An electromagnetic device for autonomous mobility of visually impaired people

The design of an electromagnetic (EM) novel device to be used as travel support to the mobility of visually impaired people is presented in this work. In particular, a preliminary study has been carried out using laboratory instrumentation in order to investigate the performances of an EM system in detecting obstacles located along user pathway, both in indoor and outdoor cluttered environments. Moreover, a portable EM system prototype has been realized and tested with a blind volunteer in order to both demonstrate potentialities and highlight peculiarities of using EM pulses for this application. The proposed EM system accomplishes most of the operative requirements of electronic travel aids for visually impaired subjects and can even provide additional information on obstacles, as for example height from the ground, distance and position.