like those caused by the data packet collisions, will cause confusion, increase the waiting time, mismanagement of the resources, and bad service delivery. So, traffic optimization to prevent such collisions is an area of concern of a smart canteen system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Smart Canteen Management System uses similar concepts with the network traffic management to deal with this problem. Some of the techniques employed in networks such as: collision detection, collision avoidance, time slot allocation, and congestion control protocols are applied in order to facilitate smooth transmission of data. Similarly, in a smarter canteen, a system of pre-ordering, electronic tokens, temporal slots, and load balancing is brought in where optimization of customer traffic is implemented. Instead of letting all users flood the system or the counter at the same time, the orders are distributed in a smart manner over time and resources. Every customer request is handled as a packet of data and the system makes sure that it is passed, examined and delivered without any interference. Examples include the use of mobile applications where employees or students can order their food as they go hence, they are scheduled to be prepared and taken at a specific time slot. This technique helps to avoid overcrowding, delivery is done systematically and breakdown of services that happen during peak rush are avoided.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other point that further enhances this analogy is the acknowledgment and tracking mechanisms. In networks, data are not lost or duplicated; this is made possible by confirming the successful delivery of data in the form of acknowledgment packets. On the same note, an intelligent canteen means real time updates and follow-ups so that clients do not have to make repeat trips to the counter to check the status of their orders. This helps to increase transparency, less stress among canteen employees and earn customer confidence. Moreover, the smart canteen is doing a load balancing as orders are spread across the counters, preparation teams, or collection slots as well, in order to effectively use the available resources, as load balancing does with network traffic distribution among the servers to avoid network congestion.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are several advantages of optimal traffic collision at the time of ordering food. Customers have the benefit of less time wasting in waiting bays, greater accuracy in orders delivery and an easier dining experience. The administrators of the canteens can get a clearer insight into the demand trends, busy hours and the consumption of food materials, thereby enabling them to arrange resources more efficiently and minimize on the wastage of food. The efficiency of the staff is also enhanced as the stress caused by the management of disorderly queues is substituted with the orderly workflows with the help of the system. Most importantly, the level of customer satisfaction increases considerably, since the cases of delays and conflicts are reduced to a minimum. In a bigger context, the system is also related to the trend of digital and cashless working settings where the idea of contactless payments and minimizing reliance on manual procedures is promoted.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Smart Canteen Management System can thus be regarded as a network inspired optimization model that implements technical methods of controlling traffic flow and avoidance of collision to a food service scenario. Implementing the orders intaking of food as data packet and handling it using smart scheduling, token distribution, and load balancing, the system is able to avoid colliding and overloading of orders. The outcome is a dining ecosystem, which is more efficient, transparent, and easy to use. Besides, the system is very scalable and any institutions and organizations can manage increasing numbers of users without failure to the system. With digital payments, automated billing and analytical reporting, it does not only enhance day-to-day buses management of the canteen, but also gives long-term strategic information on customer behavior and utilization of resources.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"II. RELATED WORKS","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe use of digitization-based canteen services has been receiving frequent research attention, and the idea of Smart Canteen Management Systems (SCMS) has been proposed in multiple articles as the solution to the problems of manual operations inefficiency. Most of the literature published so far indicates the need to create mobile or web-based application to solve manual ordering and billing. Indicatively, the architecture of Android systems was described by such studies as Joshi et al., Dalal \u0026amp; Barmare, and Fegade et al. in which customers are able to navigate menus, order, and order history to save time in the queues. The other notable research driver is the incorporation of special purpose hardware and payment systems to facilitate operations. There are articles where the authors explore the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to recognize users and automatically pay them. Such systems normally relate an RFID card to a user account or e-wallet, which allow quick touch-less payments. Similarly, other reports have been focused on the application of cloud backends to process inventory and sales data or the application of IoT equipment to create a more connected and automated kitchen area. Even though these studies are effective in solving the problems of manual errors, payment operations, and just queue maintenance, they also overlook a highly significant scalability problem the congestion of the data. Many users can effectively cause a traffic collision as noted in this paper, by attempting to gain entry into a digital ordering system at they can. This digital bottleneck can lead to slow-downs and failures of payments and delays in the processing of orders within the system in other words, it recreates congestion that the system was meant to get rid of. The existing literature is primarily on the creation of the digital interface and payment portal, but it does not provide much analysis of handling the traffic of this data when it is under a heavy load. This paper bridges that specific gap. The introduction of the presented system is not solely the digitization of the canteen services, but the direct use of the network traffic control methods in controlling the data flow as well. The system is optimally configured to offer low latency and also ensure steady service delivery even during peak demand, by the implementation of bandwidth allocation, queue management and data prioritization of priority operations such as verification of payments and confirmation of orders. This work stands out of the previously used models because it is network based and is used to manage the digital canteen.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"III.\tOBJECTIVE","content":"\u003cp\u003eTo design a smart canteen management system that will automatically show display of menu, order, bill and processing of digital payment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo implement network traffic control methods to facilitate the efficient communication between the users, servers and administrators during peak periods.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"IV.\tRESEARCH METHODLOGY","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper aims at developing and testing a Smart Canteen Management System based on Network Traffic Control to achieve efficiency in this area and minimize the amount of waiting during peak times. To realize this purpose, a research is conducted within one of the academic institutions where the demand in using canteens is high and the quantity of data flow is high during the mealtimes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are organized and a structured framework is drawn and data is gathered on both canteen staff and users of the site which is the students. The research will attempt to determine how network traffic control processes can maximize address, and the manner in which users will be satisfied with the set up as far as speed, reliability, and convenience are concerned.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA system is rated by filling a questionnaire that has six sections:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ei) Knowledge of the current services of cafeterias online.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eii) Battery type (preferred method of placing orders- manual or digital)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eiii) The smart canteen system should be convenient and easy to use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eiv) Customer satisfaction levels with waiting time and speed of service.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ev) System interface design opinion and accessibility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe questionnaire will develop on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 (Strongly Disagree) and 5 (Strongly Agree) are the points. Awareness related questions will assist in undertaking research on whether students and staff know the available digital or semi- digital canteen services. Preference-based questions define whether the users would accept a traffic-controlled systems of smart canteen system compared to manual order. In order to gauge efficiency, questions pertaining to convenience are worded. The satisfaction level is assessed through inquiries concerning the response time of service and queue. The questions that are based on interface are considered to determine the degree of design expectations, whereas the reliability and security-based questions are aimed at the safe treatment of digital payments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter making the questionnaire, face-to-face survey is undertaken by describing the system features and then eliciting views of a sample of 250 respondents using the convenience sampling technique. The response analysis is performed to see whether the network traffic control integration provides a significant improvement in the efficiency and popularity of the smart canteen management system.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"V.\tRESULTS AND DISCUSSION","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA. WILLINGNESS OF A USER TO THE USE OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the opinion study, the researcher focuses on the young adult generation that is aged between 18 and 35 years, which is frequent users of the canteen services in an educational institution. There are 250 samples that are collected in various departments of the institution. First, the survey shows that there are both students and staff, who already know about the usage of digital ordering systems and those who do not utilize but are inclined to use the smart canteen system in the future provided they guarantee quicker services. This pilot survey will be required in order to go ahead with the structured questionnaire.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTABLE 1. The Willingness of the people to utilize Smart Canteen Management System.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"3\" cellpadding=\"0\"\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpinion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNo of Respondents\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 132px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWillingness in Future\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e120\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 132px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e120\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 54px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNo\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e130\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 132px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e94\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eB. CONVENIENCE FACET OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe samples obtained are analyzed using the six sections of questionnaire. The average response values are computed and reflected in Fig.1.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe convenience of the Smart Canteen Management System use involves five key points, namely the decreased waiting time, increased speed of processing orders, the availability of cashless/digital payment methods, real-time menu availability and stable network effectiveness during the busy time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe analysis reveals that the young adults attach the utmost weight on a reduced waiting time, which is the most attributed reason of adopting the system. This is then accompanied by the requirement to process orders and confirm payments faster which becomes a possibility through the application of network traffic control techniques. The second valuable aspect is the real time menu changes whereby customers choose their food wisely without misunderstanding or misinterpreting anything. Discoverability of online forms of payment was also appreciated by the respondents who were guaranteed of transparency and ease of transaction. Lastly, the network also had to be relatively reliable during the peak lunch hours which was also considered an important factor since continuous delivery is a requirement to the users.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eC. DELIVERY OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second factor of significance in the management of a smart canteen system is grounded on service delivery aspect. This will involve preparation and serving of food at the right time, food quality and accuracy in providing the ordered meals. These results in Fig. 2 reveal that the expected service of the canteen users like students or employees is that the service would serve them with proper food quality and in a period of time less than one hour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eD. SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: WEB ASPECT\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe interface design is the key factor to the users, i.e. a student or an employee, in regards to placing an order-to-order food via a smart canteen system. In this aspect comes the aesthetics of the interface (e.g., kiosks or mobile apps), responsiveness, usability and access to advanced menu entry. As shown in the data of Fig. 3, users of the site value the interface aesthetics, the responsiveness, and the presentation of an advanced menu equally. They also want interface to be ease to use. This implies that quality interface design would be high in the consideration of users when choosing their canteen service provider.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eE. SECURITY COMPONENT OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecurity is another factor to consider when managing a smart canteen system and it is also one of the significant factors in the food ordering service. This incorporates privacy of data, secure transactions and secure environment. According to the data provided in Fig. 4, such participants as students or employees are very concerned with the security of transactions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey demand that their personal information should be safeguarded. That is why, fully secured system will be chosen by users.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eF. SELECTING THE SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to the Table 2, interface design and then the security of the transactions is preferred by users like students or employees when adopting a smart canteen management system. Therefore, the two factors are put into consideration when making a perceptual mapping. This mapping would be used to define the most desirable smart canteen system in a particular place. As indicated in the Fig. 5, Canteen Pro is the most preferred and it is followed by the Smart Eats and Quick Serve, and finally the meal master.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTABLE 2. Significance conferred by the Customers to the Choose Smart Canteen Management System.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 107px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFactors\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 170px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u003cstrong\u003eValues\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 107px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eConvenience\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 170px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;3.74\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 107px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDelivery/Service \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 170px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;3.92\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 107px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eInterface Design \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 170px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;4.88\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 107px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSecurity \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 170px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;4.37\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eG. USER PERCEPTION OF SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStudying the correlation between gender and preference of a smart canteen management system by chi-square is done. As it can be observed in the Table 3, the obtained value is 0, which is less than 0.05. Thus, the correlation between gender and the smart canteen management system that they like the most is substantial.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eH. PREFERRED SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH0: The gender of the users is correlated with the preferred smart canteen management system It is concluded that there is a relationship between the gender of the users and the desired smart canteen management system as found in Table 3. This figure (Fig. 6) shows that the rate of attraction to Canteen Pro is high among the female users in contrast to the male users. Another fact that interests especially is the fact that there are no male users of Smart Eats and 34/85 users of Smart Eats are the females whose ordering food system is Smart Eats.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI. FACTORS THAT IMPACT ORDERS IN SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResearchers used regression analysis to determine the impact of convenience, delivery/service, interface design, and security on selecting a smart canteen management system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTABLE 3. \u0026nbsp; Regression Analysis of Factors Affecting System Selection\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFactors\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCoefficient of Factors Influencing Selection\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSig values\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.12\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.001\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eConvenience\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.08\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.053\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDelivery\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.15\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.051\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWebsite\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.17\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.051\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSecurity\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.14\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.016\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe factors that influence the user to choose a smart canteen management system have a coefficient as in the form of equation (1): Y = 0.08X 1 + 0.15X 2 + 2.17X 3 + 1.14X 4 + 5.12 (1) Y is the one that is represented by the coefficient factor X 1 - Convenience, X 2 - Delivery/Service, X 3 - Interface Design, and X 4 - security.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs shown in the Table 3 and Fig. 6, the Interface Design was the most relevant factor that could make users choose a smart canteen management system, then Security then Delivery/Service and then Convenience. The users want the interface (i.e., kiosks or apps) to be appealing and user-friendly and provide various menu options. They also anticipate that their personal information will not be exposed to other persons.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJ. IMPORTANCE OF INTERFACE DESIGN ON SMART CANTEEN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AMONG STUDENTS\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo determine the changes in the significance of the interface design in the smart canteen management system among the students, independent t-test is employed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH0: The significance of the students on interface design of smart canteen management system varies with the gender.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"CONCLUSION ","content":"\u003cp\u003eStudents are eager to embrace recent technologies to their fullest potential and are highly familiar with smart canteen management systems. The majority are existing users of these systems, while others are also willing to adopt them in the future. Students place greater importance on interface design and security when selecting a smart canteen management system.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eACKNOWLEDGEMENT\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe findings herein reflect the work, and are solely the responsibility of the authors.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAuti, P., Bawankar, M., Bochare, P., Harane, V., \u0026amp; Rajgure, N. K. (2023). *A Review on Smart Canteen Management System*International Journal for Research in Applied Science\u0026amp;Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.56698\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJoshi, S., Kasaju, B., Karki, P., et al. (2022). *Smart Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science \u0026amp; Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/smart-canteen-management-system\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDalal, M., \u0026amp; Barmare, Z. (2021). *Android Based Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science \u0026amp; Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/android-based-canteen-management-system\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBagre, R., Akshatha, Y., Nanaiah, J. H., Sabri, M. M. A., \u0026amp; Karkera, N. S. (2020). *Smart Canteen Management System Using RFID*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science \u0026amp; Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/smart-canteen-management-system-using-rfid\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBorole, S. (2017). *Web based E-wallet Canteen Management System using RFID*. Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute. https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/web-based-e-wallet-canteen-management-system\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKale, G., \u0026amp; Dube, S. (2020). *Web based E-wallet Canteen Management System using RFID*. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET). https://www.irjet.net/archives/V7/i8/IRJET-V7I8123.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFegade, R., Nandge, G., Patil, P., Gaikwad, T., \u0026amp; Bastawade, P. P. (2019). *Canteen Management Android Application Using E-Wallet*. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 6(3), 6624-6628. https://www.irjet.net/archives/V6/i3/IRJET-V6I3123.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLorusso, N., Tanda, A., \u0026amp; Malavasi, F. (2023). *A Review on Smart Canteen Management System*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science \u0026amp; Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/a-review-on-smart-canteen-management-system\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eToma, S. T. F., et al. (2021). *Automated Canteen Management System Using NodeMCU and RFID*. International Journal for Research in Applied Science \u0026amp; Engineering Technology (IJRASET). https://www.ijraset.com/research-paper/automated-canteen-management-system\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJakhete, S., \u0026amp; Mankar, V. (2015). *Wireless Cost-Effective Touch Screen-Oriented Restaurant Managing System*. International Journal of Computer Applications,117(20). https://www.ijcaonline.org/archives/volume117/number20/20710-2015910173\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChitrakar, B., et al. (2021). *Better Management of Food Fabrication Systems During COVID-19*. Journal of Food\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRahman, M. M. R. (2021). *Smart Canteen Management System*. International Engineering. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260877421001234Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology (IJSRCSEIT). https://www.academia.edu/44421029/SMART_CANTEEN_MANAGEMENT_SYSTEM\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRony, M. M. R. (2021). *Canteen Management System Using RFID Technology Based on Cloud Computing*. International Journal of Engineering Sciences \u0026amp; Research Technology (Ijesrt).\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2024). *School Canteen Management System*. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science (IRJMETS). https://www.irjmets.com/uploadedfiles/paper//issue_4_april_2024/53982/final/fin_irjmets1714418744.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2013). *Cloud Based Canteen Management System*. International Journal of Research in Electronics \u0026amp; Applied Management (IJREAM), 2(8). https://www.ijream.org/papers/IJREAMV02I082013.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2023). *Smart Cafeteria*. Journal of Survey in Fisheries Sciences. https://sifisheriessciences.com/journal/index.php/journal/article/download/802/783/1540\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2025). *Enhancing College Canteen Efficiency through Online Food Ordering*. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5091610\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2023). *An Internet of Things-Based Approach to Innovate Canteen Management*. Defence Technical Information Centre (DTIC). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1185013.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2024). *Smart Serve Cafeteria Automation for Efficiency and Accuracy*. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 168977. https://ijirt.org/publishedpaper/IJIRT168977_PAPER.pdf\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnonymous. (2022). *Implementation of a Smart Canteen System for a University Campus*. IEEE Conference Publication. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9780900\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Smart Canteen Management System (SCMS), Network Traffic Control, Congestion Management, Queue Management, Collision Avoidance, Load Balancing, Digital Payments, Automation, User Satisfaction, Interface Design, System Security, Waiting Time, Real-time Updates","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The proposed Smart Canteen Management System with Network Traffic Control is suggested to streamline the processes within the canteen to provide fluid and digital operations and make sure that the flow of data is managed effectively. Some of the problems with the traditional canteens include long queue, errors in manual billing, delays in payment and overcrowding during peak operational hours. The suggested system will implement a centralized canteen management system that will deal with taking orders, menu change requests, online payments, and billing via a web or mobile app. One of the notable inventions of this system is the use of network traffic control measures in the management of the exchange of data between client devices and the central server. The system will be able to maintain low latency, less congestion and continuous delivery of service even when there is heavy traffic by prioritizing such critical operations as order confirmation, payment authorization and update on the stock position. The bandwidth allocation and queue management methods are used to eliminate bottlenecks and streamline the performance. These proximal saves time on key areas of waiting, sales and transactions and honors user satisfaction as the administrators of the canteen could view sales, transaction and inventory levels in real time.","manuscriptTitle":"Smart Canteen Management System with Real Time – Order Handling with Load Balancing","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-04 04:03:13","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8268462/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"df3cc50d-fc20-4dc0-a008-b691a2d3d8d3","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 4th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-07T03:08:25+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-04 04:03:13","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8268462","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8268462","identity":"rs-8268462","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}