CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1

Background Study

There is approximately 285 million people in the world are blind in 2015 according to
World Health Organization. Majority of them are using a conventional white cane to aid
in navigation. The limitation in white cane is that the informations 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 persons 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 can cost about $500 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.

1.2

Problem Statement

Traditional white cane lack of intelligent technology to improve the living standard of
blind people. Blind people need to be trained by specialists in order to use a white cane
to perform their daily tasks.
White cane can only sense an obstacle up to 1 meter. It is unable to warn the user when
there is an obstacle in their path until the user has touched it. Some incidents happen
due to blind people did not sense the existence of an obstacle. The incidents might lead
to serious injury on blind people.
Besides, white cane also does not have the ability to guide the user to travel to desired
location. Blind people might get lost and face some risk or danger when they need to
travel. They need to depend on people to bring them to a certain location or they can

only travel in a place they are familiar with. Loss of eyesight brings many inconvenience
to a blind person.

1.3

Objective

The main objective of this project is to design a smart cane to increase the mobility of a
blind person and to implement a navigation system. To increase the mobility ability,
ultrasonic sensor is used to sense obstacles and alert the blind people through
vibration. For navigation system, global positioning system is used to give direction and
distance to the destination through audio output.

1.4

Scope

The project scope consists of two parts, hardware and software design. For hardware
part, it mainly consists of ultrasonic sensor, global positioning system, vibrating motor,
PIC Microcontroller and water sensor. For software part, C programming language is
used to control the hardware input and output.

1.5

Thesis Outline

This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 2 is Literature Review and consists of
discussion of hardware and software parts that are related to the projects topic and also
some smart cane related works. Chapter 3 is Methodology and contains the flow of the
project and also the methods to implement the project. Chapter 4 is Results and
Discussion. The output of the design will be discussed. Lastly, Chapter 5 will be
Conclusion. It will conclude the whole project and also recommend some future works
for the project.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1

Introduction

The main objective of this project is to discuss about the design of smart cane with
ultrasonic sensor and global positioning system for the blind. To design a smart cane
with multiple purposes, it is able to increase the living standard of a blind person. By
designing this smart cane, blind people are able to detect obstacles more efficiently.
Moreover, they can use a GPS system to guide them in order to prevent them from
getting lost.

2.2

White Cane

A white cane is a long stick that is used by blind people for mobility purpose and to
know the environment they are travelling through. The first white cane is designed after
War World I. White cane is made from aluminium or fiberglass and with metal tip or
nylon at the one end for a person to hold.
The purpose of designing white cane is for a person to detect the obstacles. It can be
used to detect holes, staircase, drop-off and slope of the ground or any objects around
a person. When using the white cane, a person will hold one end of the cane and the
other end is touching with the ground. A blind person will sweep the white cane and step
on the place they tapped. This can avoid blind people from losing balance due to
disproportion of the floor or stepping on an object.
There are 4 types of white cane. The first type of white cane is long cane. The length of
this type of cane is the longest. A long cane is the most commonly used by blind people
as it is the most basic, changeable and low cost of maintenance. Basic training is
needed for blind people to get used to this kind of white cane in order to live
independently. The second type is guide cane. Guide cane is much shorter than long
cane where it is only to the waist of the user. Hence, it has lower mobility function. It

mainly focuses on the lower part of the user where it focuses on the diagonal position of
the guide cane. It can be used to detect holes, stones and curb. Third version of white
cane is identification cane also named as symbol cane. This type of white cane is not
designed for mobility purpose as it is designed to remind public that the user is blind
people. The design of this white cane is for public to lend their hand to blind people. The
last type of white cane is a childrens cane or kiddie cane. The purpose of designing this
type of white cane is for childrens usage. It has similar properties just like long cane.

2.3

Ultrasonic Sensor

Ultrasonic sensor functions for detecting objects and responds with distance measured.
Ultrasonic sensor uses frequency in order to detect objects. The frequency used for
detecting objects is around 20 kHz to 100 kHz. It is mostly applied in ambient noise
level, leak detection and material testing. The ultrasonic sensor is highly used as it is
cheap, simple design and efficient.

Figure 2.1: Sonar illustration

Ultrasonic sensor can be used for object detection. A transducer is implemented with
highly directional ultrasonic range sensor to detect object in the surroundings. Figure
2.1 shows the operation of ultrasonic sensor to send and receive sonar to detect object.

Ultrasonic sensor consists of wave producer, counter mass, amplifier and radiation
section. Ultrasonic waves attenuated more frequently, which makes it become a better
for directivity than other kinds of waves. Transmitter of ultrasonic sensor can be
designed using Gallego Juarezs stepped plate where it consists of wave generation,
amplification and radiation while microphone is used as receiver. Gallego Juarezs
stepped plate is also used in producing intense wave for the parametric array purpose.
Figure 2.6 shows the schematic diagram of an ultrasonic sensor. At the end of the
transducer is where the counter mass is located in order to ensure transducer produces
same node point. The transducer material used is Lead Zirconate Titanate with different
polarization. Linear Horn is used as amplification and radiating plate will consist of
amplified high-intensity of ultrasound.

Figure 2.2: Schematic diagram of ultrasonic sensor

Dual- frequency wave is used as it has higher amplitude propagation. By using this
method, single wave generation can be improved as a single wave cannot detect both
object and distance detection accurately. The two waves need to have different
frequencies. Two different frequencies are generated through axisymmetric mode with
different nodal circles. A mathematical model is needed to adjust the radiation section in
order to produce dual-frequency wave.

2.4

Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART)

USART controller is a serial communications subsystem of a computer. The USART

takes bytes of data and transmits the individual bits in a sequential fashion. The COM
port of the PC is used to interface with other serial peripherals.
USART consist of two modes of operation, synchronous and asynchronous mode. For
asynchronous mode, it uses data transmit output (TX) and data receive input (RX) to
operate. Data is sent from less significant bit to most significant bit and transmitted in 8
bit word. Transmitting and receiving USART must be set at the same baud rate.

Figure 2.3: USART and PC

Figure 2.4: Signal at PIC port

In Figure 2.3, it shows the connection between PIC and PC. PIC USART output will
operate at TTL voltages and hence need an external serial line driver to convert the
output to a symmetrical line voltage. The higher line voltage can help in further
transmission and overcome the noise problem. Figure 2.4 shows that the signal in TTL
form.

2.5

Types of Smart Cane

In this section, several types of smart cane will be reviewed and discussed.

2.5.1 MobiFree
MobiFree cane is equipped with MobiFree sunglasses and MobiFree echo. MobiFree is
designed to detect obstacles, step-off and holes. MobiFree sunglasses are used to
detect obstacle above knee level, whereas Mobifree echo is designed to detect
obstacles far away by using directive speaker.

Figure 2.5: MobiFree function and usage.

Figure 2.5, shows MobiFree function and its usage. The obstacles, step-off and holes
are detected through ultrasonic sensor which will be used as input to a vibrator to alert
the user. The body of the cane is installed with blinking LED where available light is

detected, then the LED will be on. Moreover, Mobifree uses photovoltaic solar cells as
the power source.

Figure 2.6: MobiFree cane overall architecture

Figure 2.6, shows overall architecture of MobiFree cane. There are two ultrasonic
sensors in the smart cane for better detection of obstacles. One of the ultrasonic
sensors is located higher than the other. Different kinds of wave are received and
combined together, hence able to increase the diversity of the system. Microcontroller
used is with low power ability and using solar panel to store power. LED signals are
used for safety issue to alert others especially car drivers. Vibration motor is used to
pass information to user on the existence of obstacles. MobiFree has good ability in
detecting obstacle as it used long cane, sunglasses and hearing device to detect
obstacle surrounding and within a distance limit.

2.5.2 Electronic Long Cane

Electronic Long Canes main purpose is to detect the obstacle above waist. The
vibration strength is according to the distance between the obstacle and user. The
obstacles are detected by using ultrasonic sensor which connects with micromotor to
give the vibration output.

Figure 2.7: Function of electronic long cane

Figure 2.7 shows the function of electronic long cane. Electronic long cane uses an
ultrasonic sensor which is placed in the middle of the smart cane. Micromotor used is
based on an Atmel AVR microcontroller and with 9V of batteries to supply power to the
embedded system. Electronic long cane mainly focuses on detecting any kind of
physical barrier above waistline. It is simply the improved version of traditional long
white cane where it does not have an additional advanced function.

2.5.3 Virtual Cane

Virtual Canes concept is using the inner force sense to be aware of the existence of
obstacle around. The main component used is haptic force generator with a gyroscope.
Development of this cane is based on the superficial moment of inertia theory. Moment
of inertia of rod depends on the perceive length of rod.

Figure 2.8: Haptic force generator.

Figure 2.8 shows the haptic force generator in virtual cane. Perceive length of the rod
will be increased exponentially with moment of inertia. The haptic force generator is
used to generate torque that will lead to moment of inertia. DC motor is used to rotate
the rotor at high speed. The servo motor is managed through a pulse width modulation
circuit. This type of smart cane is using haptic force generator with gyroscope as noninstalling and non-equipping device. Virtual cane still needs a lot of investigation as its
design is still based on concept and theory without practical experiment. Perceive length
that relates to superficial moment of inertia and haptic illusion still needs some research
and development as the results obtained are affected by a lot factors and noise.

2.5.4 Hybrid Infrared-Ultrasonic Electronic Travel Aids

This system uses a combination of infrared-red and ultrasonic sensor. Two infrared-reds
are used to sense smaller objects which are not detected by ultrasonic sensor while
ultrasonic sensor is used to sense surfaces. Vibrating motor is installed to alert the user
to the existence of obstacles and the microcontroller is used to control input and output
of signals.
Figure 2.9 shows the Hybrid Infrared-Ultrasonic Electronic Travel Aids. This travel aid is
designed in a belt shape so it is wearable and easy to carry. Part 1 and 2 are vibrating
motors, part 3 and 4 are infrared sensors, part 5 is ultrasonic sensor and part 6

Figure 2.9: Hybrid Infrared-Ultrasonic Electronic Travel Aids

is the microcontroller. There are 4 vibrating motors which are located at the front and
the back of the belt. Therefore, when an obstacle is detected, vibrating motor is able to
alert the user of the obstacle located in the direction of front or back and right or left.
Microcontroller that is used is an Arduino UNO board based on ATmega328 type.
Hybrid infrared-ultrasonic electronic travel aids is a simple design of travel aids for blind.
It uses infrared red and ultrasonic sensor for an obstacle detection purpose which is low
cost and efficient. However, it is designed with a belt instead of cane which may cause
inconvenience for blind people as they may feel insecure without white cane.

2.6.5 NAVIG - Navigation Assisted by Embedded Vision and GNSS (Global

Navigation Satellite System)
NAVIG project mainly focuses on navigation purpose. Its main purpose is strengthening
mobility and orientation parts. Mobility is ability to be aware and avoid the obstacles in
the surroundings. Orientation is able to determine the direction and location. NAVIG has
three parts, embedded artificial vision, pedestrian positioning issue and interaction.
Embedded artificial vision uses a stereoscopic camera to extract images and match with
SpikeNet Vision. SpikeNet Vision is used for structuring adaption to compare with object

localization and users position. For object localization, the system reads according to
the image taken and leads the user towards the object. For user position, this function
will alert the user whether they are located at the right position, giving the correct path
and inform the user the location they are situated.
The pedestrian position issue faces are most common problem that is lack of data for
pedestrian navigation as most navigation design is for vehicles. Therefore,
Geographical Information System that is used for navigation for pedestrian purpose is
improved and included with the users position. It improves the route path information
for pedestrian selection. In order to improve the shortage of pedestrian navigation,
inertial motion tracker is used. It is able to sense face facing and body direction and
hence sense the direction headed. To increase the accuracy of pedestrian network, data
fusion is used. The first stage is to read the data input like speed, direction and reduce
amount of noise. Secondly, reduce the random and systematic error to get better
information. Lastly, the image obtained is matched with map of GPS location.
Interaction is through audio navigation by presenting guidance on direction and also
room available in the surroundings. NAVIG device uses 3D audio scene when giving
guidance to users .

CHAPTER 3
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

3.1 Introduction to embedded systems:

An embedded system is a special-purpose system in which the computer is completely
encapsulated by or dedicated to the device or system it controls. Unlike a generalpurpose computer, such as a personal computer, an embedded system performs one or
a few predefined tasks, usually with very specific requirements. Since the system is
dedicated to specific tasks, design engineers can optimize it, reducing the size and cost
of the product. Embedded systems are often mass-produced, benefiting from
economies of scale.
Personal digital assistants (PDAs) or handheld computers are generally
considered embedded devices because of the nature of their hardware design, even
though they are more expandable in software terms. This line of definition continues to
blur as devices expand. With the introduction of the OQO Model 2 with the Windows XP
operating system and ports such as a USB port both features usually belong to
"general purpose computers", the line of nomenclature blurs even more.
Physically, embedded systems ranges from portable devices such as digital
watches and MP3 players, to large stationary installations like traffic lights, factory
controllers, or the systems controlling nuclear power plants.
In terms of complexity embedded systems can range from very simple with a
single microcontroller chip, to very complex with multiple units, peripherals and
networks mounted inside a large chassis or enclosure.

FIGURE 3.1: EXAMPLE OF EMBEDDED SYSTEM

3.2 Need for Embedded systems:

The uses of embedded systems are virtually limitless because every day new products
are introduced into the market that utilizes embedded computers in novel ways.In recent
years,hardware such as microprocessors,microcontrollers and FPGA chips become
much cheaper.So when implementing a new form of control,its wiser to just buy the
generic chip and burn custom software onto it.Producing a custom-made chip to handle
a particular task or set of tasks costs far more time and money.Embedded systems are
often required to provide real-time response.The main elements that make embedded
systems unique are its reliability and ease in debugging.

3.3 APPLICATIONS OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS:

Mobile phone
Digital camera
Robots
Point of sales terminals
Automatic Chocolate Vending Machine
Stepper motor controllers for a robotics system
Multitasking Toys
Microcontroller- based single or multi-display digital panel meter for voltage,

current, resistance and frequency

Keyboard controller
Serial port cards
CD drive or Hard Disk drive controller
Peripheral controllers,, a CRT display controller, a keyboard controller, a DRAM

controller, a DMA controller, a printercontroller,

a laser printer-controller, a LAN controller, a disk drive controller
Fax or photocopy or printer or scanner
Remote (controller) of TV
Telephone with memory, display and other sophisticated features
Motor controls Systems - for examples, an accurate control of speed and
position of d.c. motor, robot, and CNC machine; the automotive applications like
such as a close loop engine control, a dynamic ride control, and an anti-lock
braking system monitor

Electronic data acquisition and supervisory control

system
Biomedical systems - for example, an ECG LCD display-cum-recorder, a bloodcell recorder cum analyzer, and a patient monitor system service.

CHAPTER 4
HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
4.1 Introduction with Block Diagram

In this chapter the block diagram of the project and design aspect of individual
modules are considered.

Figure 4.1: Block diagram of the Smart Walking stick.

The main blocks of this project are :

1.Micro Controller.
2.Sensor Unit.
3.Power Supply Unit.

4.Buzzer and Vibrator Unit.

4.2 PIC16F877A Micro Controller

The PIC microcontroller PIC16f877a is one of the most renowned microcontrollers in the
industry. This controller is very convenient to use, the coding or programming of this
controller is also easier. One of the main advantages is that it can be write-erase as
many times as possible because it use FLASH memory technology. It has a total
number of 40 pins and there are 33 pins for input and output. PIC16F877A is used in
many pic microcontroller projects. PIC16F877A also have many application in digital
electronics circuits.

FIGURE 4.2: PIC 16F877A MicroController

FIGURE 4.3: PIN CONFIGURATION OF PIC16F877A

PIN 1: MCLR
The first pin is the master clear pin of this IC. It resets the microcontroller and is active
low, meaning that it should constantly be given a voltage of 5V and if 0 V are given then
the controller is reset. Resetting the controller will bring it back to the first line of the
program that has been burned into the IC.

FIGURE 4.4: PIN 1 Configuration

A push button and a resistor is connected to the pin. The pin is already being supplied
by constant 5V. When we want to reset the IC we just have to push the button which will
bring the MCLR pin to 0 potential thereby resetting the controller.

PIN 2: RA0/AN0
PORTA consists of 6 pins, from pin 2 to pin 7, all of these are bidirectional input/output
pins. Pin 2 is the first pin of this port. This pin can also be used as an analog pin AN0. It
is built in analog to digital converter.

PIN 3: RA1/AN1
This can be the analog input 1.

PIN 4: RA2/AN2/VrefIt can also act as the analog input2. Or negative analog reference voltage can be given
to it.

PIN 5: RA3/AN3/Vref+
It can act as the analog input 3. Or can act as the analog positive reference voltage.

PIN 6: RA0/T0CKI
To timer0 this pin can act as the clock input pin, the type of output is open drain.

PIN 7: RA5/SS/AN4
This can be the analog input 4. There is synchronous serial port in the controller also
and this pin can be used as the slave select for that port.

PIN 8: RE0/RD/AN5
PORTE starts from pin 8 to pin 10 and this is also a bidirectional input output port. It can
be the analog input 5 or for parallel slave port it can act as a read control pin which will
be active low.

PIN 9: RE1/WR/AN6
It can be the analog input 6. And for the parallel slave port it can act as the write control
which will be active low.

PIN 10: RE2/CS/A7

It can be the analog input 7, or for the parallel slave port it can act as the control select
which will also be active low just like read and write control pins.

PIN 11 and 32: VDD

These two pins are the positive supply for the input/output and logic pins. Both of them
should be connected to 5V.

PIN 12 and 31: VSS

These pins are the ground reference for input/output and logic pins. They should be
connected to 0 potential.

PIN 13: OSC1/CLKIN

This is the oscillator input or the external clock input pin.

PIN 14: OSC2/CLKOUT

This is the oscillator output pin. A crystal resonator is connected between pin 13 and 14
to provide external clock to the microcontroller. of the frequency of OSC1 is outputted
by OSC2 in case of RC mode. This indicates the instruction cycle rate.

FIGURE 4.5: Crystal Interfacing

PIN 15: RC0/T1OCO/T1CKI

PORTC consists of 8 pins. It is also a bidirectional input output port. Of them, pin 15 is
the first. It can be the clock input of timer 1 or the oscillator output of timer 2.

PIN 16: RC1/T1OSI/CCP2

It can be the oscillator input of timer 1 or the capture 2 input/compare 2 output/ PWM 2
output.

PIN 17: RC2/CCP1

It can be the capture 1 input/ compare 1 output/ PWM 1 output.

PIN 18: RC3/SCK/SCL

It can be the output for SPI or I2C modes and can be the input/output for synchronous
serial clock.

PIN 23: RC4/SDI/SDA

It can be the SPI data in pin. Or in I2C mode it can be data input/output pin.

PIN 24: RC5/SDO

It can be the data out of SPI in the SPI mode.

PIN 25: RC6/TX/CK

It can be the synchronous clock or USART Asynchronous transmit pin.

PIN 26: RC7/RX/DT

It can be the synchronous data pin or the USART receive pin.

PIN 19,20,21,22,27,28,29,30:
All of these pins belong to PORTD which is again a bidirectional input and output port.
When the microprocessor bus is to be interfaced, it can act as the parallel slave port.

PIN 33-40: PORT B

All these pins belong to PORTB. Out of which RB0 can be used as the external interrupt
pin and RB6 and RB7 can be used as in-circuit debugger pins.

4.3 Why PIC16F877A?

This powerful (200 nanosecond instruction execution) yet easy-to-program (only 35 single
word instructions) CMOS FLASH-based 8-bit microcontroller packs Microchip's powerful
PIC architecture into an 40- or 44-pin package and is upwards compatible with the
PIC16C5X, PIC12CXXX and PIC16C7X devices. The PIC16F877A features 256 bytes of
EEPROM data memory, self programming, an ICD, 2 Comparators, 8 channels of 10-bit
Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter, 2 capture/compare/PWM functions, the synchronous
serial port can be configured as either 3-wire Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or the 2wire Inter-Integrated Circuit (IC) bus and a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter

(USART). All of these features make it ideal for more advanced level A/D applications in
automotive, industrial, appliances and consumer applications.

4.4 Crystal Oscillator

On-chip integrated oscillator operates with external crystal in range of 1 MHz to 25
MHz. The oscillator output frequency is called fosc and the ARM processor clock frequency
is referred to as CCLK for purposes of rate equations, etc. fosc and CCLK are the same
value unless the PLL is running and connected.

4.5 Sensor Unit

Ultrasonic sensor(HC-SR04) provides an easy method of distance measurement. This
sensor is perfect for any number of applications that require you to perform
measurements between moving or stationary objects.

FIGURE 4.6: Ultrasonic Sensor(HC-SR04)

Interfacing to a microcontroller is a snap. A single I/O pin is used to trigger an ultrasonic

burst (well above human hearing) and then "listen" for the echo return pulse. The sensor
measures the time required for the echo return, and returns this value to the
microcontroller as a variable-width pulse via the same I/O pin.

FIGURE 4.7: Ultrasonic Sensor when interfaced with Micro Controller.

4.6 Buzzer
A small 10mm diameter 5 volt buzzer is used to alert the user about the obstacles. It
beeps once for a obstacle in left, twice for a obstacle in front and thrice for an obstacle
in right. You can also connect a vibrator motor in parallel with the buzzer. This will
provide a vibrational feedback along with audio beeps.

FIGURE 4.8: Buzzer

CHAPTER 5
SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION
5.1 Software Required
1.Windows 7/8/Xp
2.Proteus 8 Professional
3.MPLAB X
4.PICkit 2
5.1.1 Windows 7/8/Xp
This is an Operating System (OS) on which all the software applications required for the
Walking stick are going to be run. This OS is flexible to any user to operate and easy to
understand.

5.1.2 Proteus 8 Professional

Proteus ISIS is the best simulation software in the world for various designs with
electronics & microcontroller. It is mainly popular because of availability of almost all
microcontrollers in it. So it is a handy tool to test programs and embedded designs for
electronics hobbyist & expert. You can simulate your programming of microcontroller in
Proteus 8 Simulation Software. After simulating your circuit using Proteus Software you
can directly make PCB design with it so it could be an all in one package for students
and hobbyists.