BUSINESS PLAN

Business Plan

Business Plan - Blind Guide

Abstract

The project “Blind Guide” is using passive 3G cum WIFI to indentify indoor routes, barriers and means of public transport for visually impaired and blind people. The basis for this project is the tactile guidance system. At all strategic spots inside the building (entrance, platforms, intersections) a passive 3G cum WIFI will be placed into the tactile guidance system. Those 3G cum WIFI send their unique code trough an 3G cum WIFI reader to the user's smartphone. The smartphone reads the code and sends it on to an 3G cum WIFI -database server where all the tags together with some additional information are saved as location points. Before leaving the user has to enter his/her destination on the smartphone, by which the server (Gerwei- Method) calculates the optimal route based on the location, the moving direction and the user profile.

The 3G WIFI support to the Blind Guide is a new developed navigation routing software based on a standard routing algorithm. The smartphone receives real-time routing information (including additional information, like interruptions, delays and platform changes) from the database server. On the smartphone the routing information will be sent in an acoustic way to the blind person (for example through a Bluetooth headset). This way, the blind person gets his/her indoor route instructions from the system.

Introduction to the Product

The Blind Guide is a fresh product that combines the versatility of resistive touch, the accuracy of GPS navigation, the efficiency of voice recognition and the power of the internet in a simple design that is light and fits easily in the palm of your hands. The handset works in conjunction with the supplied Bluetooth headset to provide the user with a seamless interface for voice activated control.

The face of the device is defined by a single piece of resistive touch glass. The face of the device has a thin sheet of removable plastic. This plastic is embossed with Braille letters to denote the area of the screen that relates to a particular function. Unlike capacitive touch, where even the lightest contact can send a command to the controller, resistive touch enables the user to read the function and press the area to initiate it without sending unwanted signals.

Leaving behind backlighting and a graphical user interface, the majority of power used by the custom processor delivers information to the user at exceptional speeds thus conserving battery life. This means that users get functionality and a level of performance that is an order of magnitude more powerful than any of its competitive counterparts. Internet connectivity is a crucial element of the product as several services, including audible Google street navigation, is dependent on it. The addition of 3G to Wi-Fi will help our users stay connected at all times with superfast data speeds.

The current design agreed by the team is shown in Figure 1, along with its dimensions. However this is subject to change towards the end stages of research and development, if need ...