Hello All,
While we are on to discussing new ideas, this is a concept that I
thought of during my daily traveling. I am mostly on field and travel a
lot in public transport. I have observed that visually impaired persons
usually have a problem with directions and it is more complex when it
comes to making choices in different directions. Now that we have the
honor of having an extremely talented person like Mr. Mane on our list,
he too can give feedback on this.
The normal method is to use beeping sounds near signals and crossings.
However, our road networks are complex and require more complex sign
aids. The problem is compounded when making a choice at a junction of
many roads, not knowing which road leads to what place.
This can be resolved by having radio beepers at all road points and each
beeper having its own data repeatedly broadcast. To differentiate
between each post and its data, the user has a handheld unidirectional
radio receiver that has a mini parabolic dish antenna. The user first
turns the receiver around and gets beeps for every radio post detected.
As the device is pointed, its sound is the loudest when pointing
straight to it. Then with the flick of a switch, he hears the data
through a earphone. It tells him where he is located and where the
direction he points to, is leading to with actual road names too. Its
like a guide explaining different directions. So while the radio post is
omni directional, the receiver is uni directional.
Shops and restaurants too can use these radio posts to guide people to
their shops and advertise their merchandise. I say, this system can be
used even by sighted people who need help in directions, as big
junctions have long distances across and looking across signboards can
be difficult with buses and other traffic blocking the view. Tourists
will find this a very handy live city guide.
The main hurdle in this concept is to develop a proper radio system that
has directional accuracy without being too expensive for the comman man.
Regards,
Rony.
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