Smart Utilities for Blind

PROJECT REPORT
on
SMART UTILITIES FOR BLIND
Submitted by
Under the supervision of
Dr. Sunil Karamchandani
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
Academic Year : 2015-2016
Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal’s
Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering
Plot no. U-15, JVPD Scheme, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg,
Vile Parle (W), Mumbai – 400 056
Name SAP No.
1) Viraj Patel 60002120079
2) Naishil Shah 60002120098
3) Pankil Shah 60002120101
4) Pooja Shah 60002120102

Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal’s
Dwarkadas J Sanghvi College of Engineering
Plot No. U – 15, JVPD Scheme, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg,
Vile Parle (W), Mumbai – 400 056
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
This is to certify that the Project Report Stage – II
“SMART UTILITIES FOR BLIND”
Submitted by:
1. Viraj Patel
2. Naishil Shah
3. Pankil Shah
4. Pooja Shah
Students of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering have successfully completed
their Project Report Stage – II required for the fulfillment of SEM VIII as per the norms
prescribed by the University of Mumbai during the First half of the year 2016. The project
report has been assessed and found to be satisfactory.
_______________ _______________
Internal Guide External Guide
_______________ _______________
Head of Department Principal
_______________ _______________
Internal Examiner External Examiner

Index
Chapter
No.
Topic Page
No.
Declaration…………………………………………………………. i
Acknowledgements………………………………………………… ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………….. iii
1 Introduction………………………………………………………… 1
1.1 Motivation and Objectives…………………………………………... 1
1.2 Engineering Objectives……………………………………………… 2
2 Components………………………………………………………… 3
2.1 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID RC522 )……………………. 3
2.2 Ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04)……………………………………….. 5
2.3 Arduino ATmega 2560……………………………………………… 6
2.4 Servo Motors………………………………………………………… 7
2.5 Relays………………………………………………………………... 8
3 Feeling Braille………………………………………………………. 10
3.1 Features and Introduction……………………………………………. 10
3.2 Construction…………………………………………………………. 10
3.4 Working……………………………………………………………… 12
3.5 Output………………………………………………………………... 14
4 I-CANe……………………………………………………………… 16
4.1 Features and Introduction……………………………………………. 16
4.2 Construction…………………………………………………………. 16
4.3 Working……………………………………………………………… 18
4.3.1 Obstacle detection using ultrasonic sensor .......……………….. 18
4.3.2 Dead Man Switch…….………………………………………… 21
4.3.3 Colour Detection Theory to Detect Black Lines………………. 21
4.3.4 RFID…………………………………………………………… 23
4.4 Output………………………………………………………………... 25

5 Future Scope……………………………………………………….. 28
5.1 Feeling Braille………………………………………………………. 28
5.2 I-CANe………………………………………………………………. 28
6 Conclusion…………………………………………………………… 30
7 Software……………………………………………………………… 31
8 Appendix…………………………………………………………….. 35
9 References…………………………………………………………… 38

i
DECLARATION
We hereby declare that this submission is our own work and that, to the
best of our knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously
published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial
extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of
the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due
acknowledgment has been made in the text.
Signature
Name: Viraj Patel. Naishil Shah. Pankil Shah. Pooja Shah.
SAP ID: 60002120079. 60002120098. 60002120101. 60002120102.
Date:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We could not have completed this entire project without the guidance of our
parents, teachers and our friends. We would like to extend our gratitude towards
our project guide Dr. Sunil Karamchadani for his constant support, both morally
and technically. Their constructive criticism and painstaking efforts have had a
great role in completing the project. Also we would like to mention a special thank
you to our Electronics and Telecommunication Department for the facilities and
the resources provided to us which aided us in completing our project.
THANK YOU.

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ABSTRACT
In today's world of sophisticated technology various platforms and gadgets are been developed
to help physically challenged people, especially the blind people. We also wanted to add
something to this social cause using our engineering knowledge. Our project is designed on
motto to make this world blind friendly. Our first product aims at helping the visually impaired
people in their sector of education. Feeling Braille, is an automated braille pad developed which
generates various braille codes including letters and words as per the input given. We wanted
our project to simple, inexpensive and scalable so that it can be easily deployed in the real
world. The core of our second project I-CANe is the image processing, where a pre drawn
guidance line will be used a reference for the blind person navigate in the unknown
environment. To navigate through various junction present in unknown environment we are
using RFID Tags. Each junction is unique and each RFID Tag is made with unique UID. A
small database having all the information for each of the junction will be made. As soon as the
user passes over a particular junction the corresponding tag assigned to the junction will be
detected and relevant information will be pulled out from the database. This information will
be used to navigate further. The ultrasonic sensor comes in handy, which detects all the
obstacles above the waist level as well as notifies its distance from the user. Our project has
capability to easily switch between environments by just updating its database. Hence our
Project Aankhein, as we call it, has the ultimate aim of enhancing the lives of the visually
impaired people and at the same time making it more independent.

1
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVE
During our routine journey in the Mumbai Local Trains, we observed a very unnoticeable
occurrence of a periodic sound on every platform. This was a simple beep sound which was
played from a box hanging above the disabled people’s coach position. We realised that if such
small things could help them in their travelling, we too could make something which would go
a long way in helping them. This was our biggest motivation for developing such a product
that can simplify the visually impaired people’s routine chores and lifestyle.
With the help of technology we wanted to provide education, indication and guidance in their
daily lives. Hence we developed our Project Aankhein which contains two main products
namely – Feeling Braille and I-CANe. Two of the major factors in their life – Literacy and
Commuting – are something we want to take back to the first principle and providing aid in
these sectors will definitely enhance their standard of living.
There are approximately 15 million blind people in India but how many of them do we actually
see travelling freely to their required destinations. With the ever increasing population and
traffic on the roads, it has become a very challenging task for the visually impaired people to
travel. But if these people are provided with an assisting hand that can be with them every time
they want to travel somewhere, their hesitation and fear to travel can be exterminated.
Also, the mean literacy rate in India among the blind people is less than 5%. With such high
population and such low literacy rate, this situation proves to be a risk not only to the individual
but also to the society as a whole. This is a misfortunate situation which when improved will
be a boon to society. One inspiring person, Jacob Bolotin proved everyone in the world to win
against the standard norms of the society. He successfully became the first blind person to
achieve a degree of M.B.B.S. To think of someone who is visually impaired, and then going
on to become the first blind heart and lung specialist, is no less than a marvel.

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Also assisting the visually impaired people in these sectors, will help them gain a new
perspective towards life. This is just a small contribution towards creating many more
personalities like Dr. Jacob Bolotin.
1.2 ENGINEEERING OBJECTIVES
Before starting with the project, we did a little market and social research regarding finding
related problems and products in this sector. While doing so, it came to our knowledge that out
of approximately 4 million blind people in India, the mean literacy rate is less than 1%. There
were extremely few products that aimed to provide services which we wanted to provide, but
they too had some disadvantages when compared to our project idea.
The process of printing books for the visually impaired is a time consuming and expensive
process. Moreover the facilities and the resources which are required for the task are very
scarce. So the need to make something that actually taught them to read the codes with the
resources and time in already in hand was of up most importance. Also the cost cutting
solutions implemented in our project will make sure this kit is perfectly economical for every
Non-Governmental Organisation or Social foundations to buy.
A Braille tablet is available currently which is highly expensive. Even though its intention is
to introduce blind people with the world of technology, it does not help them learn the Braille
Codes which is a basic step for them. Another product available in the market is the I-CANe
which detects the obstacle in front of the visually impaired and alerts him for the same. We
wanted to integrate many other features to the cane along with the obstacle detection, like area
mapping, dead man switch, junction indication and guidance etc. We have used various
engineering fundamentals to create a perfect embedded solution to a very practical and social
problem.

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CHAPTER-2
COMPONENTS
2.1 RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) RC522:
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify
and track tags attached to objects. RFID is one method for Automatic Identification and Data
Capture (AIDC). The tags contain information that is stored electronically in it. A RFID reader
is required for reading the information stored in the tags. There are two types of tags- Active
tags and passive tags. Active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate
at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID
reader's interrogating radio waves. In our project we are using passive tags. The biggest
advantage of using RFID is that the reader and the tag need not be in the line of sight as in the
case of barcodes.
RFID TAG
The tags contain a microchip and a coupling element – antenna. Most tags are activated only
when they are within the interrogation field. The tag's chip or integrated circuit (IC) delivers
performance, memory and extended features to the tag. The chip is pre-programmed with a tag
identifier (TID), a unique serial number assigned by the chip manufacturer, and includes a
memory bank to store the items' unique tracking identifier. Tags can be read-only, or read-
write. The size of the tag depends upon the size of the antenna, which increases with range of
tag and decreases with frequency.
FIGURE 1. RFID Passive Tag

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FIGURE 2. RFID Tags and Types
RFID READER
An RFID reader's function is to interrogate RFID tags. The means of interrogation is wireless
and line of sight between the reader and tags is not necessary since the distance is relatively
short. A reader contains an RF module, which acts as both a transmitter and receiver of radio
frequency signals. The transmitter consists of an oscillator, a modulator and an amplifier. The
transmitter is used to create the carrier frequency; a modulator to impinge data commands upon
this carrier signal and an amplifier to boost the signal enough to awaken the tag. The receiver
has a demodulator to extract the returned data and also contains an amplifier to strengthen the
signal for processing. A microprocessor forms the control unit, which employs an operating
system and memory to filter and store the data.
FIGURE 3. RFID Reader

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SPECIFICATIONS
• Module Name:MF522-ED
• Working current：13 - 26mA / DC 3.3V
• Standby current：10 - 13mA / DC 3.3V
• Sleep current：<80uA
• Peak current：<30mA
• Working frequency：13.56MHz
• Card reading distance ：0～60mm （Mifare1 card）
• Protocol：SPI
• Data communication speed：10Mbit/s Max.
• Card types supported: Mifare1 S50, Mifare1 S70, Mifare UltraLight, Mifare Pro.
• Dimension：40mm × 60mm
• Working temperature：-20—80 degree
• Storage temperature：-40—85 degree
• Humidity: relevant humidity 5%—95%
2.2 Ultra-Sonic Sensor (HC-SR04):
Ultrasounds are sound
waves with frequencies higher than
the upper audible limit of
human hearing. Ultrasound is not
different from 'normal' (audible)
sound in its physical properties, only
in that humans cannot hear it. This
limit varies from person to person
and is approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz) in healthy, young adults. Ultrasound devices
operate with frequencies from 20 KHz up to several gigahertzes.

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HC-SR04 uses ultra sound waves for obstacle detection. It consists of transmitter and receiver.
The transmitter transmits ultrasonic waves; the waves bounce back from the surface of the
object and are detected by the receiver. The time interval is taken into account for the
calculation of distance between the sensor and the obstacle.
Technical Specifications:
 Operating Voltage: 5V
 Static current: 2mA max
 Induction Angle: 15°
 Detection Range: 2 – 200cm
 High precision up to 3mm
2.3 ARDUINO MEGA 2560
The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560. It has 54 digital
input/output pins (of which 15 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs(hardware
serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a
reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a
computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The
Mega is compatible with most shields designed for the Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila.
The Mega2560 differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial
driver chip. Instead, it features the ATmega16U2 (ATmega8U2 in the revision 1 and revision 2
boards) programmed as a USB-to-serial converter.
FIGURE 5. Arduino Mega 2560.

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SPECIFICATIONS
Microcontroller ATmega2560
Operating Voltage 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V
Input Voltage (limits) 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)
Analog Input Pins 16
DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA
Flash Memory 256 KB of which 8 KB used by boot loader roader
SRAM 8 KB
EEPROM 4 KB
Clock Speed 16 MHz
2.4 SERVO MOTOR
Servo motors are rotary actuators that give us precise angular displacements. It consists of a
motor coupled to a sensor. This sensor is used for position feedback. The input given to the
servo motor can be an analog or digital signal, according to which the shaft of the motor is
rotated.
FIGURE 6. Servo Motor
Here we have given a digital signal as input. The degree of rotation is determined by the
duration of the pulse. Hence to move the shaft back and forth, variable length pulses are used

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i.e. Pulse Width Modulation is used. 2% (0o-180o) and 12% (180o-0o) duty cycle pulses are
given as input. The servo expects to see a pulse every 20ms. The time taken to rotate from 0o-
180o is less than 50ms, time delay is minimal. When these servos are programmed to move
they will move to the position and hold that position. The specifications of the servo motor:-
• Dimension: 23mm x 12mm x 25mm
• Torque: 1.5kg/cm at 4.8V
• Motor weight: 30gms
• Operating speed: 0.15sec/60 degree
• Operating voltage: 4.8V/6V.
2.5 RELAY
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to mechanically
operate a switch, but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-state relays. Relays
are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete
electrical isolation between control and controlled circuits), or where several circuits must be
controlled by one signal. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early
computers to perform logical operations.
FIGURE 7. Relay and SPDT circuit.

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WORKING OF SINGLE POLE DOUBLE THROW.
A single pole double throw (SPDT) relay configuration switches one common pole to two other
poles, flipping between them. As shown in the schematic diagram, the common point E
completes a circuit with C when the relay coil is at rest, that is, no voltage is applied to it. This
circuit is "closed." A gap between the contacts of point E and D creates an "open" circuit. When
you apply power to the coil, a metal level is pulled down, closing the circuit between points E
and D and opening the circuit between E and C. A single pole double throw relay can be used
to alternate which circuit a voltage or signal will be sent to.
Pin Configuration of Relay
FIGURE 8. Pin configuration of Relay.
NO= Normally Open
NC= Normally Close
COM= Common Terminal
SPECIFICATIONS
Rated voltage = 5VDC
Rated Current = 80.0mA
Coil Resistance = 62.5Ω
Must Operate Voltage = 70% max of the rated voltage
Must release Voltage = 10% min of the rated voltage
Maximum Voltage = 180% of rated voltage ( at 23 °C)
Power Consumption = Approx. 400 mW

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CHAPTER-3
FEELING BRAILLE
3.1 FEATURES AND INTRODUCTION
The ultimate aim for building this product is to provide aid to visually impaired people by
simplifying and reducing their efforts to read braille codes. Our project can be used
innovatively for multipurpose uses which range from teaching braille codes to the infants, to
producing any text provided as input with the help of the Optical Character Recognition.
The concept of the project is to assist the visually impaired people by giving them a panel to
read braille codes without needing them to move their hands as per the conventional system.
Our panel provides them with the ease and convenience of placing their fingers stationary on a
steady platform to read changing texts. Feeling Braille, as we have named our project, makes
sure to automatically change the braille codes as required so that the person reading or learning
from it does not have to change the position of his hands continuously.
Currently our aim is to help newly blinded people, whether children or adults, to learn Braille
codes. Hence the project in this stage has the output of series of English alphabets from A to
Z. With a few feasible changes in the program this project can also be used conveniently to get
any combination of letter or words as output as required by the person using it. Another
application of the project is that it converts any written text, be it a live feed from the camera
or a simple text or image file, into braille codes. This feature can be applied in various places
for example in a restaurant menu or a shopping mall.
3.2 CONSTRCUTION
We have tried to implement the whole pad in a very inexpensive way. The whole outer
supporting structure is made up of Polystyrene to make it as light as possible. For our
requirement of a structure that protrudes out to make the braille dots, we wanted something
similar to a linear actuator. Due to the high price of the same available in the market, we decided
to make them ourselves. With the use of small screws used in the adhesive tubes ‘Fevi Stick’
and servo motors, we managed to create our very own linear actuator which provided us with

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sufficient rise which was required for the application. The basic model of the panel is shown
in the following diagrams.
Nbai
FIGURE 9A. Overall model of Braille Pad FIGURE 8B. Measurements of raised dot
FIGURE 9C. Overall measurements of the pad with locations of the raised dots.

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The Figure X shows the 3D model of the panel’s arrangement along with the servo motor
and the screws in their respective place. The Figure Y depicts the size of the tip of the
screw, i.e. the area which the user will be able to feel when it is raised from the panel. The
final diagram, Figure Z shows the complete panel in a 2D view giving the locations of the
dots. Each diagram has its respective measurements which give an idea about the size of
the panel and the distances of the dots from the edges.
Apart from the servo motors and screws, we have also used Arduino Mega 2560
Microcontroller board and relays for the hardware functioning. The whole construction of
the process including the printed circuit boards used during the process were done by us as
per the requirement of the project.
5.3 WORKING
The Braille cell consists of six dots. Each dot is implemented using a servo motor and a
screw that is made to work as a linear actuator. The users will feel the raised screws that
are placed on the shaft of the servo motors, in the corresponding dots. To do this, control
signals are given to the servo motors.
Servo is controlled by sending a pulse of variable width. The angle is determined by the
duration of a pulse that is applied to the control wire. This is called Pulse width Modulation.
The servo expects to see a pulse every 20 ms. Length of the pulse will determine how far
the motor turns. For example, a 7% duty cycle of 20 ms pulse will make the motor turn to
the 90 degree position (neutral position).
When these servos are commanded to move they will move to the position and hold that
position. If an external force pushes against the servo while the servo is holding a position,
the servo will resist from moving out of that position. The maximum amount of force the
servo can exert is the torque rating of the servo. Servos will not hold their position forever
though; the position pulse must be repeated to instruct the servo to stay in position.
When a pulse is sent to a servo that is less than 1.4 ms the servo rotates to a position and
holds its output shaft some number of degrees counter clockwise from the neutral point.
When the pulse is wider than 1.4 ms the opposite occurs. The minimal width and the
maximum width of pulse that will command the servo to turn to a valid position are
functions of each servo. Different brands, and even different servos of the same brand, will
have different maximum and minimums. Generally the minimum pulse will be about 1 ms
wide and the maximum pulse will be 2.4 ms wide.

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WORKING OF MAIN CIRCUIT:
2% and 12% duty cycle pulse is generated at the PWM pins 8 and 9 of arduino. Relay-1
selects either 2% or 12% pulse and sends them to the control signal pin of servomotor. 2%
pulse will result in clockwise rotation and 12% pulse will result in clockwise rotation. The
six servomotors get their power from the power-supply via their respective relays. The
power pin of the servomotor is connected to the N.O. (normally open) pin of the relay.
Depending upon the alphabet, the respective relay is tripped via the digital pin of the
arduino. As soon as the relay is energized by 5V (digital pin output of arduino) the relay’s
common pin gets connected to power source and only that servomotor is able to rotate
according to the PWM signal given at the control signal pin. Now as a respective servo
rotates in a particular direction it rotates the screw connected at top of it in the same
direction. Now as the nut is fixed the rotation motion of the screw will lift it up.
As the screw moves up it can be felt, as its position will be above with respect to the plane
surface of the braille pad.
FIGURE 10. Flowchart of the algorithm

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The following two mode can be implemented:
1. TUTOR MODE: The Braille representation of all 26 alphabets is generated sequentially
in this mode. For the conversion of English alphabets into their Braille representation, the
required servo motors are identified and made operational. Every alphabet is held on the
pad for 3 seconds before the next alphabet appears.
2. TEXT MODE: In this mode, a word or a predefined text can be produced on the pad as
required. Currently we have a provision of generating a three letter word, but this can be
extended as required by simply connecting the required number of pads and making a few
programming changes.
WORKING OF OCR:
The images are read via the help of MATLAB. Text-to-speech is integrated in MATLAB
and the text that is read with the concept of OCR is played. In our project, we are integrating
OCR in two ways:
1) The image is read using OCR via MATLAB. The text from the image is now extracted.
This text is given as an input to the Arduino board. The board generates control signals
accordingly and the text is outputted at the Braille pad so that the blind people can read
the text.
2) In this case, the text of the image is extracted as mentioned above. The only difference
is the how the text is outputted. Here the text extracted is not given to the Arduino board,
but is given to the Text-to-speech module, which is also coded in MATLAB. This text is
then played out loud so that the visually impaired person can know the content of the image.
For example this can be integrated for reading the menus of the restaurants.
5.4 OUTPUT
We conclusively obtained the required output in both the modes used in our project. The
output sample where the letter ‘c’ is demonstrated is shown in the following figure.
Similarly other alphabets and words were also generated by the keyboard.

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FIGURE 11. Letter ‘C’ Representation
Complete words were also generated by changing the time constraint between consecutive
letters. This can be adjusted according to the user requirement. The figure below shows the
word ‘CAB’ generated. This will allow us in future to generate complete sentences too.
FIGURE 12. Word ‘CAB’ Representation
Code for B
Code for A
Code for C

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CHAPTER-4
I-CANe
4.1 FEATURES AND INTRODUCTION
General observation provides enough testimony to prove their inconvenience, which they
face while travelling. In today’s world of ever rising traffic and population, it is of prior
importance to assure that they reach their destinations safely. The I-CANe is an embedded
solution to the problem faced while travelling by the visually impaired people.
It’s features of area mapping, obstacle detection, audio signalling and GSM, make their
travelling more self-reliant and independent. A predefined black line is mapped throughout
an area which helps the blind people follow their path. If they deviate from this line, an
audio alert is played in the left or the right ear via the designed headphones. The direction
is selected on the basis of their deviation from the line. At the junctions a RFID tag is placed
which contains the information about all the paths emerging from that junction. This tag is
read by a RFID reader which is mounted on the cane. Thus each tag will provide a different
audio assistance to the user according to the path.
An ultrasonic sensor is mounted on the cane that continuously scans for obstacles in the
path. A vibratory motor is attached to each finger of the user. As soon as an obstacle is
detected in a particular direction, the respective vibratory motor will signal the user with a
particular intensity. Not only will this give the user an estimate of the distance of the
obstacle, but also will provide with the direction of the same. All the features like vibratory
motors on the gloves, audio signalling headphones, path guidance system and the dead man
switch which includes alert system which is explained later, combine to form an extremely
economical and assistive utility.
4.2 CONSTRUCTION
The overall construction of the I-CANe is extremely simple yet loaded with utilities.
Starting from the head, we have mounted a dead man switch on the grip. This enables the
visually impaired person to hold the cane in the traditional manner and at the same time
press the dead man switch without any external pressure or efforts. Next, below it, is the
camera which is used for detecting the black lines. Further down is the ultrasonic sensor

17
placed on the servo motor, which continuously scans at a frontal angle of 60 degrees. An
Arduino Mega 2560 micro controller board is placed which handles all the connections and
circuitry of the cane. It also has the headphones, buzzer and the gloves attached to it. Last
on the cane, a RFID scanner is placed close to the ground where it scans for the tags present.
POTENTIAL ILLUSTARTION

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4.3 WORKING
4.3.1 OBSTACLE DETECTION USING ULTRASONIC SENSOR
Working Of Ultrasonic Sound Sensor
As seen from the figure shown below, there are four pins on the ultrasonic sound sensor
viz.
1) Vcc pin
2) Ground pin
3) Echo pin
4) Trigger pin
FIGURE 13. Ultrasonic and connections
The Vcc and Ground pin are connected to the 5V pin and Ground pin of the Arduino.
The Echo pin and the Trigger pin are connected to the Digital Pin of the Arduino.
The pins are connected to the arduino board as shown in the figure above. The ultrasonic sound
sensor works in the following way:-
First the trigger pin sends a trigger signal from the transmitter part of the sensor. This
transmitter signal travels to the maximum direction till some obstacle detected. If any obstacle
is in the way of the trigger signal, the signal is reflected back. The reflected signal so called as
"ECHO SIGNAL" is received at the receiver part of the sensor using the Echo pin.

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After receiving the Echo signal, the Arduino calculates the distance between the Arduino
and the obstacle. This distance is displayed on the serial monitor. The distance displayed is
in Centimetres. This distance indicates that how far the obstacle is from the Sensor.
An image of obstacle detected showing on serial monitor is shown below.
FIGURE 14. Obstacle Detection using ultrasonic
The obstacle detection is done using ultrasonic sound sensor. The working of ultrasonic
sound sensor has been explained before.
FIGURE 15. Servo motor mounted with Ultrasonic sensor

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For Obstacle detection a glove has been made which indicates the direction in which the
obstacle is there to the visually impaired person.
An image of the Glove is shown below.
FIGURE 16. Gloves fitted with Vibratory motor on each finger.
As seen in the figure above, the glove consists of 5 vibrator motors. These 5 vibrator motors
are used for indicating the direction about the obstacle. Each motor is used for detecting an
obstacle in the range of 15°. The 1st motor is used for detecting an obstacle in the range of 60°-
75° from the ultrasonic sound senor. When the ultrasonic sound sensor encounters an obstacle
in the range of 60°-75° while it is rotating on the servo motor, the arduino sends a digital signal
to the 1st vibrator motor. After receiving the
digital signal, the motor vibrates and the
visually impaired person will experience
vibration on that particular finger and the
person can come to know that an obstacle is
present in that particular direction and range
measured form the point the person is
standing/walking.
Similarly the other motors are place for the
ranges 75°-90°, 90°-105°, 105°-120°.
A general representation of the angles of the
gloves is as shown in the following figure.

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4.3.2 DEAD MAN SWITCH
Dead man switch has been a great help to avoid various accidents. It is a simple mechanism
which is implemented in the I-CANe with an added functionality. We have used the dead
man switch as an indication system which alerts the visually impaired person using it when
it is released. They switch has its basic principle intact i.e. It should be pressed continuously
while in use.
If by any chance the user leaves the switch, a buzzer is activated. This buzzer is used as an
indication for the person, which gives him the location of the cane once it has fallen or
rolled away from him. Thus it provides assistance to the person and makes him more
independent which is the ultimate aim of our project.
The added functionality of the dead man switch is the integrating of the GPS module. After
a predefined time limit, a signal will be sent to the GPS module which will provide the
location of the user to his well-wisher. This can be sent in the form of a message or any
other indication. This is provided for cases of emergency or accidents. If the visually
impaired person does not press the switch for a fixed amount of time, one can assume it to
be an emergency situation and hence the dead man switch can prove to be a great utility.
4.3.3 COLOUR DETECTION THEORY TO SCAN BLACK LINES
The OpenCV platform does not work on the regular Red-Green-Blue (RGB) model for the
colour detection algorithm. Instead it actually relies on the more suitable Hue-Saturation-Value
(HSV) colour space for colour space image segmentation. HSV colour space is also consists of
3 matrices, HUE, SATURATION and VALUE. HUE represents the colour, SATURATION
represents the amount to which that respective colour is mixed with white and VALUE
represents the amount to which that respective colour is mixed with black. In OpenCV, value
range for HUE, SATURATION and VALUE are respectively 0-179, 0-255 and 0-255. In our
application, HUE is unique for that specific colour distribution of that object.
But SATURATION and VALUE may be vary according to the lighting condition of that
environment.
Hue values of basic colours:
o Orange 0-22
o Yellow 22- 38
o Green 38-75
o Blue 75-130

22
o Violet 130-160
o Red 160-179
These are approximate values. You have to find the exact range of HUE values according to
the colour of the object.
Algorithm Steps- (Applied to each frame of the video)
1. Thresholding:
a. This process involves the most basic step of detecting any colour required. First,
by adjusting the required HSV values we select the colour to be detected.
Consider the colour Red for illustration. Its value is taken in between 170-179
for our object.
b. Thresholding in the simplest way means replacing each pixel in an image with
a black pixel if the image intensity I is less than some fixed constant T, or a
white pixel if the image intensity is greater than that constant.
c. Hence in our case, we consider the fixed constant T to be the hue values of the
colour to be detected i.e. Red. Here a slight modification is needed in
thresholding. Instead of setting a fixed value T, we set a lower limit and a higher
limit for detecting the colour.
d. After this, we check each pixel value in comparison to our limits. If the colour
lies in the range selected, we convert them to white. Any other pixel values
outside the range is to be converted to black.
e. This completes the thresholding process and we will roughly have an image of
only black and white pixel values.
2. Morphology Transformations
a. Morphological Opening- It is obtained by the erosion of an image followed by
a dilation.
Useful for removing small objects (it is assumed that the objects are bright on a
dark foreground)
For instance, check out the example below. The image at the left is the original
and the image at the right is the result after applying the opening transformation.
We can observe that the small spaces in the corners of the letter tend to
disappear.

23
b. Morphological Closing
It is obtained by the dilation of an image followed by an erosion.
Useful to remove small holes (dark regions).
For instance, check out the example below. The image at the left is the original
and the image at the right is the result after applying the closing transformation.
We can observe that the small spaces on the letters are overlapped by the white
background i.e. the black texts is eroded.
3. This finally completes the colour detection algorithm for the code. The Hue Saturation and
Value estimates can be found out via the Brute-Force method.
4. Ultimately the whole of the scanning process is complete and black coloured lines can be
scanned. The position of the black line in the frame is continuously scanned and checked
for its position.
5. In case the line is in the centre of the frame, it is understood that the person using the stick
is on the right path. But for deviation situations, a headphone providing audio assistance
is given to them. The centroid of the line helps in determining the position of the line.
6. If the visually person starts deviating to the right hand side of the line, a small buzzer in
the person’s left ear starts to buzz, thus indicating the person to come back to the correct
track on the left.
7. If the visually person starts deviating to the left hand side of the line, a different buzzer in
the person’s right ear starts to buzz with a different sound, thus indicating the person to
come back to the correct track on the left.
4.3.4 RFID
Why RFID?
A significant advantage of RFID devices over the others mentioned above is that the RFID
device does not need to be positioned precisely relative to the scanner. We're all familiar with
the difficulty that store checkout clerks sometimes have in making sure that a barcode can be
read. And obviously, credit cards and ATM cards must be swiped through a special reader.

24
In contrast, RFID devices will work within a few feet (up to 20 feet for high-frequency devices)
of the scanner. For example, you could just put all of your groceries or purchases in a bag, and
set the bag on the scanner. It would be able to query all of the RFID devices and total your
purchase immediately.
Working
The RFID reader is placed on the lower end of the cane. The tags are positioned at different
junctions on the path. Each tag possesses a unique code. Whenever the cane with the RFID
reader on it comes near to the tag, the tag gets energized by the field generated from the RFID
reader. Since passive tags are used energy for the tag is acquired from the interrogator field and
not through any external battery supply. As the tag gets energized, it sends its data and the
reader captures this data. We have integrated RFID module with Arduino. The reader sends
this data to the Arduino board. The Arduino board then serially communicates this data to the
Visual Studio in the computer. A text-to-speech feature is used in the Visual Studio to read out
the data that has been received from the Arduino board. This sound is directly played in the
headphones attached to the computer.
Every junction has a unique tag. Every tag number is assigned a different text indicating the
path ahead. Also tags are placed in front of the steps indicating the visually impaired people
that there are steps ahead and also informing them about the number of steps ahead. For
example if a junction has 2 paths emerging from it and there are stairs in ahead of it, the text,
‘Turn left for classroom, Turn right for restroom and there are 10 stairs in the front leading to
the laboratory’.
FIGURE 18A. RFID Block Diagram Working.

25
FIGURE 18B. RFID Working.
4.4 OUTPUT
The following image shows the line detection segment. It contains 3 frames:
1. Original frame containing white background and black line
2. Centroid frame detecting the black line as a white object with the centroid.
3. Command window showing distance of the centroid from origin.
FIGURE 19A. Line in centre.

26
The following images are depicting the line movement towards the right and the left
respectively. In both the images the distance from the centroid can be seen changing according
to the movement of the line.
FIGURE 19B. Line in right margin.
FIGURE 19C. Line in left margin.

27
According to the movement of the line and the location of the centroid, the beeps will be played
in the respective ears. This along with the glove indication system provide them to navigate
freely.

28
CHAPTER-5
FUTURE SCOPE
5.1 FEELING BRAILLE
The current Feeling Braille Pad which is made consists of a single cell, that is only one single
alphabet can be digitally printed. In future, a number of cells can be assembled in a line single
line such that an entire sentence can be digitally printed. By assembling a number of cells in a
line, a visually impaired person can read an eBook or a pdf document easily.
In the future this Braille pad will be used by every blind institute for making their students
learn the Braille language without the help of anyone. With this Braille Pad, students can learn
the braille language whenever they want to learn. The current scenario is that visually impaired
person has to depend on someone for making them learn the braille language. But with the help
of the braille pad, any visually impaired person does not have to rely on someone for making
them learn the language.
Now days for every book, an eBook is available on the internet. But all these eBooks are not
available for the visually impaired person. By using this Braille Pad, the existing eBooks can
be converted to Braille eBooks and the visually impaired person can learn more and this can
help them to study further.
The keyboard can be interfaced with `Braille pad in the future. By interfacing the keyboard
with the pad, the visually impaired person can give any input and the corresponding output is
digitally printed on the Braille pad. This feature will help the blind people for giving tests after
learning the language. Also this can be used for practicing the language, a normal person will
give an input in the keyboard and the corresponding alphabet will be printed on the pad. The
visually impaired person will have to guess which alphabet is printed on the pad, so this will
help them in practicing the language and becoming the master of the language.
5.2 I-CANe
The current I-CANe is a prototype and not a final product. This I-CANe is not wireless and an
adapter has to be connected to provide power to the cane. In future solar cells will be connected

29
on the entire I-CANe, which will get charged when the visually impaired person is walking in
the day time. The power generated from the solar cell is stored in the battery connected on the
I-CANe and this power can be used for operating the I-CANe. This will make the cane wireless.
The current module used for GSM [Global System For Mobile Communication] and GPS
[Global Position System] is a general module and its bulky. In the near future, dedicated
modules of GSM and GPS can be integrated on the cane. These dedicated modules for GSM
and GPS are small in size and efficient in sending the data.

30
CHAPTER-6
CONCLUSION
The blind people possess strong senses excluding just their eye sight. If they are provided with
a way that can help them rise above this deficiency, they can prove to be a great asset to
themselves and to the society. We have developed a prototype of these utilities in the
anticipation that these projects can be turned into products that can actually help the visually
impaired people in large numbers to learn, read their Braille language and also help them
navigate freely. We have integrated as many features that could have been possible with the
Braille pad and the cane in the hope that we can make the lives of the blind people more
comforting and self-regulating. Right now the only problem with these prototypes is their bulky
nature. This can be overcome by the use of dedicated chips in place of the bulky circuits which
are already available in the market. Project Aankhein, as we call it, is a small step to enhance
the lives and ease the daily chores as well as educate the visually impaired people and help
them to live happier and fuller lives.

31
CHAPTER-7
SOFTWARES
ARDUINO 1.6.8
The open-source Arduino Software (IDE) makes it easy to write code and upload it to the board.
It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on
Processing and other open-source software. This software can be used with any Arduino board.
We can create our own libraries as per the requirement and add to the Integrated Development
Environment. Arduino libraries are constantly updated and new features are added on regular
basis. It has various tools such as 3 The Integrated Development Environment (IDE). You use
the Arduino IDE on your computer (picture following) to create, open, and change sketches
(Arduino calls programs “sketches”. Sketches define what the board will do. You can either
use the buttons along the top of the IDE or the menu items.
FIGURE 20. Parts of the IDE: (from left to right, top to bottom)

32
• Compile - Before your program “code” can be sent to the board, it needs to be converted into
instructions that the board understands. This process is called compiling. •
Stop - This stops the compilation process. (I have never used this button and you probably
won’t have a need to either.)
• Create new Sketch - This opens a new window to create a new sketch.
• Open Existing Sketch - This loads a sketch from a file on your computer.
• Save Sketch - This saves the changes to the sketch you are working on.
• Upload to Board - This compiles and then transmits over the USB cable to your board.
Serial Monitor - The serial monitor is the 'tether' between the computer and your Arduino - it
lets you send and receive text messages, handy for debugging and also controlling the Arduino
from a keyboard! For example, you will be able to send commands from your computer to turn
on LEDs.
• Tab Button - This lets you create multiple files in your sketch. This is for more advanced
programming than we will do in this class.
• Sketch Editor - This is where you write or edit sketches
• Text Console - This shows you what the IDE is currently doing and is also where error
messages display if you make a mistake in typing your program. (Often called a syntax error)
• Line Number - This shows you what line number your cursor is on. It is useful since the
compiler gives error messages with a line number.
Visual Studios
Visual Studio is a comprehensive collection of developer tools and services to help you create
apps for the Microsoft platform and beyond. Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated
development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer
programs for Microsoft Windows, as well as web sites, web applications and web services.
Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such as Windows API, Windows
Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Store and Microsoft Silver light. It can
produce both native code and managed code.

33
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense (the code completion component)
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger
and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for
building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It
accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support
for source-control systems (like Subversion) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual
designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software
development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming languages and allows the code editor and
debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a
language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C, C++ and C++/CLI (via Visual
C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio
2010). Support for other languages such as M, Python, and Ruby among others is available
via language services installed separately.
It also supports XML/XSLT, HTML/XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Java (and J#) were
supported in the past.
FIGURE 21.New Project Selection Window
MATLAB
MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a multi-paradigm numerical computing environment
and fourth-generation programming language. A proprietary programming language developed
by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data,
implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs
written in other languages, including C, C++, Java, Fortran and Python. It is used for machine
learning, signal processing, image processing, computer vision, communications,
computational finance, control design, robotics, and much more.

34
The MATLAB platform is optimized for solving engineering and scientific problems. The
matrix-based MATLAB language is the world’s most natural way to express computational
mathematics. Built-in graphics make it easy to visualize and gain insights from data.
A vast library of prebuilt toolboxes lets you get started right away with algorithms essential to
your domain.
FIGURE 22. Matlab IDE.

35
CHAPTER-8
APPENDIX
D
Dead Man Switch
A dead man's switch is a switch that is automatically operated if the human operator becomes
debilitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness or being bodily removed from control.
Originally applied to switches on a vehicle or machine, it has since come to be used to describe
other intangible uses like in computer software.
G
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on
the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile
communications (GSM). GPRS is a packet-based wireless communication service that
promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet
for mobile phone and computer users.
GSM
GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephony system that is
widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of time division
multiple access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephony
technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it
down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at
either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency band.
O
OCR
Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is a technology that enables you to convert different
types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files or images captured by a
digital camera into editable and searchable data.

36
P
PWM
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is used for controlling the amplitude of digital signals in order
to control devices and applications requiring power or electricity. It essentially controls the
amount of power, in the perspective of the voltage component, which is given to a device by
cycling the on-and-off phases of a digital signal quickly and varying the width of the "on" phase
or duty cycle.
R
Radio Frequency
Radio frequency (RF) is any of the electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in the range
extending from around 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which include those frequencies used for
communications or radar signals. RF usually refers to electrical rather than mechanical
oscillations.
S
Servo Mechanism
A servomechanism, sometimes shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-
sensing negative feedback to correct the performance of a mechanism and is defined by its
function. It usually includes a built-in encoder.
T
TTS
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this
purpose is called a speech computer or speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software
or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into
speech; other systems render symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions
into speech. The quality of a speech synthesizer is judged by its similarity to the human voice
and by its ability to be understood clearly. An intelligible text-to-speech program allows people
with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written works on a home computer.

37
U
Ultrasonic
Ultrasonic is an adjective referring to ultrasound. Ultrasounds are sound
waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is no
different from 'normal' (audible) sound in its physical properties, except in that humans cannot
hear it. Ultrasound devices operate with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz.

38
CHAPTER-9
REFERENCES
1) www.arduino.cc
2) Jun Su Lee and Stepan Lucyszyn, (2005), ‘A Micromachined Refreshable Braille
Cell’, journal of microelectromechanical systems, Vol. 14, no.4, pp. 673-682.
3) Eldem A. and Basçiftçi F., The Electronic and Computer-Aided Periodic Table
Prepared for the Visually Impaired Individuals, World Academy of Science,
Engineering and Technology 80, 2013, 1051-1053.
4) Ayşe Eldem, Fatih Başçiftçi, Electronic and Computer-Assisted Refreshable Braille
Display Developed for Visually Impaired Individuals, International Journal of Medical,
Health, Biomedical, Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Engineering Vol:9, No:1,
2015.
5) Yin J., Wang L. And Li J., The Research on Paper-mediated Braille Automatic
Recognition Method, 2010 Fifth International Conference on Frontier of Computer
Science and Technology (IEEE).
6) Abhay Bindal, Abhijeet Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Wahengbam Kanan Kumar,
Design and implementation of a Shadow bot for mimicking the basic motion of a human
leg, 2015 International Conference on Recent Developments in Control, Automation
and Power Engineering (RDCAPE).
7) Choi H.R, ]eon I.W , Lee S.W, Lung K.M and Nam J.D (2004) ‘Tactile Display as a
Braille Display for the Visually Disabled’, Proceedings of 2004 IEEE/RSJ International
Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, paper presented 1985-1990.

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