Navigation Framework for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons based on Sensor Fusion

TL;DR

This paper proposes a comprehensive sensor fusion framework using novel algorithms to enhance obstacle detection, recognition, localization, and navigation for visually impaired individuals, improving autonomous assistive navigation systems.

Contribution

It introduces new sensor fusion algorithms, including a homogeneous extended Kalman filter, a heterogeneous sensor integration approach, and a complementary fusion method, advancing assistive navigation technology.

Findings

Developed a novel homogeneous sensor fusion algorithm based on extended Kalman filter.

Created a heterogeneous sensor integration approach for improved navigation.

Designed a complementary sensor fusion algorithm using error state extended Kalman filter.

Abstract

Individuals who are differently-able in vision cannot proceed with their day-to-day activities as smoothly as other people do. Especially independent walking is a hard target to achieve with their visual impairment. Assistive electronic travel aids equipped with different types of sensors are designed for visually impaired persons to assist their safe navigation. The amount of research on combining multiple sensors in assistive navigation aids for visually impaired navigation is limited. Most work is targeted at sensor integration but not at sensor fusion. This paper aims to address how sensor fusion and integration will be used to improve the sub-processes of visually impaired navigation and the way to evaluate the sensor fusion-based approach for visually impaired navigation which consists of several contributions to field sensor fusion in visually impaired navigation such as a novel homogeneous sensor fusion algorithm based on extended Kalman filter, a novel heterogeneous sensor integration approach, and a complementary sensor fusion algorithm based on error state extended Kaman filter. Overall this research presents a novel navigational framework to integrate obstacle detection, obstacle recognition, localization, motion planning, and current context awareness with sensor fusion.