Autonomous and safe mobility for the motor-impaired

07 February 2012

Developers at the ‘Market to Win’ conference, sponsored by the ‘Inclusion’ project, have presented a new EGNOS/EDAS-enabled ‘Personal Navigation Device’ (PND) that helps motor-impaired people find barrier-free routes to reach the services and facilities they need.

Facilities for disabled visitors are often lacking, and where they do exist, are not always sign-posted for potential users. At present, disabled people often spend hours researching many websites to plan a simple visit to another town. They may also need a greater depth of detail than is available, and there are issues of trust and reliability when it comes to getting out and about.

While all of this makes life difficult for people with special mobility needs, it also means accessible service providers are missing out on a potential market, simply because good information about their accessibility is not available to the people who want it.

Tapping a potential market

Delegates at the ‘Market To Win’ conference on 24 January at the BT Centre in London got a preview of the new PND developed by the ‘Inclusion’ project, which uses GNSS-based location information to help people with special mobility needs find accessible sites and services.

The conference was sponsored by Remploy, experts in the employment of disabled people, and Thales Alenia Space Italia, as part of their involvement in ‘Inclusion’, an EU-funded project developing satellite navigation applications for the motor-impaired people.

Nick Caesari, CEO of NAVEVO Ltd, presented the new PND, explaining that it gives ‘on-the-go’ motor impaired people the ability to search for sites close to their current locations with the facilities they need.

The Inclusion innovative EGNOS/EDAS-enabled PND

The Inclusion PND allows users to develop their own custom profiles for route calculation, describing the combination of features that best characterise their impairments. Project partners say this ‘design-for-all’ approach offers the best chance of commercial success.

Given the increasing adoption of consumer smartphones, the Inclusion project also decided to develop its software for smartphone platforms.

Finally, because the stand-alone GPS signal is not sufficient to guarantee the necessary positioning performance, because of its relatively poor accuracy and lack of reliability in urban settings, innovative GNSS features were adopted, including the ‘EGNOS/EDAS inside’ capabilities.

In time for the Games

Project partners say that with the Olympics and Paralympics only months away, the UK will be welcoming thousands of new visitors from across the globe, as well as the world’s finest disabled athletes.

As the UK sees an influx in foreign visitors for the games, there will be many who need special facilities, and businesses will want to be sure information about their own accessibility is out there for potential users and paying customers.

In the longer term, partners say the new PND will make the use of facilities such as hotels, restaurants, pubs, attractions, heritage sites, countryside and recreational facilities by disabled people more a matter of routine, to their own benefit and to the benefit of the wider economy.

More information:

• The Inclusion project
• 'ImaGeo' demonstrates new location-based application in Siena