Smart system takes to the road

A navigation system to help disabled people find their way around a built-up environment has been trialled successfully at Newcastle University's city-centre campus.

Thirty wheelchair users gave their support to the prototype after using it to get from building to building while avoiding obstacles such as steps and kerbs.

The development team, led by Phil Blythe, acting director of the university's transport operations research group, received £150,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The project, called I-AIM (Improving Accessibility for those with Impaired Mobility), has been designed to be affordable and practical.

It is based on smartcard technology. The Newcastle campus has had 70 smartcards - each with a microprocessor embedded in it - installed behind yellow plaques on walls and buildings.

Before embarking on a journey, the user selects a destination card, which carries information on the building they want to reach. This is fed into a computer carried on the wheelchair, via a hand-held reader.

At every yellow plaque encountered by the user, the reader retrieves information telling the computer where it is. It works out the best route to the next yellow plaque on the journey, avoiding obstacles that would block the disabled person's progress.

The computer screen then displays an arrow and a line of text that indicate the direction and distance that the user needs to travel to reach his or her destination.

Analysis of trial data has proved the system works, and the team hopes to capitalise on the low price of the technology to bring it to the market.

Dr Blythe said the system could be tuned to the particular mobility needs of an individual and could also be adapted for able-bodied tourists and shoppers.

"You could instal this type of system in almost any public place - a bus station, an art gallery or a shopping centre," he said.