Design And Construction Of A Smart Blind Stick Using GSM Module, GPS Module, Ultrasonic Sensor And Rain Sensor

ABSTRACT

Generally, blind people use a traditional cane for moving from one place to other. Blind smart stick help them to detect places, rain and to avoid obstacles. In this paper, we represent a model of walking stick for blind people. It consists of arduino, GSM module, GPS module, ultrasonic sensor and rain sensor. The ultrasonic sensor, water sensor, buzzer, GPS and GSM. GPS and GSM are used to record information about the presence of obstacles on the road. Ultrasonic sensors have the capacity to detect any obstacle within the distance range of 2 cm-450 cm. Therefore whenever there is an obstacle in this range it will alert the user. Water sensor is used to detect if there is water in path of the user. Most blind guidance systems use ultrasound because of its immunity to the environmental noise.. The whole system is designed to be small, light and is used in conjunction with the white cane so that it could ensure safety of the blind.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION
• BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• METHODOLOGY
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0      LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1      OVERVIEW OF BLINDNESS

2.2     REVIEW OF THE STUDY

2.3     DESCRIPTION OF ARDUINO

2.4    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ARDUINO

2.5    DEVELOPMENT OF ARDUINO

2.6    OVERVIEW OF ULTRASONIC SENSOR

2.7      ULTRASONIC DISTANCE SENSOR WORKINGS

2.8   THEORY SPEAKERS/BUZZER

CHAPTER THREE

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

3.1      SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM

3.2      DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM

3.3      SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

3.4      SYSTEM OPERATION

3.5      HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

3.6      SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION

3.7      PROGRAM CODE

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULT ANALYSIS

4.1 CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE AND TESTING

4.2 ASSEMBLING OF SECTIONS

4.3 PACKAGING

4.4 MOUNTING PROCEDURE

4.5 TESTING

4.6 RESULT ANALYSIS

4.7 LIMITATION

4.8  APPLICATION

4.9  FUTURE SCOPE

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0      CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATION AND REFERENCES

• CONCLUSIONS
• RECOMMENDATION

5.2     REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1                                          BACKGROND OF THE PROJECT

Eyes are the most important sense of organ of human. We perceive up to 80 per cent of all impressions by means of our sight. According to the 2014 statistics of World Health Organization, 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide, 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. The people with low vision or no vision suffer from various problems. The main problem with blind people is how to navigate their way to wherever they want to go. Such people need assistance from others with good eyesight. As described by WHO, 10% of the visually impaired have no functional eyesight at all to help them move around without assistance and safely. This study proposes a new technique for designing a smart stick to help visually impaired people that will provide them navigation. The conventional and archaic navigation aids for persons with visual impairments are the walking cane (also called white cane or stick) and guide dogs which are characterized by a many imperfections. The most critical shortcomings of these aids include: essential skills and training phase, range of motion, and very insignificant information communicated been communicated. Our approach modified this cane with some electronics components and sensors, the electronic aiding devices are designed to solve such issues. The ultrasonic sensor, water sensor, buzzer, GPS and GSM are used to record information about the presence of obstacles on the road. Ultrasonic sensors have the capacity to detect any obstacle within the distance range of 2 cm-450 cm. Therefore whenever there is an obstacle in this range it will alert the user. Water sensor is used to detect if there is water in path of the user. Most blind guidance systems use ultrasound because of its immunity to the environmental noise. With the rapid advances of modern technology both in hardware and software it has become easier to provide intelligent navigation system to the visually impaired. Also, high-end technological solutions have been introduced recently to help blind persons navigate independently.  Whenever the user wants to locate it, such a person will press a button on remote control and buzzer will ring, then the person can get the idea of where the stick is placed. Vision is the most important part of human physiology as 83% of information human being gets from the environment is via sight. The 2011 statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 70 million people in the world living with visual impairment, 7 million of which are blind and 63 million with low vision. The conventional and oldest mobility aids for persons with visual impairments are characterized with many limitations. Some inventions also require a separate power supply or navigator which makes the user carry it in a bag every time they travel outdoor. These bulky designs will definitely make the user to be exhausted.

PROBLEM DEFINITION

There is approximately 36.9 million people in the world are blind in 2014 according to World Health Organization (WHO, 2014). Majority of them are using a conventional white cane to aid in navigation. The limitation in white cane is that the information’s are gained by touching the objects by the tip of the cane. The traditional length of a white cane depends on the height of user and it extends from the floor to the person’s sternum. Blind people also face great problems in moving from place to another in the town and the only way for them is Guide dogs which cost them much and they can be useful for about 5 – 6 years. They also have a great problem to identify the objects he frequently used in his house as kitchen tools and clothes. And also he may face a great problem in control his electric devices or have a security problem and he can’t face it. This work is aim at solving these problems. To help the user moving easily indoor and outdoor we’ll use ultrasound sensor to detect the barriers on his way and alert him by 2 ways vibration motor which speed increases when the distance decreases and voice alert told him the distance between him and the barrier. To solve the problem of moving outside home from place to another we’ll design a software to be used in smart phones to help him in moving from place to another with voice orders without any external help he just say the place he want to go then the phone will guide him with voice orders to arrive this place. To help him to identify the objects we’ll use RFID every important object will have tag or id when the reader read the id it will told him what it is by voice. Inside the home we’ll design a system to control all electronic devices by voice orders and also a security system designed especially for them the most important in it is the fire alarm when it detects a fire it will alert him by a call to his mobile phone and another call to his friends near him for help and also a security system to warn him if he forget to close his door. After finishing these applications we’re going to make features after graduation by adding new technologies to help him moving in the street easier and help him crossing roads and reading books.

1.3                                  AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The main aim of this work is to develop an aid for visually impaired persons. This project is capable of detecting any obstacle, detect water, corners, allows family members to track their whereabouts and even allow the user to find the stick if anyhow missed by the user by pressing a remote switch.

The objectives are as follows:

1. To design an assistive technology for visually impaired people that can detect obstacles and provide alternative routes for the blind
2. To alarm the user through vibration to determine the obstacles direction sources
3. To help the user find his stick when he mistakenly loses it somewhere. Through this smart blind stick, visually impaired people will have so much of assistance.
4. In case of any problem, with the function of Global Positioning System (GPS), we can track their whereabouts.
5. To ensure safe walking of the blind.
6. To help the blind to reach his destination safely and securely.
7. To create a cheap and comfortable mobility aid for the blind.

1.5                                               BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT

The device is designed with an intention to sort out common issues faced by the blind people while using traditional sticks. With the electronics embedded within the stick, it became a smart stick with the functionalities mentioned above.

This system is designed especially for any kind of visual impaired persons: blind, partially sighted, and people with progressive loss of vision. This system will give a lot of benefits to the visually impaired individuals especially for those who have financial problem.

More than that, this system able to provide the distance of the obstacles in front of visually impaired individuals by using sensor of the Kinect. It also able delivers the visually impaired individuals the existing direction to help them headed to the right direction. With the system provided, the visually impaired individual able walk at the corridor safety since the system developed is able to guide them along the corridor by providing the information of the surrounding along the corridor. With the system developed the visually impaired individuals also able to improve their own ability or less dependent to the help of other people while walking along the corridor. The reason why the visually impaired individuals can improve themselves into a more independent individual is because the system able to help them in finding the direction while they are walking at the corridor. Hence, the visually impaired person able to more likes a normal person in their daily lifestyle.

1.6                                                 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

In this present study, an ultrasonic blind walking stick is developed. It is developed as a place detecting device. By using this stick, blind person will be confirmed that, he has reached the place where he wanted to go. It is easy to maintain and very comfortable to use. Power consumption of this stick is low and can be operated easily. Moreover, it is fully automated. This stick also enables to detect obstacles in user’s way by using an IR sensor. So, it is very helpful for the blind to reach his destination safely.

Arduino UNO is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328 (datasheet). It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller. The Arduino module, IR sensor and buzzer all are connected with it.

Electromechanical buzzer is used for creating two different types of buzzing sound. It is an audio signaling device which is identical to an electric bell without the metal gong. It functions by means of an electromagnet. When an electric current is applied, it produces a repetitive buzzing or clanging sound. A relay may be connected to interrupt its own actuating current, causing the contacts to buzz. Often these units were anchored to a wall or ceiling to use it as a sounding board.

For detecting obstacles, ultrasonic sensor is used. The ultrasonic sensor transmits the IR signal on to the object and the signal is reflected back from the surface of the object.

1.7                                                        METHODOLOGY

To achieve the aim and objectives of this work, the following are the steps involved:

1. Study of the previous work on the project so as to improve it efficiency.
2. Draw a block diagram.

• Test for continuity of components and devices,

1. Design and calculation for the device was carried out.
2. Studying of various component used in circuit.
3. Construction of the circuit was carried out.

• Finally, the whole device was cased and final test was carried out.

1.8                                                         PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied,  chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.