Design and Development of Route Guidance Application on Android-Based Navigation System for Visually Impaired Individuals

Visually impaired or blind individuals have different needs when it comes to navigation. This research aims to design and develop an indoor navigation system for the visually impaired or blind people by utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy beacons (BLE) and Android based smartphone. BLE will provide the relative location of the user while the smartphone's Bluetooth service is on. VOSK API is integrated within this system to allow real-time speech recognition, giving the users the ability to project voice commands and receive audio feedback on current location and navigation instructions. Kalman filter is used to improve the accuracy of position tracking system. This research is limited to Building A, of Faculty Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Syiah Kuala. This research includes three main tests: accuracy testing of navigation routes using Kalman Filter and speech command recognition, functional testing and usability testing. Based on the navigation route testing using Kalman filter's Mean Squared Error (MSE), the route selection is influenced by BLE signal strength, user location, obstacles and route suggestions. A lower MSE indicates more accurate route guidance. Black box testing confirms that the developed application has passed all of the functional testing. Meanwhile, usability testing conducted using the Usability Matrix for User Experience (UMUX) obtained a score of 78.3%; which indicates that the application was well accepted by users.