Real-time transmission of panoramic images for a telepresence wheelchair

2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

2016

Self Cite

Mobile wireless network technology has grown rapidly over the past decade with emerging applications and services. Particularly, the fourth generation (4G) cellular network has acted as a bridge between telecommunication technology and daily life applications. In this paper, we present an investigation into a telepresence wheelchair in outdoor environments employing cellular network infrastructure instead of using local wireless networks in indoor environments. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate remote interaction and control from a long distance and across countries. A large amount of communication data based on real network measurements was collected and analyzed to evaluate the system performance. The experimental results show that a wheelchair system can be controlled remotely in real-time with the acceptable round trip time of less than 400 ms. The results reveal the feasibility of using the 4G network for a telepresence wheelchair in healthcare applications.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A telepresence wheelchair using cellular network infrastructure in outdoor environments

2016 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

2016

Self Cite

“…Our research group has recently demonstrated a telepresence wheelchair based on the Internet protocols and the Skype cross-platforms [3,7]. Our prior attempts have achieved some degrees of success in software and hardware development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Motivated by the above observation, this paper proposes new development in emerging information technology for an assistive system for healthcare applications. Compared to the previous works [3,7], the current work invokes the novel video communication framework to improve the performance of a telepresence wheelchair system further. More specifically, the aim of this study is to present a novel technical solution to the telepresence wheelchair system based on WebRTC for people with disabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-time WebRTC-based design for a telepresence wheelchair

Chai

2017 39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

2017

Self Cite

This paper presents a novel approach to the telepresence wheelchair system which is capable of real-time video communication and remote interaction. The investigation of this emerging technology aims at providing a low-cost and efficient way for assisted-living of people with disabilities. The proposed system has been designed and developed by deploying the JavaScript with Hyper Text Markup Language 5 (HTML5) and Web Real-time Communication (WebRTC) in which the adaptive rate control algorithm for video transmission is invoked. We conducted experiments in real-world environments, and the wheelchair was controlled from a distance using the Internet browser to compare with existing methods. The results show that the adaptively encoded video streaming rate matches the available bandwidth. The video streaming is high-quality with approximately 30 frames per second (fps) and round trip time less than 20 milliseconds (ms). These performance results confirm that the WebRTC approach is a potential method for developing a telepresence wheelchair system.

“…A telepresence wheelchair is a system that allows a person to control the wheelchair without actually being there. The telepresence wheelchair has attracted increasing attention from academia, industry, society, and so on, but technical challenges remain to improve the telepresence wheelchairs [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, spherical cameras have been introduced for a 360degree view. These have been previously explored in academic research projects for telepresence with a full view [1]. It has been proven that the solution for telepresence systems with a spherical camera is feasible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-time video streaming with multi-camera for a telepresence wheelchair

2016 14th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision (ICARCV)

2016

Self Cite

This paper presents a new approach for telepresence wheelchairs equipped with multiple cameras. The aim of this system is to provide effective assistance for the elderly and people with disabilities. The work explores the integration of the Internet of Things, such as multimedia, wireless Internet communication, and automation control techniques into a powered wheelchair system. In particular, multiple videos are streamed in real-time from an array of cameras mounted on the wheelchair, allowing wide visualization surrounding the wheelchair. By using video communication and interaction, remote users can assist to navigate a wheelchair via the Internet through wireless connections in a distant location. The experimental results show that video streaming can achieve highquality video with the streaming rate up to 30 frames per second (fps) in real-time. The average round-trip time is under 27 milliseconds (ms). The results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed system for tele-monitoring and remote control to achieve safer navigation tasks for wheelchair users.