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1. Configurable Salat Oriented Device for Assisting Disability Person
Airul Azha Abd Rahman1,2
, Mohd Nazri Mustafa1
and Mohammad Faisal Jaafar Ng1
1
MIMOS, Malaysia Technology Park, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
2
Corresponding author: airul@mimos.my
Keywords: Microcontroller; Salat; Deaf Person.
Abstract: The inability to perceive clearly with the eyes can affect the blind and visually impaired in doing daily
activities, especially in determining direction and navigation. In order to provide a non-invasive device, a
qibla finder has developed to help them to determine the desired direction. This paper presents the
development of a low-cost and easy-to-handle device to detect the Qibla direction for Salat, especially the
visually impaired and deafened person. A magnetic sensor used as the main component to detect the correct
angle of Qibla direction. Once detected, indicators (i.e. buzzer, vibrator and LEDs) will alert the user with
continuous sound, vibration and lighting sequences.
1 INTRODUCTION
Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed
five times each day by Muslims. Salat is the second
Pillar of Islam and it is compulsory for a Muslim
(people who believe in the religion of Islam) to
perform the ritual prayer five times a day. All
Muslims try to do this. Muslim children as young as
seven are encouraged to pray. One of the conditions
for a valid prayer is facing the Qibla; the direction
the worshipers must face is at the diameter of the
earth that passes the city of Mecca, and specifically
towards the Ka’ba [1].
Unfortunately, it is impossible for the blind,
visual-impaired and hearing-impaired (deaf-mute) to
determine the correct Qibla direction without any
assistance. Hence, in normal practice, they will seek
help from the surrounding people in that place to
guide them in finding the right direction. According
to the National Eye Survey in 1996, about 2.73% of
the population in Malaysia is visually impaired, of
whom 2.44% have low vision and 0.29% is blind.
This estimation involved 700,000 people who are
visually impaired, and 74,000 of them blind [1, 2].
Visual impairment and blindness occur when the
retina has limited response to the light, and thus the
message cannot translate to the brain. However, the
person is blind since birth; they may have developed
a better level of sensitivity of hearing and touch to
obtain external sensory information to complement
their sense of sight [2].
Hearing loss, also known as hearing
impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. A
deaf person has little to no hearing. Hearing loss
may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing
problems can affect the ability to learn spoken
language and in adults, it can create difficulties with
social interaction and at work. In some people,
particularly older people, hearing loss can result in
loneliness. Hearing loss can be temporary or
permanent. A number of factors, including, may
cause hearing loss: genetics, ageing, exposure to
noise, some infections, birth complications, trauma
to the ear, and certain medications or toxins. A
common condition that results in hearing loss is
chronic ear infections. Certain infections during
pregnancy, such as cytomegalovirus, syphilis and
rubella, may also cause hearing loss in the child.
Deaf problems will also contribute to mute
problems. Hearing loss is diagnosed when hearing
testing finds that a person is unable to hear 25
decibels in at least one ear.
2 RELATED WORKS
Some available compasses help the blind and visual
impaired to identify direction. MoonTrail had
developed ‘braille-compass’ named as Brunton

2. Nexus 16B Braille and users can find the direction
by touching the graduation on the compass card.
Another device called the Digital Talking Compass
is compact, and the direction is announced to the
nearest of eight compass points, from northeast to
southwest. Langtao and Balachandran also
developed an electronic compass for blind or deaf-
blind people [3]. The compass comprises of eight
opto-switch sensors to differentiate the orientations.
Once the desired direction detected, the
corresponding electrical signal will converted to
audio for the blind or electric pulse for deaf-blind to
indicate that the user is facing the correct direction.
With the advancement of technology,
electronic compasses have integrated with other
sensors, such as gyroscope and accelerometer for
localization/navigation for blind people. Electronic
travel aids (ETAs) [4, 5], smartphone [6], In situ
audio services (ISAS) [7], Radio frequency
identification (RFID) [8] for instance, is an
electronic aid that helps the blind to identify
direction, localization or navigation. However, there
have been limited studies done on compasses for the
visually impaired and hearing-impaired to identify
Qibla direction. Mahmoud patented a Qibla oriented
device, which can be hung around the user’s neck to
determine the direction of Qibla [9]. It comprises of
a compact device that has features like GPS receiver,
magnetic direction sensor, directional indicator light,
audio directional output, and a longitudinally aligned
laser projector. The audio signal acts as the output to
produce sound, which can help the visually impaired
in finding Qibla direction.
Motivated by a desire to help this kind of
community, this study aims to develop a Qibla
compass to assist the blind, hearing-impaired and
visually impaired in identifying Qibla direction.
3 OVERVIEW
The main target of this project is to develop a low
cost and practical Qibla identifier system for visual
impaired, deaf and blind Muslims people using a
magnetometer. It uses a 3-axis magnetic sensor
(LIS3MDL) together with a microcontroller
(ATmega328) and indicators (or actuation) device.
This Qibla identifier will produce a low cost
approach as it uses a simpler system. The sensor
provides magnetic field strength measurements with
a configurable range of ±4 gauss to ±16 gauss that
can be read through an I²C or SPI interface. The
device may configured to generate interrupt signals
for magnetic field detection. The magnetometer will
detect the exact position of Qibla direction obtained
from the compass once the arrow of the magnetic
sensor is pointed in the Qibla direction. Based on the
Fatwa Committee of the National Council for
Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia, the degree of
diversion allowed from the direction of the Qibla is
not more than 3% diversion from the mihrab, and
they decided that facing the direction of the Qibla is
a matter of opinion (ijtihad) and suspicion (zann). As
for the actuation system, continuous sound and
vibration will produced from a buzzer and vibrator
to notify the users that they are facing the Qibla
direction.
Sound and vibration is more practical to use
for the use of eyesight and hearing impairment.
Vibration can be seen and also felt when objects are
held or placed on a flat surface. Besides that, the
device also uses LEDs to notify the non-blind user
on the exact direction of Qibla. Users only need to
press the ON button once. Position the device on
your hand horizontally and flat. Move the device
horizontally towards Qibla direction.
Figure 1: Earth’s Field (He) in 3 Axis
The earth’s magnetic field resembles that of a simple
bar magnet. This magnetic dipole has its field lines
originating at a point near the South Pole and
terminating at a point near the North Pole. These
points are referred to as the magnetic poles. These
field lines vary in both strength and direction about
the face of the earth. In North America the field lines
points downward toward north at an angle roughly
70 degrees into the earth’s surface. This angle is
called the magnetic angle of inclination (Ø) and is
shown in Figure 1. The direction and strength of the
earth’s magnetic field (He) can be represented by the

3. three axis values Hx, Hy, and Hz. The Hx and Hy
information can be used to determine compass
headings in reference to the magnetic poles. The
earth’s rotational axis that defines the geographic
north and south poles that we use for map
references. It turns out that there is a discrepancy
between the geographic poles and the magnetic
poles. A value can be applied to the magnetic
direction to correct for this called the declination
angle. This has been mapped all across the globe
and takes into account other factors such as large
iron deposits and other natural anomalies. We can
refer to website (www.magnetic-declination.com) to
determine magnetic declination of particular
location. For example, Kuala Lumpur will have
Magnetic Declination of (-0° 1’) or 0.2909
milliradians. To determine compass headings using a
magnetometer, the device must be level to the
earth’s surface, there should not be any ferrous
materials interfering with the earth’s field and the
declination angle must be known.
A compass heading can be determined by
using just the Hx and Hy component of the earth’s
magnetic field, that is, the directions planar with the
earth’s surface. Hold the magnetometer flat in an
open area and note the Hx and Hy magnetic
readings. These readings vary as the magnetometer
is rotated in a circle. The maximum value of Hx and
Hy depend on the strength of the earth’s field at that
point. The magnetic compass heading can be
determined (in degrees) from the magnetometer’s x
and y readings by using the following set of
equations.
Direction (y>0) = 90 - [arc TAN(x/y)]*180/pi
Direction (y<0) = 270 - [arc TAN(x/y)]*180/pi
Direction (y=0, x<0) = 180.0
Direction (y=0, x>0) = 0.0
In order to determine true north heading, add or
subtract the appropriate declination angle.
Figure 2
Figure 3
The Qibla is the direction such that as if we looking
at the diameter of the earth passing through the
Kaaba. Kaaba is located at 21.42330 degree north,
39.8230 degree east in Mecca city. A simple
formulation in spherical trigonometry can be used in
solving the problem of Qibla determination. Figure 2
shows geometrical situation for determination of
direction between two geographical places. When N
is Geographical North Pole, NS is any meridian; M
is Mecca city and L is any place. Equation in Figure
3 is used in determination of Qibla direction (Q)
counts from north to west.
Qibla Direction Cities in Malaysia:
City: Kuala Lumpur
Qibla Angle: 292.5°
Qibla Angle for Compass: 292.6°
Magnetic Declination: -0° 1’

4. Kaaba: 21.42252, 39.82621
Location: 3.1363, 101.6889
City: Kangar, Perlis
Qibla Angle: 291.0°
Qibla Angle for Compass: 291.4°
Magnetic Declination: -0° 14’
Kaaba: 21.42252, 39.82621
Location: 6.4896, 100.2336
City: Johor Bahru, Johor
Qibla Angle: 293.0°
Qibla Angle for Compass: 292.8°
Magnetic Declination: -0° 12’
Kaaba: 21.42252, 39.82621
Location: 1.4913, 103.7429
4 DESIGN & PROTOTYPE
This paper presents a microcontroller-based system
for Qibla direction identification. The proposed
architecture is shown in Fig. 4. The block diagram is
showing Qibla direction detection using the
magnetometer and is processed by microcontroller
to indicate actuators. ATmega328 microcontroller
and LIS3MDL are as core components of the
system. Buzzer, vibrator and LEDs are used as
indicators for indicate correct Qibla identification
based on the calculations made. Buck-boost
regulator is used to ensure the supply voltage is 3.3V
and output current is always sufficient for the system
to operate continuously. The buck-boost converter is
based on a fixed frequency, pulse width modulation
(PWM) controller using synchronous rectification to
obtain maximum efficiency. At low load currents,
the converter enters power-save mode to maintain
high efficiency over a wide load current range. The
power save mode is can be disabled, forcing the
converter to operate at a fixed switching frequency.
The output voltage is programmable using an
external resistor divider, or is fixed internally on the
chip. The converter can be disabled to minimize
battery drain. During shutdown, the load is
disconnected from the battery. After the system is
switched ON, it will go into Standby Mode
automatically after 5 minutes. Standby Mode is
default condition of the system. In most cases,
system will wake up when ON button is pressed
once and ready to use. This ensures energy saving so
that the system can be used for a long time without
having to charge frequently. In rare cases, the unit
still need a charge before use.
Figure 4: System Block Diagram
Fig.5 is shown firmware flowchart of the system.
The system works as follows. It starts with the
initialization of all variables needed by the firmware,
then initializes the LED indicators to display that the
system starts to operate. After the initialize process
completed, it checks the magnetic sensor X, Y and Z
data. Using the given formulas, the correct Qibla
search and direction can be made using this system.
If the desired Qibla direction is correct, the buzzer
(or alarm) will sound and the vibrator will vibrate
along with the LEDs in succession. Otherwise, the
system waits for serial interferes incoming from
users. If no movement is applied to the system, after
5 minutes the system will enter standby mode and
sleep. This saves the power consumption so that the
battery voltage lasts longer.
Figure 5: Salat Direction Programming

5. Through this method, users in the disability category
people can easily perform their own prayers. Users
can perform prayers more easily and effectively.
Help from others is required at a minimum. Figure 6
shows the appearance of the device designed and
developed. Refer to Table 1 for input/output
functions on the device based on the number
marked.
Figure 6: System Prototype
Table 1: System Features and Functional
5 DEPLOYMENT
In order to determine the accuracy, the device
compared with the known Qibla direction at prayer
room, and that direction assumed correct. The Qibla
compass deviation angle and percentage of deviation
towards the Qibla direction from the prayer room
will determine the device accuracy. In order to
obtain the angle of deviation, a reference compass is
used as comparison by placing it on the protractor.
The data is measured and recorded based on reading
on the protractor. Figure 7 shows the result of the
verification done at several locations at our place.
Based on the results obtained, the percentage of
deviation for all location is less than 3%, which is
acceptable, based on guidelines determined by the
Fatwa Committee of the National Council for
Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia. The
measurement of deviation angle for device
validation process shows that the Qibla compass is
able to perform well, and it is proven that the device
is reliable.
Figure 7: Salat Direction in Kuala Lumpur.
The description for the Qibla range is as follows:
Qibla Big Range
To indicate that correct Qibla direction is close.
Within ± 10° tolerance.
Qibla Small Range
It is the correct Qibla direction.
Within ± 1.5° tolerance.

6. 6 CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have designed and implemented a
microcontroller-based system for Qibla direction
identification. The testing result shown, the system
works well according to our predefined
specification. With using a magnetometer compass,
a low-cost and easy-to-handle the Qibla identifier,
successfully designed and developed in order to
assist visual impaired and blind people. With this
device, blind and visually impaired people can
perform prayers anytime and anywhere without
asking other people. The objective and scopes of this
project were fulfilled.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Elcorp Technology Sdn Bhd
for the opportunity given in this research and
development project awarded to MIMOS Berhad,
especially to the project team from Elcorp
Technology Sdn Bhd for the willingness to share
their knowledge and experiences regarding Qibla
identification. All designs and prototype shown in
this paper belong to Elcorp Technology Sdn Bhd
and MIMOS Berhad respectively.
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