An Outdoor Navigation Assistance System for Visually Impaired People in Public Transportation

Visually impaired and blind people (VIBP) have to face significant difficulties locating public transport vehicles and bus stops due to their vision restrictions. Over the past decade, diverse assistance systems have been developed to solve this problem. However, most of them are based upon the global positioning system (GPS) and present satellite coverage problems in indoor environments. Some others are wearable prototypes that turn out to be onerous for the user. This paper presents an assistance system for VIBP in the use of public transportation. The proposed system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology for location and communication purposes, and a mobile application for user-smartphone interaction. The BLE beacons are installed on buses and their stops; accordingly, the mobile application tracks them in real-time and provides the relevant information to the user employing verbal instructions; transportation line, destination, next stop name, and current location. This information allows the user to properly select the desired bus in advance and get off at the correct destination stop. The proposed system has been tested in two scenarios: 1) under controlled conditions and 2) in a real environment. The results show that the proposed system is 97.6% effective when VIBP travel independently from one point to another. In addition, according to an assessment sheet completed by the participants, the proposed system grants them greater confidence and independence than GPS-based systems because of the following reasons; firstly, it can work with an internet connection or without an internet connection. Secondly, it is not an onerous system; information about the location of vehicles and stops is provided in real-time. Last but not least, it does not present satellite coverage problems in indoor environments.