Navigation Route Planning for Visually Impaired People Based on Ultra Wideband Indoor Positioning System

In recent years, with the rapid development of science and technology, the assistive technology for the visually impaired, especially the navigation technology for the blind, has made significant progress. Traditional Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation has insufficient accuracy in indoor environments, which is difficult to meet the needs of visually impaired people. However, with breakthroughs in sensor technology, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, new navigation solutions have sprung up. Among them, UWB (Ultra Wideband) positioning system greatly improves the accuracy and reliability of navigation, and is the best choice for indoor positioning. Based on the use of UWB positioning system, this study compares the difference between straight and curve walking mode in blind navigation through experiments. The experimental results show that although the straight walking time is shorter, the route deviation is more. Although the curve walking takes a little longer, the visually impaired people have a better walking experience and a stronger sense of direction, which increases the safety of walking. These findings provide valuable optimization directions for blind navigation, that is, straight walking can be preferred on unfamiliar routes to improve efficiency, while curved walking can be adopted after familiarity to improve experience.