RFID tags point the way to the blind
RFID tags placed on the sidewalks of Italy help blind people to move around in unfamiliar places. This project is carried out as part of a research project funded by the European Union called the SESAMONET (Secure and Safe Mobility Network), which aims to improve the lives of visually impaired people.
In the city of Laveno Mombello, the project developers created a path of about 2 km long RFID tags that leads from the city’s railway station to Lago Maggiore Bank, loop in a park near the lake, and also pass through several intersections. About 10 people, with poor or absent eyesight, test the system using specially designed canes, which act as readers for 125 kHz passive Tags, in ceramic cases that are buried in tracks. Thanks to these tests, developers get the necessary information to improve the system.
When a blind person approaches the tag, his cane recognizes it (the reader’s antenna is built into the cane’s tip, the power source and the Bluetooth transmitter are integrated near the handle). Unique ID Tag is sent, via a Bluetooth transmitter, to the user's PDA, in which a special program is running that determines a person’s location. The program quickly sets the direction (with the help of voice commands of the program), or various sound signals, which are then transmitted to wireless headphones dressed as a tester.