Quality of obstacle distance measurement using Ultrasonic sensor and precision of two Computer Vision-based obstacle detection approaches

Obstacle detection (OD) techniques for collision avoidance applications in automobiles and unmanned aerial vehicles have been of research interest in the recent years. This technical idea is transferred to develop a local navigation system for the visually impaired individuals which is the focus of this paper. Several types of equipment and approaches namely sensors, Computer Vision (CV) methods, micro-controllers etc. are used for detecting obstacles in the path. To enable an utmost collision free mobility of the users we intend to use Ultrasonic (US) sensors and CV systems on a smartphone to detect and alarm the user of any obstacle in the path. In this paper, the accuracy of detection of obstacles and estimating their distance from the user using US sensors is determined. Further, the quality of object detection techniques using two OD algorithms is tested on a PC for further application of the best performing algorithm in combination with the US sensors for our major goal of developing a local obstacle-free navigation system for the visually impaired using mobile devices like smartphones.