Developing an Ultra Wideband Indoor Navigation System for Visually Impaired People

The number of individuals who suffer from visual impairment is increasing rapidly. The most significant barrier to improving the lives of the blind and visually impaired people is their inability to navigate independently and safely. Indoor navigation systems for blind and visually impaired people aim to guide them in navigating independently in familiar and unfamiliar environments. Our system aims to provide an assistive technology for blind and visually impaired individuals by exploiting popular existing technologies that are often used by blind individuals, such as the smartphone. The system provides users with guidance statements that help them navigate from their current positions to desired destinations. The system consists of four main components: mapping, positioning, navigation, and interface. In order to implement these components, three main applications need to be developed: application in localization server, application in communication server, and application in smartphone, each of which is located in a different place but connected to the others. Functionalities test and blind test were conducted to evaluate the system. The system proved its ability to aid blind individuals effectively.