Indoor magnetic navigation for the blind

• Published in: 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vol. 2012; pp. 1972 - 1975
• Main Authors: Riehle, T. H., Anderson, S. M., Lichter, P. A., Giudice, N. A., Sheikh, S. I., Knuesel, R. J., Kollmann, D. T., Hedin, D. S.
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Accelerometry; Adult; Algorithms; Case-Control Studies; Female; Heuristic algorithms; Humans; Magnetic Phenomena; Magnetometers; Male; Middle Aged; Navigation; Pilot Projects; Prototypes; Real-time systems; Sensory Aids; Smart phones; Visually Impaired Persons; Wireless Technology - instrumentation; Young Adult
• ISBN: 1424441196; 9781424441198
• ISSN: 1094-687X; 1557-170X; 1558-4615
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6346342

Indoor navigation technology is needed to support seamless mobility for the visually impaired. This paper describes the construction of and evaluation of a navigation system that infers the users' location using only magnetic sensing. It is well known that the environments within steel frame structures are subject to significant magnetic distortions. Many of these distortions are persistent and have sufficient strength and spatial characteristics to allow their use as the basis for a location technology. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a prototype magnetic navigation system consisting of a wireless magnetometer placed at the users' hip streaming magnetic readings to a smartphone processing location algorithms. Human trials were conducted to assess the efficacy of the system by studying route-following performance with blind and sighted subjects using the navigation system for real-time guidance.