For software, there are two main ways of claiming intellectual property. Firstly, your work would automatically be covered by copyright. However, that will not protect the essential idea in your project. Anybody else could re-implement the idea on their own and sidestep your copyright.
Alternatively, to protect the main idea itself, you could attempt to patent its implementation, which seems to be what you're thinking. From what you've disclosed here, there is no way to advise whether it would be patentable. But you certainly can try.
However... Getting a patent is a costly, lengthy and difficult process, especially for a student. Moreover, it can take many years for a patent to issue -- if it does at all -- and until then you cannot (usually) enforce it to keep others from doing the same thing. Your project will likely be long done by then, so you probably would not be able to prevent others from doing it while you're working on the project. You could tell everyone that it is "patent-pending" and hope that is enough discourage competitors.
After it issues, on the other hand, you can try to enforce it or license it.
However... Understand that nobody is automatically obligated to come to you for a license. You will have to find them, approach them, and get them to either license or cease & desist.
That, again, is a very complicated proposition...
- Your claims, as allowed, might not cover the other's work because they do it differently.
- The market for the invention, or of the infringing products, may be very small, and the value of the license may be low.
- Even if it is actually infringed, the infringer may not wish to license it from you, and your only option at that time would be a lawsuit, an even more mind-bogglingly costly, lengthy and difficult prospect, for which you may need to turn to a "patent assertion entity."
However... You could choose to bring the invention to market yourself, and having a patent does help in securing investments and VC funding. The coverage of the claims and infringement potential would not be a huge concern in that case.
Alternatively, if you do get good claims, and products with high market value do infringe it, and you do get good representation, and do get it licensed, you could make decent money off it.
I may sound discouraging, but there are a lot of common misconceptions about what patents really cover, and the ease of securing and licensing patents. What I'm saying is, a patent may be a good option, but think it through carefully, and only go for it if you really think it's going to be worth it.