Cheating Detector

This machine can "detect" tiny headphones sewn into clothes or placed deep in the ear that the examiner cannot detect.

Mr. Ton That Truong Nam explains his exam cheating detection machine. Photo: Trung Tan

Mr. Ton That Truong Nam (29 years old), a technician at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, Tay Nguyen University, has created a device that can detect cheating in exams. This device is being used at the school.

According to Mr. Nam, there are currently super small devices on the market such as music players and headphones that use Bluetooth, WiFi waves... to cheat in exams. Many super small headphones are placed deep in the ear canal, making it impossible for the invigilator to detect. These devices are quite cheap, so they are "trusted" by students.

Mr. Nam said his device can measure electric field waves from sounds emitted from phone speakers and tiny headphones placed in the ear from a distance of 8-10m.

This device can be held in the hands of the invigilator to "scan" in the examination rooms. The device will light up when there is an audio signal (from micro devices) outside the examination room. Just point the antenna into the classroom, the device will locate the student who is cheating to request an examination.

"There were students who used their phones to connect to the outside world to read and copy, but they were still discovered. There was a case where a student who cheated in class was caught, but the person outside was still reading the lesson enthusiastically and asking 'Are you done yet?'. It was only when the lecturers answered 'Yes,' that the other person realized he had been exposed," said Nam.

Mr. Nam added that nowadays many phones and sound transmitters through super small headphones are made very sophisticatedly.

"Once we detected sound waves coming from an exam room, and searched to the exact location where the sound was coming from, but we couldn't find the transmitter. Only later did we discover that the "phone" the student was using looked like an ATM card, clipped in his wallet.

Once, a student was caught using a tiny device sewn into his shirt... If there was no detector, cheating would definitely not be detected" - Mr. Nam added.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Trung Dung - Vice Principal of Tay Nguyen University - affirmed that through the exams, the school knows that many students use high-tech electronic devices such as phones, signal transmitters, micro-headphones... to cheat in exams. However, it is impossible for the invigilators to search each student every time there is an exam, as this is very anti-educational.

"That reality requires electronic devices that can detect from a distance without affecting students' exam psychology," said Mr. Dung./.

According to TTO