Wireless obstacle detection system for the elderly and visually impaired people

• Main Authors: Mustapha, B., Zayegh, A., Begg, R. K.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Acoustics; elderly; Microcontrollers; obstacle detection system; Robot sensing systems; Senior citizens; sensors; visually impaired; wireless; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks
• DOI: 10.1109/ICSIMA.2013.6717949

Assistive technology is an emerging research area, where adaptable devices can be developed to help older people to achieve independence in their daily activities. This paper presents the design and development of a wearable wireless obstacle detection system suitable for the elderly and visually impaired people. The proposed system is capable of detecting obstacles located up to 1.5 meter from the user and gives appropriate warning to the user with three different levels of tones. Experimental results indicate more than 95% accuracy for detecting obstacles, which are in front of the user. The surface color of obstacles does not affect the detecting ability of ultrasonic sensor, but it's slightly affecting the capability detection for infrared sensor. The results show that the difference between measured value and actual value for the colors of an obstacle at every distance is very small. The proposed system has a great potential for future applications requiring obstacle detections while navigating in the environment.