EN4E11
NAVIGATION SYSTEM
TRANSPORT FOR BLIND
PEOPLE
REPORT
GOURVES Guillaume & JOURDAIN Dimitri
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Summaries
SUMMARIES ............................................................................................................................................................... 2
I.
INTRODUCTION : ............................................................................................................................................... 3
II.
PRESENTATION OF RAMPE PROJECT: ................................................................................................................. 3
III.
PRINCIPAL OF RAMPE: ....................................................................................................................................... 4
IV.
OPERATING SYSTEM: ......................................................................................................................................... 5
1.
2.
INTRODUCTION: ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
RAMPE APPLICATION OF PDA :................................................................................................................................... 6
a.
Introduction : ................................................................................................................................................... 6
a.
IHM : ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
1)
2)
b.
c.
Manipulating the application - FSM: ............................................................................................................... 7
XML Analyze: ................................................................................................................................................... 9
1)
2)
d.
e.
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
V.
Definition: .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
XML Data: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Synthetic voice: ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Network control: .............................................................................................................................................. 9
RAMPE TERMINAL:................................................................................................................................................. 10
Card PC ICOP : ................................................................................................................................................ 11
The card of piloting UC PC 104 :..................................................................................................................... 12
Hotspot WIFI : ................................................................................................................................................ 12
The marker EO-EDPS : .................................................................................................................................... 12
OTHERS SOLUTION: ......................................................................................................................................... 13
1.
2.
VI.
Input interface: ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Output interface: .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
DANAM PROJECT: .................................................................................................................................................. 13
BIOVAM PROJECT:.................................................................................................................................................. 14
CONCLUSION: .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Navigation transport system for blind people
I.
EN4E11
Introduction :
In a century of innovation, many countries have built public transport for their
citizens. France is a good example where the main cities have good conveyance (Paris,
Lyon, Marseille...). But this conveyance isn't available for all citizens such as blind
people. If we take a situation where a blind woman wants to go shopping in Paris and
this woman lives outside the capital, because of the handicap she can't see the transport
itinerary on Internet or on the information point. If we deepen this problem:

She can't see the difference between two different numbered buses: So she can't
give a stop order to the driver.

She can't see her environment: So she can't know where the bus station or train
station is, she can't know when she going outside of the transport should.
Many laboratory work about this problem and can give several answers at this
problem with the technologies embedded in cellphones. In this document we talk about
those answers. We will focus on RAMPE project that it gives the answers for bus and we
talk about over project for giving answers for different train.
II.
Presentation of RAMPE project:
RAMPE is an interactive hearing aid and information system for blind passenger
transport public. Developed by ESIEE ENGENERING in collaboration with LUMIPLAN and
PARIS 8 (University), this system is indented to be implant on all transport station.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 3/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
III.
EN4E11
Principal of RAMPE:
This technology requires a Smartphone equipped with a RAMPE application.
A blind user approaches, with his cellphone, a bus station equipped with a RAMPE
network hotspot. This terminal sends information continually which is capture by the
cellphone. After the capture, the cellphone sends an order to bus station to send
chimes that will allow the user to localize the bus station and go there.
With the RAMPE network the cellphone knows the name of the station and all the
available buses. This information is announced by the cellphone and while the users
don’t choose his bus, this information is repeated indefinitely. After choosing the bus,
the cellphone announces all the stops of one bus line, so the user now chooses the stop
of their destination. After programming the application, the cellphone informs the user
about the coming bus and any eventual delay. When the bus, with the blind user aboard,
approaches the destination stop, the cellphone sends a voice signal to inform the user to
tell the driver to stop.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 4/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
IV.
EN4E11
Operating system:
1. Introduction:
In this part, we will explain, precisely, how RAMPE work. Said previously, RAMPE is
a network who cans exchange information between cellphone's users and the bus
station.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 5/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
2. RAMPE application of PDA :
a. Introduction :
RAMPE application was decompose of 4 parts :




Man/Machine Interface (IHM) :
XML Analyse :
Syntetic voice :
Network control :
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 6/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
a. IHM :
1) Input interface:
RAMPE application is available on many PDA, but all PDA hasn’t the same
characteristic, especially on them vocal recognize. Because of this reason and the urban
noise, the application uses only the touch screen, for up/down the volume of PDA, and
the PDA button for control the application.
2) Output interface:
The application uses two different songs on output interface:


Court song (bips or jingles): This kind of sound informs the users of regular event
witch not required vocal information (station approach, push button response).
Voice information: This voice information allows at the users to informs of an
eventual delay of transport, the name of the station where is he, the bus witch is
available in this station, etc …
b. Manipulating the application - FSM:
The application was conceived on Finite State Machine method (FSM) responding to
users actions and to internal events systems.
Legend: You can see several states for the functioning global of the project. The red
arrow represents the principal action that the system makes. They are a secondary
action, the brown arrow, allowing to modify its choices.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 7/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
STATE 0: Census Stops
A blind person walking in the street, in search
of a bus stop.
The terminal sends periodically specific
information to RAMPE networks.
In this way the PDA detects the terminal is
near, and can these record the stops.
STATE 1: Choice Stops
The PDA connects on the terminal that the user in
chosen.
STATE 2: Approach Guide
By connecting, le PDA sends information to the
terminal rings.
The terminal receives the information and emits a
sound of chimes.
The blind person hearing this knows the position
of the terminal and can go to it.
Ding
Dong !!
STATE 3: Interface Navigation
Once arrived near the terminal the sound signal stops. And the PDA
downloads the database of terminal,
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 8/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
c. XML Analyze:
1) Definition:
The XML (eXtensible Market Language) is an informatics language flag who its role
consist in save and transfer Unicode data.
2) XML Data:
RAMPE use three different data which structured by XML Language:
 Station data: This data contains all information about one station where the user
is (The name of station, what bus is available on this station, etc…).
 Configuration application data: This data contains parameters for the PDA
applications which can be to modify by users (Volume, number of voice
repetition, etc…).
 Synthetic voice data: This data contains all message which function is to be
sending at synthetic voice (all words in different language).
d. Synthetic voice:
RAMPE application uses synthetic voice software which is developed by a private
company. This company is ACAPELA. This company has a great experience in synthetic
voice and his software have a good quality sound.
e. Network control:
RAMPE network use the WiFi technologies for exchange all data between smartphone
and stations terminal. For economic energies RAMPE will uses the Bluetooth
Technologies.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 9/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
3. RAMPE terminal:
A card of type PC manages the border, this card takes charge of data, of the display
of schedules of passing of buses. It also pilots the speech synthesis as well as the audio
card for the amplification and the activation of the sound announcements.
Hardware architecture of the terminal RAMPE:
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 10/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
Box interns of the terminal:
Detail of the technical characteristics of the elements which are in the border RAMPE:
a. Card PC ICOP :
The card PC ICOP 6071 is equipped with a processor of type VORTEX in 200MHz with 128
Mo of RAM :
 Canal Ethernet

4 serial ports

An audio processor (for the
sound)

output VGA (for the video)

output LCD (for the display)

A controller for disk IDE (Hard
disk)

A controller
diskette)
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
Floppy
(Reader
October 28, 2009
Page 11/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
b. The card of piloting UC PC 104 :
This card was conceived by LUMIPLAN (http://www.lumiplan.com/en/) , It contains a
FPGA ( Field-Programmable Gate Array ). This component is programmed in VHDL (VHSIC
“ Very High Speed Integrated Circuit” Hardware Description Language) who is an it
programming language.
This card allows to post on screen LCD of the terminal the display generated by the
card PC ICOP.
This card also realizes all the interfaces between input - output material and the card
PC via the bus PC104.
c. Hotspot WIFI :
To be able to send and receive information by WIFI, the terminal was equipped with
a point of access WIFI high speed.
According to the distance and the obstacles separating the transmitter of the
receiver, the speed of exchange of data can vary.
The point of access WIFI, is configured to allow the PDA to have a dialogue with the
card PC ICOP,
d. The marker EO-EDPS :
The marker allows managing the sound announcements when the blind people
approaches of a terminal.
It has:
◦ A radio receiver;
◦ An audio amplifier with a high speaker;
◦ Of a microphone which gets levels of ambient noise;
The cards PC ICOP control the marker EO-EDPS by a serial link. In this way, the
card PC ICOP can control high speaker of this module.
The marker process an audio entry, by which is transmit the sound of the card PC
ICOP, before being amplifier and transmit on toward the PDA.
The marker EO-EDPS, produces a sound upper to 10 dB, in comparison to the ambient
high-sounding level, with a minimum of 55 dB (level of conversation).
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 12/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
V.
EN4E11
Others solution:
1. DANAM project:
DANAM Project is designate for blind users who want to use the metro. This systems
is build by the CEA (Centre d’Etudes Atomiques – Atomics Studies Center).
The particularity of this system is that it uses no system-type navigation satellite and
anyway telecom structure. It uses sensor orientation embedded on the user which its
data are processed by localisation software. This software, with its map, sends to
guidance software the position of the user. Based on this position, location map and the
end point chosen by the user, the guidance software send, with IHM, at user the
indication for arrive at his final destination. The user just needs to send at the systems
where he is and where he wants to go.
Although always in case study, this system gives very good result in simulation.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 13/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
EN4E11
2. BIOVAM project:
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 14/15
Navigation transport system for blind people
VI.
EN4E11
Conclusion:
In this report, we can see there are a lot of solutions to help blind people to using
as everybody.
In France, law for equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship of
persons' disabilities, adopted February 11, 2005, has mandated access for everyone,
and that, whatever the type of impairment or motor disabilities, sensory, cognitive
or psychological. In fact, it requires transport systems to access their services within
10 years.
So in 2015, we will see appear a navigation transport system for blind people and
it’s sure that systems in a son of all systems which are explained in that report.
GOURVES Guillaume
JOURDAIN Dimitri
October 28, 2009
Page 15/15