Intelligent Bus Alert System Helps Blind Passengers

Intelligent Bus Alert System For Blind Passengers
N.Surendra Yadav1
, Tulasi Sanath Kumar2
1
PG Student, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, ASCET, Gudur, A.P, India.
2
Asst. Professor, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, ASCET, Gudur, A.P, India
1
cupid.suri@gmail.com
2
tulasisanath@gmail.com
Abstract:Talking signs, guide cane, echolocations
are all useful innavigating the visually challenged
people to reach theirdestination, but the main
objective is not reached that it fails tojoin them with
traffic. In this project we propose a bus systemusing
wireless sensor networks (WSNs).The blind people in
thebus station is provided with a Zig-Bee unit which
is recognized bythe Zig-Bee in the bus and the
indication is made in the bus thatthe blind people is
present in the station. So the bus stops at theparticular
station. The desired bus that the blind want to take
isnotified to him with the help of speech recognition
systemHM2007. The blind gives the input about the
place he has toreach using microphones and the voice
recognition systemrecognizes it .The input is then
analyzed by the microcontrollerwhich generates the
bus numbers corresponding to the locationprovided
by the blind. These bus numbers are converted
intoaudio output using the voice synthesizer APR
9600. TheZig-Beetransceiver in the bus sends the bus
number to the transceiverwith the blind and the bus
number is announced to the blindthrough the
headphones. The blind takes the right bus parked
infront of him and when the destination is reached it
is announcedby means of the GPS-634R which is
connected with the controllerand voice synthesizer
which produces the audio output. Thisproject is also
aimed at helping the elder people for
independentnavigation.
Index Terms:Wireless sensor networks, Speech
Recognition System,Voice Synthesizer, GPS, Zigbee.
I. INTRODUCTION
Out the 6.7 billion people that populate the world,161
million are visually impaired. Each visually
impairedindividual faces different challenges based
on their specificlevel of vision. With the rise of
various support-basedorganizations, more visually
impaired people have been giventhe opportunity to
education and many other means. But stillthe issues
of navigation for the blind are very complex
andtroublesome especially when they walked down
in street andalso navigate to distant places by public
transport system. Fora visually impaired person,
doing things such as reading trafficsignals and street
signs can be extremely challenging, if not itis
impossible to do.
In order to overcome these challenges, a visually
impairedperson might use walking cane, guide dog,
and sighted guide. These alternatives also called as
assistive devices can behelpful to the blind but not so
effective. The sighted guide canbe immensely
effective, as well provide social comfort, but
itrestricts the independence of the blind individual.
Guide dogsand walking canes allow for a more
independent means oftravelling, but they are limited
in unfamiliar environments.RFID is feasible and cost
effective but it is more suitable forindoor
communication only. Also it provides only one
waycommunication and a very short range of
identification. Asystem with an augmented walking
cane, a pair of augmentedglasses and identifiable
items tagged with semacode/datamatrix tags is used
for outdoor navigation of blind people. If aman has to
take the bus, he walks along the pavement and
hiswalking cane recognizes a tag. But the image
quality of theweb camera is fairly poor. Tag
recognition in darkness or inbad lightning conditions
might be a problem. Another issue isthat camera
needs a visual, so if a tag is hidden behind aperson or
another object, then the camera cannot detect it.Tags
on all environments will properly contaminate
theenvironment and meet resistance from many
citizens.
To overcome the drawbacks of currently
availableassistive devices, we propose a Wireless
sensor network systemwith Zig-Bee for blind
identification by the bus and embeddedsystem for
providing the bus number and [mally GPS
fordestination indication. Wireless sensor network
(WSNs)consists of sensors that continuously
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monitors theenvironmental conditions and send their
data to the mainnetwork [51. Zig-Bee is an embedded
device for use in a WSNwhich is tiny in size. These
nodes have processing andcomputational capability
and generally consist of an RFtransceiver, memory,
on board sensors/actuators and a powersource [71.
Zig-Bee have CC2420 which is a true single-chip
2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4 compliant RF (Radio
Frequency)transceiver designed for low-power and
low-voltage wirelessapplications so we can send or
receive useful informationthrough using this chip.
The number of the bus parked in frontof the blind is
send to the Zig-Bee in the blind system.
Anotherfunction of Zig-Bee is identification of blind
in the bus station.If both the numbers match the
buzzer in the bus unit alarmsand indicates the driver
that there is blind in the bus station.
The software part is Embedded C with MPLAB
IDE(Operating System) for programming the
controller. MPLABIDE runs as a 32-bit application
on MS Windows, is easy touse and includes a host of
free software components for fastapplication
development and super-charged debugging.MPLAB
IDE also serves as a single, unified graphical
userinterface for additional Microchip and third party
software andhardware development tools.
II. DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRONIC
TRAVELLING AIDS
The most important travelling aid for a visually
impairedperson is still the white cane. It is after all
an excellentexample of a good travelling aid:
multifunctional, cheap andreliable. It also tells others
that the person is visuallyimpaired. Another
irreplaceable travelling aid is a guide dog.Among
other things the dog is also a friend and a companion.
In studies about visually impaired person navigation
it hasbeen noted that even a small amount of extra
informationabout the environment makes a
remarkable increase inperformance. Also it seems
that a good travelling aidshould produce only small
amounts of meaningfulinformation and the ETA
should not block hearing or othersenses so that the
visually impaired can still use theirtraditional
methods to acquire information about
theenvironment. If the user needs to concentrate
heavily on usingthe ETA, he or she has no capacity
left for normalenvironment perception.
Therefore, instead of trying to develop ETAs to
replaceprimary travelling aids, one should develop
complementarysystems.Navigation systems have
usually worked well in smallscaleimplementations,
but a large-scale implementation maybe extremely
expensive (especially with beacon basednavigation
systems). The amount of visually impaired personsof
the population is small (~ 1,6 %) and therefore
largeinvestments to special infrastructure are not
sensible.As an example, there have often been
suggestions aboutequipping buses with radio
transmitters to help the visuallyimpaired to know
when the bus is coming.
The visuallyimpaired would in turn carry a radio
receiver.In Prague there is a pilot system in
operation. However, forexample in Finland, where
we have about 80 000 visuallyimpaired and 10 000
buses, a similar system would cost atleast 10 M€ just
for the bus transmitters.
Other methods need to be found to ensure that the
visuallyimpaired persons have equal possibilities to
access sameservices than all the other citizens.
2.1. Visually Impaired Persons and Public
Transport
Generic travelling difficulties for the visually
impairedpersons are localization and environment
perception, selecting and maintaining the correct
heading, detecting obstaclesabove waist and
detecting unexpected roadworks.
If we examine problems a visually impaired person
meetswhen using public transport, we recognize the
following list(the list depends slightly of the
transportation):
• planning a trip
• finding a stop or station
• finding an entrance to the station
• navigating inside the station
• finding the right platform and waiting place
• knowing when the right vehicle arrives
• finding a vehicle entrance
• payment
• finding a seat
• receiving passenger information during the trip
• depart on the right stop
• finding the destination.
Most of these tasks are trivial for the sighted persons,
butvery difficult for the visually impaired. For
example therehave been cases when a blind has spent
several hours at a busstop, because he couldn't
recognize the arrival of the rightvehicle.
For true door-to-door navigation for a visually
impairedthere are requirements for continuous
positioning, continuous(Internet) access to real time
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public transport information andavailability of
accurate map data together with
roadworkinformation.
Electronic maps are designed for car navigation and
notsuitable for pedestrian route planning purposes.
Informationabout pavements and pedestrian crossings
is collectedseparately and not included in typical map
data. Door-to-doorguidance requires map data
pointing entrances to houses andcontinuous guidance
would require indoor maps and indoorpositioning.
These are generally unavailable today.
Nevertheless, in our studies we did not find many
specificinformation needs for the visually impaired
group alone. Theinformation needed and sought for is
in most cases useful forall passengers or already
accessible to some user groups. Onlythe means for a
visually impaired to access the informationwould be
different. Therefore it is very important to
offeradditional interface, when new passenger
informationservices are designed.
III. NOPPA ARCHITECTURE AND
PROTOTYPE
Our approach is to improve public transport
accessibilityby creating access to passenger
information with a personalmobile device rather than
building physical infrastructure.NOPPA architecture
(fig.1) is based on public and/orcommercial
information services and databases available via the
Internet, a client-server approach with near
continuousTCP/IP connection (GPRS for practical
reasons) andprogrammable mobile devices with
capabilities for speechuser interface (mainly speech
synthesis) and satellitepositioning.
Fig.1. Architecture of the NOPPA system
The terminal devices in NOPPA user tests have by
far beenvarious PDAs with Microsoft's Pocket PC /
Pocket PC PhoneEdition operating system and there
is also an early version formobile phones with
Symbian Series 60 operating system.
Design goals for NOPPA were:
• Easy and fast to use (preferably faster than any
traditionalmethod)
• Affordable to the user
• Access to public transportation and
passengerinformation systems
• Applicable both indoors and outdoors
• Integration of products and services for
personalnavigation
• Modular, easy to update, easy to add functions
• Speech user interface
• Easy to customize for various user groups and
purposes.
The Information Server is an interpreter between the
userand Internet information systems. It collects
filters andintegrates information from different
sources and delivers theresults to the user.
The server handles speech recognition (e.g. from
13200street and destination names) and functions
requiring eitherheavy calculations or large data
transfer from the Internet.The data transfer between
the server and the client is kept inminimum. The
client terminal (fig.2) holds speechsynthesis, user
interface, positioning and most of routeguidance. The
user interface is menu-based and selections aredone
with hardware buttons and speech input.
As the mobile devices gain more memory and
fasterprocessors some of the speech recognition work
can be donein the user terminal which will further
reduce the need fordata transfer between the client
and the server. It will alsoenable menu selections
with speech user interface when thereis no server
connection. Nevertheless, the speech
recognitionrequires a very large vocabulary (street
names) which also hasto be updated from time to
time, so it may be unpractical tocompletely do the
processing in the terminal.
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NOPPA terminal software with speech synthesis
needs tobe installed on the device, completely
replacing theunderplaying operating system's user
interface. If the operatingsystem supports a screen
reader for example, more functions(such as phone
calls, SMS and MMS) can be left to originalsoftware.
The first prototype system has the
followingcharacteristics:
• Speech recognition and synthesis
• 6 simultaneous users per single server computer (a 2
GHz
PC) for speech processing time limits
• Access to three route planners (commuter and
intercitytraffic both bus and train, also a possibility to
calculatecar navigation type of routes)
• Guidance and route following during a trip
• Personal in-vehicle stops announcements
• Roadwork information (connection to a city's
database)
• Access to some bus, tram and train real time
informationsystems (only early development)
• Flight departure information at the largest airport in
Finland, real time
• Several news services, local weather
• Watch
• Memo
• GSM phone and SMS services (basic
implementation)
• Bluetooth and GPRS connectivity (also WLAN
possible)
• GPS and GSM positioning, optional pedometer
andcompass unit
• Indoor navigation features based on Bluetooth,
WLANpositioning or compass/pedometer
• Own recorded walking routes, basic GPS functions
• Search of current address
• POI (Point of Interest) and AOI (Area of
Inters)databases
Fig.2. NOPPA Pocket PC terminal and a
Bluetooth GPS receiver
The prototype is now at user evaluation phase.
Usability,reliability and recovery after an error are
known to beimportant issues. For example a
continuous GPRS serverconnection is not possible
when moving in a train, elevator orbasement.
The system must be designed to handle connection
failures so that they don't break guidance or prevent
usingother functions (phone call, SMS, memo
etc).Commercial sensitive GPS receivers are able to
operateinside a bus and a tram, but still greatly
benefit from antennaplacement near window. Also
GPS receivers' slow time tofirst fix (TTFF, typically
30-60 seconds) can be a problemwhen turning a GPS
first on or leaving a building after beinga long time
inside with no update to receiver satellite data.
The speech output in guidance and in describing a
routemust be carefully planned to avoid
misunderstandings and tohelp create a mental image
of the route. The program shouldnot try to give more
accurate guidance than it safely can. Forexample
when standing near a bus stop, if the program
wouldadvice that "the bus stop is 10 meters
forwards", the usermight very well end up standing
on a driveway. Combinedinaccuracy of GPS
positioning and map data is very oftenover 10 meters
and the program should not really try to guidethat
short a distance (at least not require the user to
move),even though there would seem to be a clear
differencebetween GPS and target coordinates.
The difficulty is to tell the user without
misunderstandings,that the calculated target is maybe
20 meters forwards, but theuser has to find the exact
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location himself and it may not beeven safe to move
the full 20 meters. Often there is someinformation
even in the short distances, so the user mightwant to
hear the target distance and direction after all,
insteadof just hearing "the target is near".In practice,
one must take into account that map data canhave
outdated information or inaccuracies, positioning can
beunavailable or inaccurate, or wireless data
transmission is notalways available. Therefore a lot
of responsibility is left forthe user and guidance is
complementary.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
When the person reaches the bus station, he canfind
the buses that pass through a particular location with
thehelp of voice recognition system and voice
synthesizer.
When the bus approaches the bus station, there is
anindication in the bus by the beep sound of a buzzer
that thereis a blind person available in the bus
station.This is achieved with the help of Zig-Bee unit
both in the busunit and blind unit. Finally when the
bus reaches the stationthe bus number is announced
to the blind through headphones.
There are currently available systems for the
outdoornavigation but they will not assist in
travelling to unfamiliarareas. Some systems use PDA
which is not so economic andcannot be afforded by
all. In most of the systems RFID tagsare used which
are required in 1000s of numbers for trackingof route.
Also it provides only one way communication.
Thesystem we use is a mobile unit, weightless and
economicallyfeasible.
V. CONCLUSION
Primarily, the blind person in the bus station is
identifiedwith RF communication. The blind informs
the location heneeds through the microphone which
is given to the voicerecognition system which
produces the output of bus numbersin the voice
synthesizer unit which is heard in headset. Thenthis
location is transmitted to the transceiver in the bus. If
thenames in the transceiver in the bus matches with
that of thename send by the blind, then there is an
alarm in the bus unitalerting the presence of blind and
a voice to the user's headsetthat the particular bus has
arrived. With the help of GPStracker connected with
audio output the destination chosen bythe blind is
intimated when the bus reaches the correctlocation.
PDA's can be used for GPS tracking but it is not
costeffective.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] G.Lavanya ME, Preethy. W, Shameem.A,
Sushmitha.R, “Passenger BUS Alert System for
EasyNavigation of Blind”, 2013 International
Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing
Technologies.
[2] Baudoin,G., Sayah,J, Venard, O. and EI Hassan,
B.(2005), 'Simulation using OMNeT++ of the
RAMPE systemanInteractive Additive Machine
helping blinds in PublicTransports', EUROCON,
Belgrade,pp.1-5.
[3] Bolivar Torres, Qing Pang, (2010), 'Integration of
anRFID reader to a Wireless sensor network and its
use to identify an individual carrying RFID tag',
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computing ,voU,no.4,pp.1-15.
[4] Brendan D Perry, Sean Morris and Stephanie
Carcieri,(2009), 'RFID Technology to Aid in
Navigation andOrganization for the Blind and
Partially Sighted', pp. 1-52.
[5] HerveGuyennet, KamalBeydoun and Violeta
Felea,(2011), 'Wireless sensor network system
helping navigation ofthe visually impaired', IEEE
international conference onInformation and
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Applications, version 1, pp. 1-5.
[6] Hyn Kwan Lee, Ki Hwan Eom , Min Chul Kim
and TrungPham Quoc, (2010), 'Wireless Sensor
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International Journal of u- and eservice,Science and
Technology,VoI.3,No.3,pp.l3-24.
[7] Jack Loomis,M. and Roberta Klatzky,L.
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[8] Jain.P.C ,Vijaygopalan.K.P. (2010), 'RFID and
WirelessSensor Networks', Proceedings of ASCNT,
CDAC, Noida,India, pp. 1 - 11.
[9] Loc Ho ,Melody Moh, Teng-Sheng Moh and
ZacharyWalker (2007) , 'A Prototype on RFID and
Sensor Networksfor Elder Health Care', Taylor &
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[10] Oyarzun, C.A and Sanchez, J.H. (2008), 'Mobile
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Chile, pp.279-286.
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[11] Ravi Mishra and SornnathKoley, (2012),'Voice
OperatedOutdoor Navigation System For Visually
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[12] RiazAhamed, S.S (2009), 'The Role of Zig-
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