BLIND MANS SUPPORT

ABSTRACT

Our group made this device to help and developed miniaturized, wearable sensor device that will enhance the safety of persons who are visually impaired. The device warns the users when they are about to hit an obstacle at head level and on their path. The sensor which uses two ultrasonic transducers for obstacle localization which is attached at the users cup and the other sensor can be worn at the wrist.

Care of each developer was performed in making this device to optimize the functionality of the work in terms of accuracy and detection.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This project deals with creating a device that will help visually impaired people so that they will have an additional security and comfort in doing their everyday task. This device is made of ultrasonic transducers, dc vibrating motor that will give signals when there is a possible collision and an arduino compatible board.

The ultrasonic sensor releases short burst of ultrasonic sound wave and then outputs a pulse as soon as a returning echo is detected. The distance range detectable by the ultrasonic sensor (US-100) is 2cm 350cm but we have set this to 100cm or 1m. As soon as an obstacle is detected the ultrasonic sensor will send signals to the arduino board and this will read the data and will drive the dc vibrating motor to vibrate and to the buzzer to give signal to the visually impaired user that he/she is about to hit an obstacle.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

It is estimated that half a million of people in the Philippines are blind and this is number is very surprising. By far, the leading cause of blindness among adults in the Philippines is cataract accounting for around 400,000 cases. The treatment for cataract is simple and effective but it is not readily available and affordable for those who are living in some rural areas and remote places.

One hundred children lose their sight every week and almost half of these are either treatable or preventable. Poor nutrition, measles and premature birth are the leading causes of blindness of children.

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This are certain facts that presents the state and numbers of visually impaired individuals in the Philippines and even it is treatable by the help of modern technology and medicine, not all individuals have the ability to have their proper treatment.

Some untreated visually impaired individuals uses canes, dog guide and some are just handled and guided by their relative. But the two things mentioned have certain limitations in preventing collisions. Using canes does not protect individuals in obstacles at head level while some dog guide users experience traumatic incidences.

Being visually impaired is a difficult situation, so our group developed this device as an additional help to those who are visually impaired and to give them the assurance of secured walk outside and to protect them from head level obstacles.

1.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

This device will protect individuals with head level obstacles and obstacles on their path. With respect to existing Electronic Travel Aids, this device is minimalistic and can be comfortably worn by individuals. This device adds protection to individuals who uses canes because cane cannot protect blind users against head level obstacles such as tree branches, etc. The device will be worn using cup and the other sensor is attached to the individuals wrist and the circuit board can be attached to the users arm. As opposed to Electronic Travel Aids using ultrasonic sensors, infrared lights and GPS technology, this device provides a feedback just enough to ensure that the user can avoid a potentially painful collision. ETAs using infrared lights is cheap but not that accurate specially when walking outside with the presence of lights. GPS technology was also used in other travel aids but this is too expensive for individuals who are living in remote places.

The device we made is affordable by the individuals in rural and remote places but the accuracy and functionality of the device is same with some existing travel aids.

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1.3 FUNCTIONS

The main function of the device is to give signal to the visually impaired users when an obstacle is on their path. The sensor is attached to the users cup to protect the wearers head against collision.

The device we made is divided into two systems that work like human body. The heart of the device us the ultrasonic sensor that would be used as a distance detector, the sensor releases sound waves and then sends a pulse as soon as a returning echo is detected. As the returning echo was detected, it will be sent to the arduino compatible board. The arduino compatible board is primarily made up of Atmel Mega 328, and this serves as the brain of the system. The arduino reads the data sent by the sensor and when the sensor detects a possible obstacle, this will send enough signals to energize the dc vibrating motor and buzzer to give an alarm to the user.

1.4 ON OUR FIRST PROJECT

This project deals with creating a device that will help visually impaired people so that they will have an additional security and comfort in doing their everyday task. This device is made of ultrasonic transducers, op amp, decade counter and earphone that will give signals when there is a possible collision at head and eye level obstacles.

The ultrasonic sensor releases short burst of ultrasonic sound wave and then outputs a pulse as soon as a returning echo is detected. The distance range detectable by the device is 2cm 350cm. As soon as an obstacle is detected the ultrasonic sensor will send signals to the receiver transducer. The 40 kHz ultrasonic signal are converted into 40 kHz electric signals by the receiver and amplified by transistor T3 and T4. The device have a decade counter IC4017 to make 40 kHz be converted to 4 kHz signal which is fed to op-amp IC741 which is wired as an earphone amplifier to give signal to the visually impaired user.

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The main function of the device is to give signal to the visually impaired users when an obstacle is on their path. The sensor is attached to the users eyeglass to protect individuals head and eye against collision.

The main part of the device is the ultrasonic sensor (US-100), this works at the frequency of 40 kHz and it is temperature compensated so it gives an accurate signal even there is a change with the environment temperature. The ultrasonic sensor is divided into two parts the transmitter which emits 40 kHz sound and receiver which receives 40 kHz sound and converts it into electrical variation of the same frequency.

The device also has certain transistors T1 and T2 which serves as a 40 kHz oscillator. When there is an obstruction detected in front of ultrasonic transmitter, some signals will be reflected back and sensed by the ultrasonic receiver. This 40 kHz ultrasonic signal will be converted into 40 kHz electrical signals by the receiver and then amplified by transistors T3 and T4.

To make an audible sound out of 40 kHz electric signal, we put a decade counter IC4017 (IC1) which is a frequency divider which is connected at the output of the amplifier. This CMOS IC4017 divides the input frequency by 10 so the 40 kHz signal becomes 4 kHz, which is enough to have an audible range of sound. This 4 kHz signals are then fed to op-amp IC741 (IC2), which is wired as an earphone amplifier.

This device is powered with a 9V DC rechargeable battery which is also attached to a case together with the circuit board. With this device it can give an enough signal that will enable the user to avoid head and eye level obstructions.

Due to the unwanted results because we cannot set the detected area the ultrasonic sensor continuously sends data to the decade counter and op-amp which results for a continuous output of sound alarm that might irritates the user. So we have decided to make some research to make this device a more user-friendly. Then we come up to the idea of using microcontroller to make this a user friendly and more accurate device.

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1.5 INNOVATIONS ADDED

The innovation added to this device is the usage of two ultrasonic sensors instead of using one to help protect the user more. We also make an arduino compatible board instead of buying a kit which causes for almost Php1000.00+ (the original arduino board) though there are available compatible boards in the market like the Gizduino which causes Php 600.00+ it is still not that good for us because we want to make this device affordable so we have decided to make one compatible board for this project since there are lot of references and sources on the net showing tutorials on making compatible boards.

We have use an arduino compatible board to minimize the use of other components and to maintain the minimalistic look of the device so that the device will be small and more comfortable to wear by the user. Arduino board is use not just to drive with the latest technology but to explore its ability in this project.

On the first project, which is composed of some capacitors, transistors and integrated circuit this is eliminated with our second project, so that we could make this device more minimalist.

With the sensor used, we created this device using Ultrasonic Sensor also known as sonar instead of concentrating on Infrared LED lights though it is cheaper but we do not want to sacrifice the accuracy of the distance range. Infrared LED lights has a smaller scale of detectable distance and not so accurate specially when walking outside with the presence of lights.

The device is composed of two sensors with different alarm signals to help the user easily determine where the obstacle is. The first sensors alarm is a dc vibrating motor; we got one from our scrap Nokia 5310 phone. This is attached to the users wrist with the ultrasonic sensor.

The second sensor uses a buzzer as alarm. We have use a buzzer because our major focus on making this device is to protect head level injuries. And this alarm signal will easily detected by the user since it has an audible sound output. We have also attached two LED lights just to

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determine if the device really works. The green LED indicates a power on the device and the red LED lights when an obstruction is detected at head level.

This device is supplied with a 9V rechargeable battery attached to the case together with the circuit board. With this device we believe that it can help visually impaired people lessen their worries walking outside and doing their everyday task.

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CHAPTER II

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS

FIRST PROJECT ORIGINAL CIRCUIT

ORIGINAL DEVICE

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INNOVATED DEVICE

Block Diagram
40KHz OSCILLATOR 40KHz AMPLIFIER FREQUENCY DIVIDER AF AMPLIFIER EAR PHONE

TX 1

RX 1

Ultrasonic Sensor (US-100)

Innovated Circuit

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SECOND PROJECT

ORIGINAL CIRCUIT DIY ARDUINO BOARD

Source: Gizduino facebook page

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ORIGINAL DEVICE DC Vibrating Motor with Arduino

Original Program Sketch

Source: Make Magazine

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INNOVATED CIRCUIT

Arduino Compatible Board

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INNOVATED DEVICE Two Ultrasonic Sensor, Vibrating Motor, LED and Buzzer connection with Arduino Compatible Board

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PROGRAM SKETCH

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2.1 COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND INNOVATED DEVICE

On the first project we have done, we change the infrared LED to ultrasonic sensor to make this more accurate. Infrared LED is cheaper but detects a short distance unlike ultrasonic sensor although Infrared is used in obstacle detection it is not recommended to use as proximity detection with exact range. The ultrasonic sensor (US -100) is temperature compensated therefore it is accurate even the temperature outside changes. The alarm signal could be hear through an earphone we didnt use buzzer with this application because we think that it is more applicable to use outside so that other people wont be affected with the noise given by the buzzer. But because of the inconsistencies of this device, we have come up to the idea that we need to upgrade this device through the use of microcontrollers. We have use arduino compatible board with ATMega 328, two ultrasonic sensor, dc vibrating motor and buzzer. The original device with arduino is just a vibrating motor and the other diagram shows an ultrasonic sensor interface with arduino. We have used this two to develop our device. This resulted to make our device more efficient, accurate and user friendly. The device gives an alarm to the user once it detects an obstacle with a range of 100cm (1m). The two ultrasonic sensor is connected to the buzzer and vibrating motor to give an alarm. While the two LED lights mounted at the casing indicates that the sensor at the users cup functions green LED light indicates that the sensor work and the RED indicates that an obstacle of 1m is detected.

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CHAPTER III

DIAGRAM AND COMPONENT LIST

FIRST PROJECT 3.1 PCB LAYOUT

3.2 PCB COMPONENT PLACEMENT GUIDE

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3.3 COMPONENT LIST

3.4 COMPONENT PRICE LIST

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SECOND PROJECT

3.1 PCB LAYOUT

3.2 PCB COMPONENT PLACEMENT GUIDE

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3.3 COMPONENT LIST

3.4 COMPONENT PRICE LIST

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CHAPTER IV

DOCUMENTATIONS

ON OUR FIRST PROJECT

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ON OUR SECOND PROJECT

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FINISH PROJECT WITH CASING

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

We are thankful that our project was finished after the trial and errors that we have taken. With this project we learned a lot of things about electronics; applications of decade counter and op-amps, how does ultrasonic sensor functions, what is atmega328 and arduino. We have learned also that the C language/programming we have could be applied in a lot of things. Therefore our group concludes that these two devices could really help visually impaired individuals to lessen their worries about walking outside and in doing their everyday task. The second device is minimalistic and functional in all aspects. This device could still be developed and be more functional. They can still add some additional features like GPS to locate blind people and a lot more. And if this device be developed more we could say that this device will really help and make the life of visually impaired people easier.