VLC applications for visually impaired people

Abstract

This chapter describes some applications that can be employed in order to allow universal accessibility for disabled people. It introduces two different scenarios: outdoor systems based on the use of traffic and city lights, and indoor applications using illumination and emergency lamps. The chapter outlines the new possibilities opened by visible light communications (VLC) technologies to the problem of increasing mobility in the cities, introducing the possibilities inside the smart city paradigm. It reviews a specific implementation using streetlights as a resource for the mobility of blind people (SINAI). The chapter also describes the use of VLC systems for indoor positioning and guidance, reviewing the state of the art from some of the many groups that are by now working in this area, and presenting a VLC-ultrasound hybrid solution, with an implementation very similar to the well-known cricket sensor architecture. It also presents some specific applications for safety and emergency management tools.