Interactive navigation system for the visually impaired with auditory and haptic cues in crosswalks, indoors and urban areas

Abstract

This Federal Highway sponsored study is aimed at creating an integrated human-computer system that the visually impaired could use to navigate through chaotic urban areas, indoors environment, as well as complex crosswalks. The system incorporates several redundant positioning systems in order to provide a robust solution to way finding. The main system components include global positioning system (GPS), visual odometry, pedometry, iPhone, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) radios, and tactile belt. The user will wear a laptop that contains a data processing program that collects data real-time from the devices and provides navigational feedback to the user’s iPhone app and tactile belt.