Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IN-SIGHT (a wearable electromagnetic INterface for contactlesS envIronmental sensinG with HapTic feedback)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-10-01 do 2024-09-30
Navigation and interaction with the surrounding environment represent major drawbacks for visually impaired people, which limit their independence and quality of life. Currently available aid devices [e.g. white canes, and electronic travel aids (ETAs) based on radar, lidar and/or ultrasound sensors] are typically conceived as avoidance systems and prevent the traveller to build up a mental map of the area. While with the recent advances in electronics and biosensor-related fields some commercial solutions are starting to appear in the market their diffusion has not taken off. This is because the actual devices are not reliable enough and cannot offer an accurate guidance. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IN-SIGHT project allowed for significant improvements in the field of wearable electromagnetic travel aids by improving their wearability and the performance of existing electronical travel aids.
IN-SIGHT allowed to lay the basis for the new generation of ETAs by going beyond the limit of the existing devices. The project focused on making the electromagnetic based ETAs conformable on the human body and flexible, so that they become less cumbersome and more comfortable to wear. This was achieved by proposing reconfigurable and flexible wearable antennas and planar interconnections in the millimeter wave band to be integrated with a haptic network to transmit to the user tactile feedback. A flexible model of the human skin was also developed to easily test the performance of the electromagnetic interface in multiple configurations.
IN-SIGHT tackled the problem of ETAs from different points of view. Novel reconfigurable flexible and low power consumption antennas have been proposed and validated in the millimiter wave range around 60 GHz. Thanks to their small dimensions and large band, they offer a high resolution and their performance is minimally impacted by the bending that may occur when these radiating devices are positioned on the body surface. Based on this antenna system, IN-SIGHT developed new algorithms for the detection and tracking of multiple targets, which also enable for the distinction of inanimate from animate targets. Additionally, to ensure the interconnection of multiple portions of the electromagnetic interface planar interconnections and flexible waveguides have been designed.
The electromagnetic interface conceived during IN-SIGHT is meant to be coupled with a network of haptic actuators that will allow to transmit tactile feedback to the user and help her/him to remotely feel the environment. Finally, solid electromagnetic models of the human skin have been developed to test the performance of the electromagnetic interface in conformal condition, without the need to test it on human subjects.
The electromagnetic interface conceived during IN-SIGHT is meant to be coupled with a network of haptic actuators that will allow to transmit tactile feedback to the user and help her/him to remotely feel the environment. Finally, solid electromagnetic models of the human skin have been developed to test the performance of the electromagnetic interface in conformal condition, without the need to test it on human subjects.