Context-Aware Assistive Indoor Navigation of Visually Impaired Persons

Abstract

This paper presents an approach for context awareness in navigation for visually impaired persons via sensor-based obstacle detection, obstacle recognition, sensor fusion, and walking context analysis. Sonar and vision sensor data are fused using a complementary sensor fusion approach. A wearable belt has sonar and vision sensors that detect and recognize obstacles, respectively. A fuzzy logic model is used for safety aspect handling during visually impaired navigation. Walking context analysis handles decisions on the current walking status by using clues acquired from the smartphone application and obstacle detection process. Feedback is provided via audio and tactile cues. The usability evaluation experiment using the proof-ofconcept reveals positive results and other areas of investigation have been identified.

A Systematic Review of Wearable Devices for Orientation and Mobility of Adults With Visual Impairment and Blindness

“…Silva and Wimalaratne [63], [64] developed a belt with ultrasonic sensors to assist indoor navigation. While in [63], Silva and Wimalaratne initially focused only on the obstacle's detection and the fuzzy logic model to assess the safety level of the environment, in [64], they added the object recognition model by fusing sonar and vision sensors.…”

“…Examples include Bai et al [27] and Mocanu et al [54] that added an ultrasonic sensor to compensate for the limitations of the camera (transparent objects, larger obstructions like walls or doors). The combination of ultrasonic sensors and computer-based technologies reported positive evaluations, including high accuracy in obstacles detection [64], decrease in navigation time [32], [65], reduction of collisions [34], [48], and detection of complex obstacles such as stairs [64], and moving obstacles [54].…”

“…We also observed that 16 studies (26.23%) reported smartphone connection. The use of smartphones varied from processing units [28], [34], [47], [54], capturing devices -camera [54], [64] and GPS [69] -, external communication [58], [67], [70] and user interface [1], [28], [47], [49], [62]- [64], [68], [70]. Gao et al [36] reported Bluetooth connection from prototype to smartphone.…”

A Bibliometric Narrative Review on Modern Navigation Aids for People with Visual Impairment

“…From the perspective of requirement, 'accessibility', 'mobility', and 'wearable' are among the most popular keywords. The specific requirements of the system include: (1) detecting, recognizing, and avoiding objects [42,43]; (2) situational awareness [44]; (3) smartphone-based [45] mobile applications [46]; and (4) audio [47] and haptic feedbacks [48]. Furthermore, it can be seen in Figure 7 that the research hotspots in the last three years are CNN, assistive wearable devices, facial recognition in video streaming, infrared sensors, object recognition, and deep learning.…”

Development of Walking Assistive Cane for Obstacle Detection and Location Recognition for Visually Impaired People

“…There have been many other studies on walking assistive devices for visually impaired people, but most of them had problems with the cost and recognizing the user's location. (9)(10)(11) Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a cost-effective device with various functions such as obstacle detection, location recognition, and the provision of safety in dark environments by considering usability regardless of age and country. (12)(13)(14) In this study, we developed a cost-effective walking assistive cane that can recognize the current location for visually impaired people.…”