Volume 14, Number 3

Visually Impaired People Monitoring in a Smart Home using Electronic White Cane

  Authors

Mikaël A. Mousse, Institut Universitaire de Technologie, Université de Parakou, Benin

  Abstract

The monitoring of visually impaired people is important in order to help them to travel safely. Then, many research works implement some travel aids. The proposed techniques are mostly based on the use of a white cane. This work introduces an electronic white cane based on sensors' technology. The proposed electronic cane helps its user to detect obstacles within two meters on the ground or in height. Once the obstacle is detected, the system sends vocal instructions via a Bluetooth headset to alert the person concerned. The ultrasonic and infrared sensors have been mounted on the white cane in order to provide it with the necessary intelligence. A raspberry pi performs the processing of the data. The proposed system also suggests using a mobile application to track the visually impaired in real-time. This application has a function that allows you to trace the visual patient's route. This is important to detect the possible cause of damage to patients during their travels. We use Python as programming language for electronic devices. The mobile application is Android. Though, the WEB application is a REST API developed using Python and NodeJs. The system is implemented and tested. The result shows the efficacity of the proposed system.

  Keywords

Electronic white cane, Sensors, human monitoring, smart home.