2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Passenger BUS Alert System for Easy

Navigation of Blind
G.Lavanya ME.,

Preethy. W*, Shameem.A *, Sushmitha.R*

Assistant Professor,

IV year, Biomedical Engineering,

Department of Biomedical Engineering,

Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College,

Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College,

Coimbatore

Coimbatore

shameem.ikon@gmail.com

Email id:lavanyagangadharan@gmail.com.

Abstract: Talking signs, guide cane, echolocations are all useful in

These alternatives also called as asslstlve devices can be

navigating

their

helpful to the blind but not so effective. The sighted guide can

destination, but the main objective is not reached that it fails to

be immensely effective, as well provide social comfort, but it

the

visually

challenged

people

to

reach

join them with traffic. In this project we propose a bus system

restricts the independence of the blind individual. Guide dogs

using wireless sensor networks (WSNs).The blind people in the

and walking canes allow for a more independent means of

bus station is provided with a ZigBee unit which is recognized by

travelling, but they are limited in unfamiliar environments.

the ZigBee in the bus and the indication is made in the bus that

RFID is feasible and cost effective but it is more suitable for

the blind people is present in the station. So the bus stops at the

indoor communication only. Also it provides only one way

particular station. The desired bus that the blind want to take is

communication and a very short range of identification. A

notified to him with the help of speech recognition system

HM2007. The blind gives the input about the place he has to

system with an augmented walking cane, a pair of augmented

reach

glasses and identifiable items tagged with semacode/data

using

microphones

and

the

voice

recognition

system

recognizes it .The input is then analyzed by the microcontroller

matrix tags is used for outdoor navigation of blind people. If a

which generates the bus numbers corresponding to the location

man has to take the bus, he walks along the pavement and his

provided by the blind. These bus numbers are converted into

walking cane recognizes a tag. But the image quality of the

audio output using the voice synthesizer APR 9600. The ZigBee

web camera is fairly poor. Tag recognition in darkness or in

transceiver in the bus sends the bus number to the transceiver

bad lightning conditions might be a problem. Another issue is

with the blind and the bus number is announced to the blind

that camera needs a visual, so if a tag is hidden behind a

through the headphones. The blind takes the right bus parked in

person or another object, then the camera cannot detect it.

front of him and when the destination is reached it is announced

by means of the GPS-634R which is connected with the controller

Tags on all environments will properly contaminate the

and voice synthesizer which produces the audio output. This

environment and meet resistance from many citizens.

project is also aimed at helping the elder people for independent

To overcome the drawbacks of currently available

navigation.

assistive devices, we propose a Wireles sensor network system

Keywords: Wireless sensor networks, Speech Recognition System,

with ZigBee for blind identification by the bus and embedded

Voice Synthesizer, GPS, Zigbee.

I.

system for providing the bus number and [mally GPS for
destination

INTRODUCTION

consists

Out the 6.7 billion people that populate the world,

vision.

With

the

rise

of

various

Wireless
that

sensor

network

continuously

(WSNs)

monitors

the

network [51. ZigBee is an embedded device for use in a WSN

computational capability and generally consist of an RF

support-based

transceiver, memory, on board sensors/actuators and a power

organizations, more visually impaired people have been given

source [71. ZigBee have CC2420 which is a true single-chip 2.4

the opportunity to education and many other means. But still

GHz

the issues of navigation for the blind are very complex and

IEEE

802.15.4

compliant

RF

(Radio

Frequency)

transceiver designed for low-power and low-voltage wireless

troublesome especially when they walked down in street and

applications so we can send or receive useful information

also navigate to distant places by public transport system. For

through using this chip. The number of the bus parked in front

a visually impaired person, doing things such as reading traffic

of the blind is send to the ZigBee in the blind system. Another

signals and street signs can be extremely challenging, if not it

function of ZigBee is identification of blind in the bus station.

is impossible to do.

If both the numbers match the buzzer in the bus unit alarms
and indicates the driver that there is blind in the bus station.

In order to overcome these challenges, a visually impaired

person might use walking cane, guide dog, and sighted guide.

978-1-4673-4922-2113/$31.00 2013 IEEE

sensors

which is tiny in size. These nodes have processing and

individual faces different challenges based on their specific

of

indication.

environmental conditions and send their data to the main

161 million are visually impaired. Each visually impaired

level

of

798

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

The software part is Embedded C with MPLAB IDE

training process begins. To clear the entire patterns key 99 is

(Operating System) for programming the controller. MPLAB

entered and clear is pressed.

IDE runs as a 32-bit application on MS Windows, is easy to

use and includes a host of free software components for fast
application

development

and

super-charged

B. Voice Synthesizer System

debugging.

MPLAB IDE also serves as a single, unified graphical user

APR9600

interface for additional Microchip and third party software and

hardware development tools.
II.

input from voice recognition system and GPS. The device

supports

which

is

then

processed

by

which

is

heard

by

the

user

through

both random

and sequential access of multiple

messages. Each memory cell can store 256 voltage levels.

This

technology

enables

the

APR9600

device

to

reproduce voice signals in their natural form. It eliminates

the

the

microcontroller, and then produces the required output in the

format

voice

connected to the microcontroller. Microcontroller accepts

speaks through the microphone, the speech recognition system

audio

single-chip

destination of the blind people. The voice synthesizer is

know the particular buses for a given location. When the blind
input

true

speech signal output of the bus number and the current

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Speech recognition system is used to help the blind to

the

offers

40 to 60 seconds. The voice synthesizer is used to generate

A. Voice Recognition Unit

analyze

device

recording, non-volatile storage and playback capability for

need for

encoding

and

compression,

which

often

introduce distortion. Storage is accomplished through a

the

headphones. The speech recognition system here we use is

HM2007.It is a single chip voice recognition LSI circuit with
on the chip voice analysis, recognition process and system
control functions. It may consist of microphone, keyboard,
RAM and some other components.
The word length select pin is used to control the
length of word we are providing as input. When the pin
WLEN is set high, 1. 92 sec is selected. In this way only 20
words can be recognized. DEN pin is used to enable the data.
When the recognition process is complete the chip will place
its response on the data bus DO -D7 and which can be latched
on to the microcontroller by this pin. When the device is ready

Fig! .Functional Block Diagram of Bus Unit

for the voice input in training or recognition mode, a low

signal is sent by the RDY pin. If the chip is busy then a high
signal is sent. When the waiting control input pin is set Low,

P ower S upp ly

the chip will enter the waiting state and do not accept the
voice input until the pin is set to High.
There are two modes of operation. During the power
on the chip will start its initialization process. If the wait pin
is Low the chip will do the memory check and if the pin is H
then the chip skips the memory check. After the initialization
recognition is done. Ready pin is set low to allow the voice to
be recognized. Once the voice input is detected the ready pin
is set high and recognition begins. We should train the word

)I1eropbone
(mpul from
u....)

pattern before the beginning of the recognition process. After

the process is completed the result will appear on the D-bus
with the activation of DEN pin.

(oulpul 10
us,er)

Recognition
S } l e m
IDI2007

To train or clear a voice pattern, we must select the

word number

to process first.

The number of word is

Fig2 .Functional Block Diagram of Blind Unit

composed of two digits. The digits are entered one digit at a

time through keypad.

When number key is pressed,

the

number of key will be echoed to the D-bus. When the word

Bus

unit

consists

of

ZigBee

transceiver

with

number is entered press the function key to choose the

microcontroller which helps to find the availability of blind in the

operation function. If the function key CLR is pressed the

bus station and displays it. The blind unit is a mobile unit carried
by the blind people which consists of ZigBee unit for identifying

word pattern is cleared. If the function key TRN is pressed

the

799

corresponding

bus

parked

in

front

of

them,

Speech

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

recognition system for identifying the location provided as voice

Instrument's

input by the user and the microcontroller for analyzing the input

initially referred to "Peripheral Interface Controller". In our

and providing the corresponding bus number of the location

system two controllers are used. One in the bus unit and other

specified by the blind as audio output through voice synthesizer.

converter,

blind through the headset.

an

desired the

external clock source.

name

PIC

recognition

system,

GPS

and

voice

LCD display is connected to the output of

and

Hi-tech

compiler.

The

output

of

the

microcontroller is connected to the voice synthesizer in blind

When

previously stored recording

The

controller in bus unit. The coding is done using embedded C

language

WritelRead c i r c u i t . These circuits are clocked by either the

is

speech

synthesizer.

combination of the Sample and Hold circuit and the Analog

playback

Division.

in the blind unit. Microcontroller is connected to the level

Input is given through microphone and output is heard by the

Internal Oscillator or

Microelectronics

unit. The output of speech recognition system, GPS and level

is

converter is connected to the input ports of microcontroller.

retrieved from memory, low pass filtered and amplified.

The signal can be heard by connecting a speaker to the SP+

D. Finding the destination

and SP- pins.

Random access mode supports 2, 4, or 8 messages

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space

s e g m e n t s of fixed duration. Record or playback can be

based

made randomly in any of the selected messages. The length

of each message segment

is the total recording length

available

the

(as

defined

by

selected

sampling

radio

navigation

system

that

provides

reliable

positioning, navigation, and timing services to civilian users

on a continuous worldwide basis. GPS receiver will provide

rate)

divided by the total number of segments enabled. The bus

number and the destination which is recorded are played back
in this mode.
On power up, the device is ready to record or
play back, in any of the enabled message segments. To
record, ICE must be set low to enable the device and IRE
must be set low to enable r e c o r d i n g . We recording b y
applying a
represents

low level o n the message trigger pin that

the message segment

we intend to use. To

playback, I CE must be set low to enable the device and

IRE

must

set high to disable recording & enable

be

playback. You initiate play- back by applying a high to

low edge on the message trigger pin that representing the
message segment you intend to playback. Playback will
continue until the end of the message is reached.
high

to low

edge

occurs

on

If a

the message trigger pin

during playback, playback of the current message stops

immediately.
The IBusy pin when low indicates

Fig 3.Blind Unit

to the host

processor that the device is busy and that no commands can

be currently accepted. When this pin is high the device is
ready to accept and execute commands from the host. The
IStrobe pin pulses low each time a memory segment is
used.

Counting

processor to
time

has

remains.

pulses

on

this

pin

enables

accurately determine how

been used,

and

how

much

the

much

host

recording

recording time

The A P R 9 6 0 0 has a total of eighty memory

segments. The IM7 _END pin is used as an indicator that the

device has stopped its current record or playback operation.
During recording a

low going pulse indicates that all

memory has been used.

During playback a

low pulse

indicates that the last message has played.

C. PIC Microcontroller
Fig 4.Bus Unit

PIC

is

family

of

Harvard

architecture

microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology,

derived

from

General

the

PIC16F887

originally

developed

by

location and time. It receives the latitude and longitude values

from the satellite. GPS based blind man device with user input

800

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

current

When the bus approaches the bus station, there is an

location and gives the alert to the blind man if it was his

indication in the bus by the beep sound of a buzzer that there

destination area. The system designed consists of a GPS

is a blind person available in the bus station.

interfacing

(voice

based)

intellectually

finds

the

This is achieved with the help of ZigBee unit both in the bus

receiver and a

voice circuit which is interfaced to the

[121
. The microcontroller is programmed in
microcontroller

unit and blind unit. Finally when the bus reaches the station

such a way that depending on the satellite information of

the bus number is announced to the blind through headphones.

location the predefined location name will be announced.

There are currently available systems for the outdoor

Three satellites are enough to solve for position, since space

navigation but they will not assist in travelling to unfamiliar

has three dimensions. However a very small clock error

areas. Some systems use PDA which is not so economic and

mUltiplied by the very large speed of light the speed at which

cannot be afforded by all. In most of the systems RFID tags

satellite signals propagate results in a large positional error.

are used which are required in 1000s of numbers for tracking

The receiver uses a fourth satellite to solve for

x,

of route. Also it provides only one way communication. The

y, z, and t

system we use is a mobile unit, weightless and economically

which is used to correct the receiver's clock.

feasible.
Microcontroller is the heart of the device. It stores the
data

of

the

current

location

which

it

receives

from

IV.

CONCLUSION

the GPS system, so that it can make use of the data stored to
compare with the destination location of the user. By this it

Primarily, the blind person in the bus station is identified

can trace out the distance from the destination and produce an

with RF communication. The blind informs the location he

alarm to alert the user in advance. This

needs through the microphone which is given to the voice

to

provide

voice

based

device

is

designed

announcement for the user, i.e.,

recognition system which produces the output of bus numbers

the user gets the voice which pronounces his destination

in the voice synthesizer unit which is heard in headset. Then

location. GPS-634R is a highly integrated smart GPS module

this location is transmitted to the transceiver in the bus. If the

with a ceramic GPS patch antenna. The antenna is connected

names in the transceiver in the bus matches with that of the

to the module via an LNA. It is capable of receiving signals

name send by the blind, then there is an alarm in the bus unit

from up to 65 GPS satellites and transferring them into the

alerting the presence of blind and a voice to the user's headset

precise position and timing information that can be read over

that the particular bus has arrived. With the help of GPS

either UART port or RS232 serial port.

tracker connected with audio output the destination chosen by

the blind is intimated when the bus reaches the correct

E. Transmission Unit

location. PDA's can be used for GPS tracking but it is not cost
effective.

ZigBee is wireless technology developed by IEEE

802.15.4 - 2003 standard for low cost, low power, wireless

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