International Journal of Reconfigurable and Embedded Systems (IJRES)
Vol 15, No 2: July 2026

An IoT-enabled vision-aid for the blind integrating ultrasonic obstacle detection and GPS-based location tracking

Varuna Kumara (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology, Kundapura)
Akshatha Naik (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology)
Ashwini Ashwini (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology)
Navilgone Krishna Vaishnavi (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology)
Ruchitha Kamath Subhashchandra (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology)
Trapthi Trapthi (Moodlakatte Institute of Technology)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Jul 2026

Abstract

Visual impairment significantly affects independent mobility and personal safety, creating a need for affordable and reliable assistive navigation technologies. This paper presents the design and implementation of a low-cost wearable Vision-Aid system to support visually impaired individuals during outdoor navigation. The primary objective of the study is to enhance obstacle awareness, location tracking, and emergency communication using accessible embedded technologies. The proposed system integrates ultrasonic sensors for real-time obstacle detection, an Arduino microcontroller for data processing, a global positioning system (GPS) module for location tracking, and a global system for mobile communication (GSM) module for emergency alert transmission. Audio feedback is provided through a voice module to guide the user safely. Experimental evaluations were conducted under various environmental conditions to assess obstacle detection accuracy, response time, and location reliability. The results demonstrate accurate obstacle detection, timely audio alerts, and reliable real-time location sharing with caregivers. The proposed system improves user confidence, mobility, and safety while maintaining low implementation cost. This work highlights the potential of embedded and internet of things (IoT)–based assistive devices to enhance autonomy for visually impaired individuals and provides a foundation for future integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-based object recognition.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

IJRES

Publisher

Subject

Economics, Econometrics & Finance

Description

The centre of gravity of the computer industry is now moving from personal computing into embedded computing with the advent of VLSI system level integration and reconfigurable core in system-on-chip (SoC). Reconfigurable and Embedded systems are increasingly becoming a key technological component ...