An indoor positioning system using Bluetooth Low Energy

In this paper, we present a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) based indoor positioning system developed for monitoring the daily living pattern of old people (e.g. people living with dementia) or individuals with disabilities. The proposed sensing system is composed of multiple sensors that are installed in different locations in a home environment. The specific location of the user in the building has been pre-recorded into the proposed sensing system that captures the raw Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) from the BLE beacon that is attached on the user. Two methods are proposed to determine the indoor location and the tracking of the users: a trilateration-based method and fingerprinting-based method. Experiments have been carried out in different home environments to verify the proposed system and methods. The results show that our system is able to accurately track the user location in home environments and can track the living patterns of the user which, in turn, may be used to infer the health status of the user. Our results also show that the positions of the BLE beacons on the user and different quality of BLE beacons do not affect the tracking accuracy

Pre-Travel Training And Real-Time Guidance System For People With Disabilities In Indoor Environments

Public transportation provides people with access to education, employment, health and community activities. However, navigating inside public hubs for people with disabilities such as cognitive or mobility impairments can be very challenging and dangerous. With the rapid development of digital technology such as Smartphones and sensors, there are unprecedented opportunities to assist people with disabilities to conquer these challenges. In this research, we aim to create a two-step indoor navigation solution for users with different mobility and orientation abilities. In the first step, we developed a virtual reality-based pre-travel training module that enables users to familiarize themselves with the virtual environment which represents the physical environment. After users feel confident and familiar enough with the environment, they proceed to the second step in which they visit the physical environment and use our real-time navigation assistance module. The pre-travel training module is developed using a Unity-based 3D game and includes a virtual indoor environment that represents the physical environment. The game provides a navigation function that highlights the path between the user location and the chosen destination. Considering the unique needs of cognitive impaired users, we designed action training modules in the game environment which train the user to use the ticket machine, fare gate and call boxes. Such training modules help cognitive impaired users familiarize themselves with the environment as well as gain confidence to experience the physical environment. When the users are ready to visit the physical environment, they use our real-time navigation assistance module which includes the same 3D virtual environment developed for the pre-travel training module. This approach is particularly important for people with cognitive impairment since they cannot organize navigation cues effectively. Using the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) infrastructure in the environment, our localization algorithm can track the user location in real-time. Subsequently, the user’s location will be integrated into the game environment so that the navigation path between the user’s current location and the selected destination can be generated and visualized by the user on the fly

Smart Room Attendance Monitoring and Location Tracking with iBeacon Technology

The objective of this project was to develop a system and a phone application using iBeacon technology to track people’s attendance and location at different types of events. This includes tracking their location by using a location algorithm and receiving identifying information from each person through the use of a phone application. This information will then be sent to a server for record keeping

Towards an intelligent and supportive environment for people with physical or cognitive restrictions

AmbienNet environment has been developed with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of accessible intelligent environments designed to support people with disabilities and older persons living independently. Its main purpose is to examine in depth the advantages and disadvantages of pervasive supporting systems based on the paradigm of Ambient Intelligence for people with sensory, physical or cognitive limitations. Hence diverse supporting technologies and applications have been designed in order to test their accessibility, ease of use and validity. This paper presents the architecture of AmbienNet intelligent environment and an intelligent application to support indoors navigation for smart wheelchairs designed for validation purposes.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2006-15617-C[01,02,03

Pedestrian Wayfinding Under Consideration of Visual Impairment, Blindness, and Deafblindness: A Mixed-Method Investigation Into Individual Experiences and Supporting Elements

In this report we discuss to-date findings of a project that aimed at assessing individual and environmental affordances in the context of human pedestrian wayfinding of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers in public spaces. Our project afforded collaboration, co-design, and co-creation of knowledge between the investigators, partners at the American Printing House of the Blind and GoodMaps, the Portland State University Digital City Testbed Center, and members of the disability community. The objective of the project was to better understand how different wayfinding aids, that is, wayfinding apps, tactile maps, and verbal route descriptions, are employed by visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers. On that account, we examined individual wayfinding behavior and experiences of visually impaired travelers who were tasked with the completion of a set of unfamiliar outdoor/indoor routes on the campus of Portland State University. Our methodology incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the efficacy of wayfinding behavior, in general, and specifically route completion performance across a set of three routes and wayfinding aids. We expect that the insights garnered from our project drive forward the development of standards and innovation in mobile wayfinding in relation to best practices for technology-mediated pedestrian wayfinding of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers in public spaces

Enhancing Access at the Tower of London

The Tower of London is a 1000-year-old fortress with many access challenges for D/deaf and disabled visitors. The purpose of this project was to enhance access through non-traditional means using digital technologies. We performed background research, distributed a survey, and conducted accompanied tours to help us determine the best technologies to increase access. From our findings we recommend 3D printed models, Signly, and Virtual Reality be implemented at the Tower. The implementation of these recommended technologies at the Tower of London would greatly improve accessibility for D/deaf and disabled individuals

Virtual Reality as Navigation Tool: Creating Interactive Environments For Individuals With Visual Impairments

Research into the creation of assistive technologies is increasingly incorporating the use of virtual reality experiments. One area of application is as an orientation and mobility assistance tool for people with visual impairments. Some of the challenges are developing useful knowledge of the user’s surroundings and effectively conveying that information to the user. This thesis examines the feasibility of using virtual environments conveyed via auditory feedback as part of an autonomous mobility assistance system. Two separate experiments were conducted to study key aspects of a potential system: navigation assistance and map generation. The results of this research include mesh models that were fitted to the walk pathways of an environment, and collected data that provide insights on the viability of virtual reality based guidance systems

Smart bus stop: people counting in a multi-view camera environment

As paragens de autocarros nos dias de hoje tem de estar cada vez mais ao serviço dos utentes, esta dissertação explora as ideias fundamentais sobre o que deve ser uma paragem de autocarro inteligente, reunindo num texto os conceitos mais utilizados e as mais recentes tecnologias sobre este tópico. Os fundamentos do que é uma paragem de autocarro inteligente são explorados, bem como a arquitetura de todo o sistema, não só a paragem propriamente dita. Ao analisar a bibliografia já existentes compreende-se que a paragem de autocarro não é uma entidade totalmente independente, pois esta está dependente de informação vinda de variadíssimas fontes. Assim sendo, a paragem de autocarro inteligente será um subsistema de um sistema muito mais complexo, composto pela própria paragem, pelo autocarro e por uma central. Em que a comunicação flui entre estes de forma a manter toda a informação do sistema atualizada em tempo real. O autocarro recolherá informação, como quantos passageiros tem abordo e a sua localização geográfica por exemplo. A central receberá toda a informação de todos os autocarros existentes assim como de todas as paragens de autocarro existentes. Por sua vez a paragem de autocarro, recolherá dados também, tais como quantas pessoas estão na paragem, temperatura, humidade, emissões de dióxido de carbono, ruido, entre outros. A paragem de autocarro deverá contar com um conjunto de interfaces de comunicação, tais como Bluetooth e/ou NFC, hi-fi e RFID ou Beacons, para que possam ser feitas comunicações com os utilizadores, com os autocarros e com a central. Deverá ter também ecrãs interativos que poderão ser acedidos usando gestos e/ou toque e/ou voz para que se possam efetuar as ações pretendidas. A informação não será apenas transmitida nos ecrãs interativos, será transmitida também através de som. A informação contida na paragem pode ser de todo o tipo, desde as rotas, horários, posição atual do próximo autocarro, assim como o número do mesmo, publicidade animada, etc. A paragem conta também com outras funcionalidades como conectores onde se possam carregar dispositivos móveis, aquecimento, iluminação controlada face à afluência de utilizadores e horário, um sistema de armazenamento de energia pois deverá contar com fontes de energia renováveis para que possa ser o mais autossustentável possível, e obviamente câmeras de vigilância para segurança dos utilizadores. Sendo o principal objetivo deste trabalho, o desenvolvimento de um algoritmo capaz de contar quantas pessoas se encontram na paragem de autocarro, através do processamento das imagens vindas de várias câmaras, o foco principal é explorar as tecnologias de visão computacional e como estas podem ser utilizadas dentro do conceito da paragem de autocarro inteligente. Uma vez que o mundo da visão computacional evoluiu muito nos últimos anos e as suas aplicações são quase ilimitadas, dai a sua implementação nas mais diversas áreas, como reconstrução de cenários, deteção de eventos, monitorização de vídeo, reconhecimento de objetos, estimativa de movimento, restauração de imagem, etc. Ao combinar os diferentes algoritmos das diferentes aplicações, podem ser criadas ferramentas mais poderosas. Assim sendo o algoritmo desenvolvido utiliza redes neuronais convulsionais para detetar todas as pessoas de uma imagem, devolvendo uma região de interesse. Essa região de interesse é processada em busca de caras e caso estas existam essa informação é guardada no perfil da pessoa. Isto é possível através da utilização de reconhecimento facial, que utiliza um algoritmo de Deep Learning (DL). Essa região de interesse também é convertida para uma escala de cinzentos e posteriormente para uma matriz, essa matriz será também guardada no perfil do utilizador. Está informação é necessária para que se possa treinar um modelo que utiliza algoritmos de aprendizagem de máquina (Support Vector Machine - SVM). Os algoritmos de DL e SVM são necessários para que se possa fazer a identificação dos utilizadores a cada imagem e para que se possa cruzar os vários perfis vindos das várias origens, para que possa eliminar os perfis repetidos. Com isto a mesma pessoa é contada as vezes que apareça nas imagens, em função do número de câmeras existentes na paragem. Assim sendo é preciso eliminar essas repetições de forma a ter um número de pessoas correto. Num ambiente controlado o algoritmo proposto tem uma taxa de sucesso elevada, praticamente sem falhas, mas quando testado no ambiente para o qual foi desenhado já não é bem assim, ou porque numa paragem de autocarro as pessoas estão em contante movimento ou porque ficam na frente umas das outras e não é possível visualizá-las a todas. Mesmo com muitas câmeras colocadas no local, acabam sempre por haver pontos mortos, devido à estrutura da paragem ou até mesmo devido ao meio, por exemplo árvores ou um carro mal-estacionado, etc.Bus stops nowadays have to be increasingly at the user’s service, this thesis explores the fundamentals ideas of what a Smart Bus Stop should be and bring all together into one concept using today’s technologies. Although the fundamentals of a Smart Bus Stop (SBS) are explored, the primary focus here is to explore computer vision technology and how they can be used inside the Smart Bus Stop concept. The world of computer vision has evolved a lot in recent years and its applications are almost limitless, so they have been incorporated into many different areas like scene reconstruction, event detection, video tracking, object recognition, motion estimation, image restoration, etc. When combining the different algorithms of the different applications more powerful tools can be created. This work uses a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based algorithm to detect people in a multi video feeds. It also counts the number of persons in the SBS, using facial recognition, using with Deep Learning algorithm, and Support Vector Machine algorithm. It is important to stress, these last two are used to keep track of the user and also to remove the repeated profiles gathered in the different video sources, since the SBS is in a multi-camera environment. Combining these technologies was possible to count how many people were in the SBS. In laboratory the propose algorithm presents an extremely high success rate, when applied to real bus stops que success rate decreases due to blind spots for instance