Abstract

Project Name:Navigational System for the Visually Impaired (NVI)
University: Carleton University
Supervisor: Dr. R. Harrison
Student: Charles La Pierre

Discipline: Department of Electronics.

The Navigational System for the Visually Impaired (NVI) is an audio-based system to help the visually impaired determine the street intersection at which they are currently standing.

The NVI is made up of three main components:

  1. The Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The receiver calculates its position by referencing at least three satellites. This information is sent to the computer as a latitude and a longitude, both in degrees/minutes/seconds.
  2. The Computer. This component takes the positional information and compares it with its internal data base containing locations of all street intersections. Once a positive fix has been made the name of the intersection is sent to the Intex Talker.
  3. The Intex Talker. This device converts the text from the computer to phonetics that are spoken to the visually impaired person.
The NVI is a Geographical Information System (GIS) for the visually impaired. GIS in cooperation with GPS is vast becoming one of the most important tools in data collection, referencing, and system integration in the 1990's.

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