International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

E-ISSN 0976-3945

Research Paper

INDOOR NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSON USING GPS

Dr. Boyina.S.Rao, Ms. K.Deepa, Hari Prasanth.L, Vivek.S, Nanda Kumar.S, Rajendhiran.A, Saravana.J

Address for Correspondence

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Kalaignar Karunanidhi Institute of Technology Coimbatore, India ABSTRACT
This paper presents the architecture as well as the implementation of the system that helps the visually impaired person to navigate autonomously in the indoor environment. This method utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) and it also incorporates object avoidance technologies. The system applies a zigbee protocol to provide the continuous tracking of the visually impaired person. It also consists of additional components like ATMEGA microcontroller, ultrasonic sensor and microphone to provide more refined location and orientation information. The visually impaired person issues the command and receives the direction response using audio signals. The latitude and longitude values are received continuously from the GPS receiver and then transferred to the PC using the zigbee transceivers, using these values the localization of the visually impaired person is attained using Google map.

KEYWORDS localization; visually impaired; zigbee; navigation. handwriting and gesture recognition. This approach is I. INTRODUCTION The goal of this work is to allow the visually more applicable to natural terrain environments. impaired persons navigate independently in the Similar approach is used for registration in urban indoor environment. Conventional navigational environment with the exception that the line of sight systems in the indoor environment are expensive and is registered by comparing the video frame or digital its manufacturing is time consuming. The visually image with a 3D virtual GIS model [8,9]. impaired are at considerable disadvantage as they This system completely depends on Virtual Mapping often lack the information needed while passing with object identification. The elements required to obstacles and hazards. They have relatively little perform the guidance process includes defining the information about land marks, heading and self destination or target, identifying the current position velocity information that is essential to navigate them of the blind person and finally determining the best successfully through unfamiliar environments. In this path to be taken to reach the desired destination. In modern world providing security to each and every order to identify user position, the guidance system human being in life gains a major consideration. utilizes Zigbee based localization engine technique Everyone has realized the need to secure themselves that continuously updates the server with the user against hazards and unauthorized dealings. This work location. A digital compass located in the push aims at providing the navigation for the visually mobile cart enables the system to identify the user impaired persons, by designing a cost effective and orientation. The proximity sensors incorporated in the more flexible navigation system. It is our belief that mobile push cart enable the detection of obstacles. the recent advances in technologies could help and The user of the guidance system pushes the cart that facilitate in day day operations of visually impaired houses hardware components in front of him/her persons. while walking. The cart rolls on passive wheels that support its weight during regular operation. Also the II. RELATED WORK In 1991, Golledge et al; were the earliest to propose wheels are equipped with encoders to determine the the use of GIS, GPS, speech, and sonic sensor relative motion of the user. This information is used components for navigation in a progress notes on the to refine the system localization process. Thus if status of GIS [4]. MOBIC is a GPS based travel aid there exists any objects in front of the user, the object which uses a speech synthesizer to recite the will be identified and it will informed to the user for predetermined travel journey plans [5]. This test the object identification. Thus the navigation is prototype is implemented on a handheld computer carried out in this method [1]. III. LIMITATIONS IN THE EXISTING METHOD with preloaded digital maps and limited wireless Blind Navigation system using virtual mapping capabilities to get latest information from a remote method is very costly. The manufacturing time is database. A similar system was implemented by very high since the virtual mapping has to be carried Golledge et al; using a wearable computer [4]. This out throughout the indoor environment. This method test prototype is implemented on a handheld is applicable only for short distance. Once this computer with preloaded digital maps and limited method is designed to use in a particular area, it can wireless capabilities to get latest information from a be used only in that area, this system cannot be remote database. A similar system was implemented relocated to use in any other place. This method by Golledge et al; using a wearable computer [6]. focuses on digital compass for direction Similar kind of systems are developed by researchers identification, but this compass will be useful only in which current position of the user is used to for long distance navigation which is not possible in overlay textual annotation and relevant information this method. This system cannot be used in public from their web servers to coincide with the image places like airports, hospitals, malls and public parks captured through their head mounted display [6,7]. since the construction and design for the entire Smart Sight, the tourist assistant developed by Yang system cannot be carried out in such a big places and et al; is a slight variation to this approach. It gives this method is used only for a single user. If the user multi-modal interface, which includes voice, IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/40-43

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology indoor environment has to be modified or if it has been changed according to the users convenience, then again the reconstruction for the whole system and design is required, which is time consuming and costly for the whole system to be redesigned. Once the virtual mapping is used throughout the indoor environment and if there exist any change in the value, then the whole system and design has to be reconstructed. If the proximity sensor sends the signal towards any object, that object will be informed to the user unnecessarily since it creates the confusion and it increases the panic level of the user to move forward. The destination setting is quite difficult, since the comparison takes a long time. IV. PROPOSED METHOD In order to overcome the difficulties in the existing method and to provide the cost effective and user friendly system for blind navigation, the following designed is carried out. A. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Fig 1 shows that this project mainly consists of eight parts namely Micro controller, GPS receiver, Zigbee transceiver, Ultrasonic sensor, HM 2007, APR 9600, Keypad and LCD display. The software in this project comprises of embedded c coding which is used in the micro controller and visual basic 6 is used for receiving the GPS value in the system. (i) MicroController The MicroController used in this system is ATMEGA 164PV since it is necessary to provide the dual serial communication which is possible using this controller. This controller provides the High performance and it consumes very less power. (ii) GPS Receiver The GPS receiver used in this project is iTRAX02 which produces and interprets message in accordance with the National Marine Electronics Association Standards (NMEA). It provides the latitude, longitude values of every position in this world. (iii) Zigbee Transceiver The wireless protocol is provided to the system using the Zigbee transceivers. This wireless transceiver is used to provide the continuous transmission of GPS values to the system. (iv) Ultrasonic Sensor In order to provide the Obstacle Avoidance, Ultrasonic sensor is used. The Ultrasonic sensor has the maximum range of 10.7 metres, which is far more than normally required. The current consumption is about 2.5 Amps during the sonic burst is exposed. It has the short 10uS pulse as the trigger input to start the ranging. The sensor will send out an 8 cycle burst of ultrasound at 40 kHz and raise its echo line high. It then listens for an echo, and as soon as it detects one it lowers the echo line again. The echo line is therefore a pulse whose width is proportional to the distance to the object. By timing the pulse it is possible to calculate the range in inches/centimeters or anything else. If nothing is detected then the sensor will lower its echo line anyway after about 36mS. (v) HM2007 HM2007 is a single chip CMOS voice recognition LSI circuit with the on chip analog front end, Voice IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/40-43

E-ISSN 0976-3945

analysis, recognition process and the system control functions.The speech recognition system is a completely assembled and easy to use programmable speech recognition circuit. It has 8 bit data out which can be interfaced with any microcontroller for further development. (vi) APR 9600 APR 9600 is a low cost high performance sound record/reply IC incorporating flash analogue storage technique. This circuit is designed to record the voice signal. The microphone is used to pick up the voice signal. Then the signal is given to APR 600 multi section sound record and replay IC. Record sound is retained even after power supply is removed from the module. The replayed sound exhibits high quality with low noise level. Total sound recording time can be varied from 32 seconds to 60 seconds by changing the value of a single resistor. The IC can operate in two mode such as serial mode and parallel mode. (vii) Keypad The keypad used in this project consists of 5 keys namely increment, decrement and enter key. This keypad is used to type the GPS values for setting the destination. (viii) Liquid Crystal Display The key material of the liquid crystal display is the liquid crystal or neumatic fluid. This neumatic fluid is sandwiched between two glass plates. An AC voltage is applied across the neumatic fluid, from the top metalized segments to the metalized back plane. When affected by magnetic field of the AC voltage, the neumatic fluids transmit light differently and energized segment appear as the black on a silvery background. One such LCD is used in this project. It is used to view the position of the system using the GPS values updated; otherwise the distance between the system and the obstacle will be displayed. (ix) Speaker The speaker is used in this project for guiding the visually impaired persons to navigate independently by amplifying the pre-defined voice signals. (x) Max 232 In telecommunications, RS-232 is a standard for serial binary data interconnection between a DTE (Data terminal equipment) and a DCE (Data Circuitterminating Equipment). It is commonly used in computer serial ports. In order to provide the communication between the Zigbee transceiver and the PC, MAX 232 IC is used. Since the Zigbee accepts the positive and negative values as 5V and 0V where as the PC accepts the positive and negative values as +12V and -12V. (xi) Power Supply Circuit Since all electronic circuit work only with low D.C. voltage we need a power supply unit to provide the appropriate voltage supply. This unit consists of battery, rectifier, filter and regulator. AC voltage (typically 230 V rms) is connected to a transformer, which steps that AC voltage down to the level to the desired AC voltage. A diode rectifier then provides a full wave rectified voltage that is initially filtered by a simple capacitor filter to produce a DC voltage. This resulting DC voltage usually has some ripple or AC voltage components. A regulator circuit use this

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology DC input to provide DC voltage with muss less ripple voltage and remains constant in spite of the variations in the input DC voltage or changes in the load.

E-ISSN 0976-3945

the PC. The digital value received in the zigbee transceiver connected to the PC has the positive and negative values which have been received as +5v and 0V. The Max 232 IC is used to interface the zigbee transceiver and the PC, since the PC accepts the values as +12V and -12V. Thus the values are continuously transmitted between the transceiver and the PC. The values received in the PC are observed using the visual Basic 6 and it is linked to the Google map. Hardware implementation of navigational system is shown in Fig 2.

Fig 1. General block diagram (Tx and Rx section) V. WORKING OPERATION This project uses all the above mentioned parts. The GPS (Global Positioning system) receiver continuously receives the latitude and longitude values for every position of the system and it is interfaced with the Microcontroller to display the values in the liquid crystal display. The Microcontroller is programmed to interface the ultrasonic sensor to distinguish the distance between the ultrasonic transceiver and the obstacle to maintain at 10inch and above. The ultrasonic transmitter continuously transmits the sound waves with a frequency of 40KHZ using the oscillator inbuilt in the ultrasonic sensor. The received analog signal in the ultrasonic receiver is converted into the digital signal using the signal conditioner unit and it is given to the microcontroller. The sensor provides an echo pulse proportional to distance. If the width of the pulse is measured in uS, then dividing by 58 will give you the distance in cm, or dividing by 148 will give the distance in inches. uS/58=cm or uS/148=inches. The HM 2007 is programmed in the sense that the user can train the words that the circuit can recognize. This voice is stored in the microcontroller as the address values, each address values is used for recognizing the destinations. The keypad with 5 keys are used for setting the destination values by analyzing the latitude and longitude values received in the Liquid crystal display. The APR 9600 is an amazing playback and record IC used for the voice navigation. Using the two switches of playback and record, the predefined voices can be stored in it and it can be verified for the future use, since the recorded voices can be retained even after the power supply is removed. . The replayed sound exhibits high quality with low noise level. The keypad used in this project consists of 5 keys namely increment, decrement and enter key. This keypad is used to type the GPS values for setting the destination. The Zigbee transceiver is connected to the system and it continuously transmits the values of latitude and longitude that has been updated using the GPS receiver. The Microcontroller is responsible for transmitting the digital data through this transceiver and it is received in another transceiver connected to IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/40-43

Fig 2: Hardware implementation

Fig 3. Spatial layout of home

Fig 4. Comparison graph between existing and proposed method in operation time The GPS value will be attained for every position in the earth. Fig 3 shows that the four latitude and longitude values are experimentally obtained using the GPS receiver in a particular place (home) and it clearly shows that the values of latitude and longitude gets varied for every position. This change in the value provides the comfortable navigation in the indoor environment. Fig 4 shows the latitude and longitude values are received continuously in the PC using the zigbee transceiver and the inference of these values are observed in the Google map. VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The GPS receiver provides the latitude and longitude values of every positioning of the system. These

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology values received in the GPS module are transferred to the PC (Personal Computer) using the zigbee transceiver connected to the system. Another Zigbee transceiver connected to the PC is responsible for receiving the values from the system and it is interfaced to the Google map using the Visual Basic 6. The zigbee transceiver is operated at the baud rate of 9600 and thus the continues tracking of the visually impaired person is possible using this protocol which is shown in Fig 5.

E-ISSN 0976-3945

on the skills of the user for local navigation (Obstacle avoidance) and offers innovative solutions in order to replace the conventional methods of guiding visually impaired person. In addition, it can be easily applied anywhere where it can handle places like malls ,airports etc., This system also satisfying the present day needs of allowing the visually impaired to move independently. REFERENCE
1. Majid Al Shamsi, Mahmoud Al-Qutayri, and Jeedella Jeedella, Blind Assistant Navigation System in IEEE Transactions,March 2011. I. Ulrich and J. Borenstein, The GuideCane Applying Mobile Robot Technologies to Assist the Visually Impaired in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, Vol. 31, No. 2, March 2001, pp. 131-136. S. Lau, T. Lin, T. Huangc, I. Ng, and P. Huang, Blind Assistant Navigation system using RFID, [Online].http://nslab.ee.ntu.edu.tw/publication/conf/win tech_localization_tese bed.pdf [Accessed Oct 19, 2009]. R.G. Golledge, R.L. Klatzky, J. M. Loomis, J.Spiegle and J. Tietz, A geographical information system for a GPS based personal guidance system, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Taylor and Francis Ltd., London, 1998, 12(7): pp. 727-749. H. Petrie, V. Johnson, T. Strothotte, A. Raab, S. Fritz and R. Michel, MOBIC: Designing a Travel Aid for navigation, Journal of Navigation, Royal Institute of Navigation, London, 1996, 49(1): pp. 45-52. A. Smailagic and R. Martin, Metronaut: A Wearable Computer with Sensing and Global Communication Capabilities, The First International Symposium on Wearable computer, Boston MA, 1997, pp. 116-122. S.Feiner, B. MacIntyre, T. Hollerer and A. Webster, A Touring Machine: Prototyping 3D Mobile Augmented Reality Systems for Exploring the Urban Environment, The First International Symposium on Wearable computer, Boston, MA, 1997, pp. 74- 81. T. Chen and R. Shibasaki, A Versatile AR Type 3D Mobile GIS Based on Image Navigation Technology, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 1999, pp. 1070 -1075. V. Coors, T. Huch and Ursula Kretschmer, Matching buildings: Pose estimation in an urban environment, In Proc.IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Augmented Reality, 2000, pp. 89-92.

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Fig 5. Localization using Google map A. Advantages Low design time Low production cost This system is applicable for both the indoor and outdoor environment Setting the destination is very easy This system be capable of using in public places It is a dynamic system Less space Low power consumption B. Applications This system can be used in the home, hospitals and colleges This system can be used in both the known and unknown environments like airports, malls and public parks etc., The comparison of the existing method and proposed method of navigation system for visually impaired person is shown in Fig 6. Based on these parameters, this method overcomes the limitations in the existing method.

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Fig 6. Comparison between the existing method and proposed method VII. CONCLUSION This paper provides full autonomy system for global navigation (path planning and localization) but relies IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/40-43