UrFU Students Designed a Navigator for People with Disabilities

11:44, July 5, 2018

The device is a part of students’ graduate work

The device facilitating urban navigation for people with disabilities (particularly for the visually impaired) was designed by the graduates of UrFU Institute of Physics and Technology. Three (by now, former) students of IPT UrFU Yury Perepelkin, Nikolay Tushin and Daria Ershova successfully defended their graduation projects on the technology.

‘I personally designed the Bluetooth Low Energy profile and the program controlling the buzzer,’ says Yury Perepelkin. ‘The device consists of a small tracker placed on the infrastructure facilities, which constantly sends signals in the air using Bluetooth port. A user walking into the tracker’s operating zone gets a message through the smartphone application about the facility in question being nearby. They are also able to listen to the detailed information about the facility or to enable the navigation signal to help them find the way to the main entrance. Bluetooth Low Energy technology allowed us to obtain a broader operating zone (50 meters) and significant energy efficiency, meaning better durability even using small battery cell.'

Nikolay Tushin designed the device itself, while Daria Ershova developed the smartphone application.

“Krust” company is also involved in the development, and after a few modifications, the company will release the product.