The project applied a bottom-up approach, starting from end-users' interviews to collect their needs. Use-cases both from user and system perspectives have been derived together with system requirements. Then, an integration strategy has been issued to explore different integration solutions and their fit with users’ needs.
The INSPEX system architecture (HW&SW) has been defined. The system is made of three parts:
- a mobile detection device (MDD) that embeds different range sensing technologies (i.e. LiDAR and TOF-camera, UWB radar, ultrasound) and environmental sensors, an IMU and computational capabilities to fuse data and build a model of the user's surroundings. This model is then analysed to transmit information regarding potential harmful obstacles that enter the user's safety zone;
- smartphone apps that generate 3D spatial sound from information received from the MDD and from the head orientation, and provide feedback from beacon tags spread in the environment, offering context awareness to the user and helping him/her in localizing places of interest (e.g. entrance of a public place) or specific obstacles (e.g. road work barriers);
- a extra-auricular headset that embeds an IMU to send head orientation to the smartphone.
Legal and Ethical issues raised by the development of such a system have been considered from the beginning of the project, together with the legal rules the GRDP imposes.
A survey of several formal tools has been done to evaluate their use in the context of INSPEX firmware development. A bottom-up approach was used to verify key parts of the firmware and improve its reliability. A top-down approach was used to model power management strategy.
Partners brought state-of-the-art range sensors (LiDAR, UWB radar, MEMS ultrasound) to the project. These prototype sensors were first characterized. Then, they have been optimized and miniaturized with drastic effort to reduce their power consumption and meet their individual requirements. These optimized sensors have been manufactured and delivered for integration in the MDD.
Three prototypes have been developed, namely:
- the early prototype integrates off-the-shelf range sensors, IMU and demo-kit computing platforms. Its main goal was to validate the basic concepts the INSPEX system is rooted in, and develop the firmware in parallel to the hardware. Even if this early prototype does not offer the full spectrum of INSPEX functionalities, it has been used during validation tests in laboratory conditions;
- the first integrated prototype integrates part of the functionalities and sensors developed in the course of the project. It has been validated in lab. conditions, following the validation plan;
- the final prototype is an extended version of the first prototype. Extra functionalities have been added to better meet the users' expectations, and validation tests are conducted in real-life conditions.
INSPEX results have been published in world leading journals (e.g. LNCS, Sensors), and conferences (ECC 2019, ICSOFT 2018, IEEE ECTC 2018, DAC 2018, IEEE IWASI 2019, AFFORD 2019), included in the Legal and Ethical areas (e.g. European Journal of Human Rights, CPDP 2019 Conference), and patent applications have been issued on some of its results. Other publications are currently under correction or review.
Communication in large audience journals, workshops and trade fairs has also been done (e.g. International Mobility Conference 2017, Web2Day 2019, Festival della Scienza, L'usine nouvelle).
