1Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 33, Zip-code 123, Oman
2Student, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, USA
3Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 33, Zip-code 123, Oman
4Student, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 33, Zip-code 123, Oman
*Corresponding Author E-mail Id: *afaq@squ.edu.om
Given the importance of computers in the world today, almost every item produce is calculated, quantified and documented. It is, therefore, crucial for human societies to develop methods of facilitating these processes. The Universal Production Code (UPC) is one such method, a standard which not many consumers have knowledge of but in probability encounter items with the UPC code on a daily basis. The importance of the UPC as well as its ubiquity serves as the motivation of the following paper. It mainly consists of research that is readily available online but also explores how the coding, the application of parity error check, and the mod theory application are involved to the UPC. The paper also presents some useful simulation experiments in MATLAB as teaching aid.
Understanding and interpreting the UPC equips one with the knowledge of doing business in a more efficient manner. As opposed to manual entry, the early method of documenting and quantifying products, the barcode system allows companies to track their items at a much faster rate; at a lower cost while simultaneously preventing error (UPC code is 10,000 times more accurate than manual entering).
Universal Product code, Barcode, Error check, Parity, Mod
