Study and development of a sonar obstacle recognition algorithm for outdoor blind navigation

Abstract

The paper presents an obstacle detection algorithm for a mobile application that will analyze in real time the data received by an external sonar device. Together, the smartphone application and the external device will serve as a wearable that will help the navigation and guidance of blind people. The external device will collect information using an ultrasonic sensor and a GPS module. The device has been developed as an assistance device, complementary to the cane or any other type of tool used by the blind, to be an additional safety instrument during autonomous outdoor blind navigation assisted by a smartphone application. Its main objective is to detect the existence of obstacles in the path of the user and to provide information, through oral instructions, about the distance to which it is located, its size, potential motion and to advise how it could be avoided.