PBL Project

Ultrasonic Blind
Walking Stick

 A project by:-
 Krishnum(22242)
 Nishad(22243)
 Devesh(22244)
 Niraj(22253)
 AIM:

To help visually challenged people to navigate with ease using advance technology.

Introduction:

• According to the World Health Organisation(WHO) statistics, around 30 billion

people are blind on the earth.

• The Blindness is frequently used to describe severe visual impairments with or

without residual vision.

• The application of ultrasonic ranging scheme for producing electronic walking stick
for the blind is a technological advancement.

• There is a great dependency for any type of movement or walking within area or
out of the particular area, they use only their natural senses such as touch or sound
for identification or walking .

• To overcome all these problems of blind people, we are developing a project by

using simple available technologies.

Objective:

• The main objective is to help visually challenged people to navigate with ease using
advance technology.

• In this technology controlled world, where people strive to live independently, this
project proposes an ultrasonic stick for blind people to help them gain personal
independence.

• The ultrasonic blind walking stick is way more advanced than the traditional
walking stick as the use of sensors makes object detection easier.

• Since this is economical and not bulky, one can make use of it easily.
• This project proposes to design and develop a portable unit (stick) for them for easy
usage and navigation in public places.

Literature Survey:

• Aurdino Based Electronic Travel Aid System for Blind People Navigation and
Monitoring V. S. M. Madulika S, M. S. Madhan Mohan, CH.Sridevi, T. V. Janardhana
rao.This paper aims at the development of an Electronic Travelling Aid (ETA) kit to
help the blind people to find obstacle free path. This ETA is fixed to the stick of the
blind people. When the object is detected near to the blinds’ stick it alerts them with
the help of buzzer.

• Central Michigan University developed an electronic cane for blind people that
would provide contextual information on the environment around the user. They used
RFID chips which are implanted into street signs, store fronts, similar locations, and
the cane reads those and feeds information back to the user . The device also
features an ultrasound sensor to help to detect objects ahead of cane tip.

Motivation:

• According to the World Health Organisation(WHO) statistics, around 30 billion

people are blind on the earth.

• The Blindness is frequently used to describe severe visual impairments with or

without residual vision.
 Block Diagram:

Components:
 Ultrasonic sensor
 Arduino
 Battery
 Buzzer
 7805 Regulator
 GPS Module

 Ultra Sonic Sensor:

• It works on the principle of SONAR and RADAR system to determine the
distance to an object.
• An ultrasonic sensor generates the high frequency sound waves.
• When this ultrasound hits the object, it reflects as echo which is sensed by
the receiver.

 Arduino Uno:
• Arduino is an open source electronics platform based on easy to use
hardware and software.
• It is able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a twitter
message and turn it into output like- turning on LED, turning on a motor,
publishing something online, etc.
 • Its main advantage is its simple programming language.

 GPS Module:

 GPS Module A GPS navigation device (EM-411), GPS receiver, or simply

GPS is a device that is capable of receiving information from GPS
satellites and then to calculate the device's geographical position.
• Using suitable software, the device may display the position on a map, and it
may offer directions.

 Infrared Sensor:

• An infrared sensor (A215/450) is an electronic device that emits in order to

sense some aspects of the surroundings.
• An IR sensor can measure the heat of an object as well as detects the
motion.

Working:
• The main component used is ultrasonic sensor

• It transmits high frequency sound pulse and then calculates time to receive back
the signal of sound.

• It has 2 circles – one as transmitter and other as receiver.

• Sensor is calibrated according to the speed of sound in air.

• With this input, the time difference between the transmission and the reception of
sound pulse is determined by Arduino which is directly proportional to the distance.

• Speed of sound in air is 341m/sec.

• Distance=(Time * Speed of sound)/2

•After the distance measurement, Arduino makes a beep format using buzzer.

• The buzzer keeps on beeping until the obstacle is present in its range
 Circuit:

• In the circuit, Arduino Nano is used as the platform. Ultrasonic sensor is connected
to it, and has 4 pins.

• Vcc or 5 volt which is connected to the 5 volt pin of the Arduino. • Buzzer is
connected to the D12 pin of the Arduino.

• Ground which is connected to the GND pin of the Arduino.

• Positive terminal (of 9 volt battery) is connected to the Arduino at the Vin pin; while
the negative terminal is connected to the GND pin.

Advantages and Future Scope:

• The system can be used both indoor and outdoor navigation.

• Detects obstacles and alerts the blind person through vibration alert and speech
output.

• It has main advantage of auto detection.

• And can result into effective navigation.

• The system can be supplemented with actual GPS MODULE used in cars and we
can provide a vibrator for the partially deaf person. It can be further enhanced by
using VLSI technology to design the PCB unit. This makes the system further more
compact. A wall following function can also be added so that the user can walk
straight along a corridor in an indoor environment.
 Limitations:
1. The system developed here is a moderate budget navigational aid for visually
impaired people.

2. Minimisation in cost leads to compensation in performance.

3. It cannot decide the size of the obstacle i.e. either big or small. 4. It can detect the
obstacles only in its effective range.

5. It isn’t waterproof.

6. It cannot sense altitude i.e. in case if the pits.

References:

• 1)International Journal Of Latest Trends in Engineering And Technology

• 2)G. Gayathri, “SMART WALKING STICK FOR BLIND”