INTRODUCTION:

Blind mobility is one of the main challenges that scientists are still facing around different parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 0.4% of the population is blind in industrialized countries while the percentage is rising to 1% in developing countries. The simplest and most widely used travelling aid used by all blinds is the white cane. It has provided those people with a better way to reach destination and detect obstacles on ground, but it cannot give them a high guarantee to protect themselves and being away from all level of obstacles. With the recent advances in assistive technology, it is possible to extend the support provided to blind people taking into consideration the concept of the white cane. Wearable and portable assistive technologies are also used for assisting people with disabilities such as the blind. Wearable devices are allowing hands-free interaction, or at least minimizing the use of hands when using the device, while portable assistive devices required a constant hand interaction. Wearable technology is achieved by devices that are actually worn on the body such as: assistive devices worn on fingers and hands, assistive devices worn on the wrist and forearm, assistive devices worn on the tongue, head mounted assistive devices, vests and belts, and assistive devices worn on the feet. Despite efforts and the great variety of wearable assistive devices available, user acceptance is quite low and the white cane will continue to be the most assistive devices for the blind. Historically, there are various types of assistive technologies that are currently available to blind or visually impaired people. One example is the smart phone, which addresses some of the concerns that the blind and partially sighted people needed in their daily life. The smart phones allow those people to listen to voice mails and even write and send emails. Another example refers to the electronic oriented aids, is the laser or ultrasonic. In this technology, energy waves are emitted ahead, then it is reflected from obstacles in the path of the user and detected by a matching sensor. Thus, the distance to the obstacle is calculated according to the time variance between the two signals.

MODULES:

In this project we are using four modules:

1. Beep Generator

2. Voice Message for Object Detector

3. Alert Message for Family Member

4. Alert Message for Police Station

Block diagram for above modules description:

Fig: Block Diagram

BEEP GENERATOR:

Beep generator provides sound with the help of ultrasonic sensor when any object is near to the blind person while crossing the road. The ultrasonic sensor determines the distance between obstacle in front of the stick and the system. To accomplish this, the sensor sends out ultrasonic bursts of acoustic energy through an ultrasonic transducer and detects the echo that results from an obstacle in the beam path. The elapsed time between the initial transmission and the detection of an echo can be measured; hence the distance of an obstacle can be calculated. The interface output formats of the ultrasonic sensor used in this project include pulse width output, analog voltage output, and serial output.

VOICE MESSAGE FOR OBJECT DETECTOR:

Ultrasonic technology is used in the same principle as laser technique, it used different tones to indicate the distance of the object. when blind person crossing a road if any vehicle are nearest to the blind person that time sensor detect the object and generate the voice message to indicate the direction with the help of voice recording IC. Computer speakers range widely in quality and in price. The computer speakers typically packaged with computer systems are small, plastic, and have mediocre sound quality. Some computer speakers have equalization features such as bass and treble controls.

ALERT MESSAGE FOR FAMILY MEMBER:

SIM900 is used as a GSM modem and is used to send SMS Messages to the remotely located Monitoring unit.

The GSM standard was developed as a replacement for first generation (1G) analog cellular networks, and originally described a digital, circuit-switched network optimized for full duplex voice telephony. This was expanded over time to include data communications, first by circuit-switched transport, then packet data transport.

ALERT MESSAGE FOR POLICE STATION

One’s exact location (longitude, latitude and height co-ordinates) accurate to within a range of 20 m to approx. Speed and direction of travel (course) can be derived from these co-ordinates as well as the time. The coordinates and time values are determined by 28 satellites orbiting the Earth. Speed and direction of travel (course) can be derived from these co-ordinates as well as the time. The coordinates and time values are determined by 28 satellites orbiting the Earth.

OBJECTIVES:

Currently, blind people use a traditional cane as a tool for directing them when they move from one place to another.

Although, the traditional cane is the most widespread means that is used today by the visually impaired people, it could not help them to detect dangers from all levels of obstacles.

In this context, we propose a new intelligent system for guiding individuals who are blind or partially sighted.

The system is used to enable blind people to move with the same ease and confidence as a sighted people.

The system is linked with a GSM-GPS module to pin-point the location of the blind person and to establish a two way communication path in a wireless fashion.

APPLICATIONS:

We have integrated the ultrasonic, accelerometer sensor data in order to detect obstacles, and to obtain more detailed regarding the blind’s environment. The objective of the paper is to discuss the development work of a cane that could communicate with the users through voice alert and vibration, which is named Smart Cane which involves coding and physical installation. This Cane is used like the widely used white cane, where the user holds the Cane in front of the user while walking. This Cane is considerably heavier than the white cane, because it uses a ultrasonic sensor. This Cane is far heavier than the Ordinary white cane and also it is hard to keep because it cannot be folded.

CONCLUSION:

In this project, we have presented new intelligent system for guiding individuals who are blind or partially sighted, and we have described how the system can be used to enable those people to move with the same ease and confidence as a sighted people. In order to incorporate the properties of the GSM_GPS module, we have developed another module that comprising different sensing devices and pic16f877 microcontroller. The system has been used to receive the data from the sensing devices and command the GSM module. We have integrated the ultrasonic, accelerometer sensor data in order to detect obstacles, and to obtain more detailed regarding the blind’s environment. Evaluations of the system that we have developed have been conducted by attaching the prototype to the handle of the white of the system in allowing blind people cane.

FUTURE SCOPE:

The scope of this project is to develop a low-cost intelligent system capable of assisting the blind and visually impaired without the help of sighted person. The system is a GSM-GPS based so that it takes the advantages of the GSM network such as the popularity and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, GSM-GPS module have been used in different areas of human activity, such as the navigation of vehicles and navigation aids to guide visually impaired pedestrian and let them to avoid obstacles and reach their destination. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The next section will explain the related work. In section III, we explain the system architecture, hardware and software design. In section IV, experiments were performed and the results are explained. Finally, we conclude and discuss future work in section.

REFERENCES:

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Received on 21.05.2016 Accepted on 04.06.2016

Int. J. Tech. 2016; 6(1): 11-13

DOI: 10.5958/2231-3915.2016.00003.1