Development of The Navigation System for The Visually Impaired by Using Optical Beacons.

摘要

Our objective of this study is the development of the navigation system which is used in the indoor space(eg. underground shopping mall, hospital, etc.) and supports activities of the visually impaired without help of others. This system is composed of optical beacons which are set on the ceiling and emit the position code as infrared signal, an optical receiver which receives signal from beacons, and a navigator which guides a user by artificial voice. Three subjects with low vision were tested in the hospital with our navigation system. 49 optical beacons were set on the ceiling, and the subject equipped with an optical receiver and a navigator. Each subject walked from the start point to the destination following the guidance voice. From these experiment, the following characteristics became clear. 1) On a pathway where a subject can fell the wall, every subjects could follow the navigation voice. 2) Some subjects couldn't go across the wide pathway straight, and then the system lost their position. Therefore, if the problem of crossing the pathway is improved, our navigation system will be a very valuable one to support activities of the visually impaired.