An Electromagnetic Sensor Prototype to Assist Visually Impaired and Blind People in Autonomous Walking

The feasibility of an electromagnetic sensor to assist the autonomous walking of visually impaired and blind users is demonstrated in this paper. It is known that people affected by visual diseases usually walk assisted by some supports, among which the white cane is the most common. Our idea consists in applying a microwave radar on the traditional white cane making aware the user about the presence of an obstacle in a wider and safer range. Compared to the already existing Electronic Travel Aids devices, the proposed system exhibits better performance, noise tolerance and reduced dimensions. In the following, the latest developments of this research activity are presented, with special concern for the miniaturization of circuit board and antennas. A laboratory prototype has been designed and realized and the first test results of obstacle detection are hereby shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.