Sight-Man: A Smart Infrared Technology that Guides the Visually Impaired

Abstract

Visual Impairment is something that most people experience in their day to day life. With the rise of technology, more hardware and software can be studied and created to assist those people with such disability. Visual Impairment can also be referred to as vision impairment or vision loss; Infrared radiation is invisible to human eyes, but people can feel it as heat. With today's technology, it can be used to make it useful and assist us in our daily life. Infrared radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation and part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared energy or infrared light is not visible to the human eye but if can be seen using special cameras that translate light into visible colors. In fact, our own body radiates far infrared energy through our skin at between 3 and 50 microns. This study developed an application that can help guide the visually impaired using mobile devices and in the same way, making it more accessible to them. The study also aims to find a different approach on how IR sensors can be used. It can also be used in detection and navigational purposes. The developed system named "Sight-Man", has the purpose of applying infrared technology to aid those with visual imparity using mobile phones and an application that runs using Android-based smartphone.