PERCEPT: RFID-Enabled Smart Pavement Technology For Visually Impaired

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Worldwide, 161 million people have vision impairment, and without intervention that number is expected to almost double by 2020. The blind and visually-impaired encounter serious problems in leading an independent life due to their reduced perception of the environment. New environments pose a huge challenge for them to perceive their surroundings without seeking help from others. Current training programs for blind and visually-impaired people in University settings require them to memorize a large amount of information for numerous buildings, leading to an increase in frustration on their part. To build an effective assistive technology system for the blind and visually-impaired, one of the biggest challenges is to model real-world problems faced by them in a software system that could address these issues. In order to enhance the perception of indoor and unfamiliar environments of the blind and visually- impaired, as well as to aid in their navigation through such environments, we propose a novel approach that provides context-aware navigation services. PerceptSpace, which is generated using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), tagged spaces (audio landmarks, kiosks), and Bluetooth tracks, enables a ubiquitous computing system with contextual awareness of its users while providing them persistent and context-aware information. We present the system architecture called PERCEPT that supports a number of unique features such as: a) Low deployment cost; b) Scalability, i.e. we can deploy the system in very large buildings; c) An on- demand system that does not overwhelm the user, as it offers small amounts of information on demand; and d) Portability and ease-of-use, i.e., the device carried by the user is compact and familiar, and instructions are received audibly. The proposed system will complement existing mobility and orientation aids for the blind, such as the cane and/or dog. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop, deploy, and test the PERCEPT system. Accordingly, we have two Specific Aims: 1) To design and create an initial PERCEPT system prototype that will assist the blind and visually-impaired in navigating through unfamiliar indoor environments and 2) to evaluate the performance of the PERCEPT system. We hypothesize that the PERCEPT system will show increased accuracy, improved time to destination, a level of information disseminated that enhances perception without feeling overwhelming, decreased frustration, user-friendliness, and high overall satisfaction. PERCEPT is different from other systems in the following aspects: 1) it offers small pieces of information to the users that can be handled by them and on their choice, unlike the Chatty Environment; 2) it offers portability in the end-device by using a PDA; 3) it does not require line-of-sight operation; and 4) it involves a scalable and inexpensive deployment (includes passive RFID and Bluetooth tracks) while leveraging existing communication infrastructure such as WiFi. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Worldwide, 161 million people have vision impairment, and without intervention that number is expected to almost double by 2020. The blind and visually-impaired encounter serious problems in leading an independent life due to their reduced perception of new environments. We propose a system that provides enhanced perception of new indoor environments using RFID- equipped and Bluetooth-enabled PDAs as the end device.