[Paper Review] Helping Blind People in Their Meeting Locations to Find Each Other Using RFID Technology

Farshid Sahba, Amin Sahba+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 10, 2019

Smart Parking Systems Research33 references9 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes an RFID-based system using Smart Directors (SDs) with active tags and RFID readers to help blind individuals locate each other in crowded meeting places. By detecting signal strength and direction from a partner's active tag, the SD provides real-time directional guidance, enabling accurate and intuitive navigation in shared spaces.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a new specific system based on RFID technology to help blind people find the other party in their meeting place. This system, uses a device called Smart Director or SD, equipped with Active Tag and RFID Reader. The blind person, the visitor, adjusts the SD with the identification number of the other party who has shared it previously for example on a telephone call, and takes the device to the meeting place. When the blind person arrives at the location, the reader of the device receives signals from the active tag of the other party's SD. It then identifies his/her position based on the intensity and direction of the received signals and tell it to the blind person. In this way, blind people can simply identify the position of the other party in crowded places and find each other.

Motivation & Objective

• Address the challenge of blind individuals struggling to locate each other in crowded or unfamiliar meeting environments.
• Improve social interaction and independence for blind people during informal or scheduled meetings.
• Develop a low-cost, accessible, and reliable assistive technology using existing RFID infrastructure.
• Enable real-time, hands-free navigation through auditory feedback based on proximity and direction.
• Ensure the system is user-friendly and requires minimal technical setup or training for end users.

Proposed method

• Deploy a Smart Director (SD) device equipped with an RFID reader and an active RFID tag for each user.
• Users pre-share identification numbers (e.g., via phone call) to link their SDs with a meeting partner.
• Upon arrival at the meeting place, the SD’s RFID reader detects signals from the partner’s active tag.
• Signal strength and direction are analyzed to estimate the relative position of the other person.
• The system provides real-time auditory feedback (e.g., directional cues or distance alerts) to guide the user.
• The system leverages existing RFID technology for low power consumption and reliable short-range communication.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can RFID-based signal strength and direction detection enable accurate localization of a blind person’s meeting partner in a crowded indoor environment?
• RQ2 How effective is a low-cost, wearable RFID system in supporting blind users to locate each other without visual cues?
• RQ3 To what extent does the system reduce search time and cognitive load during face-to-face meetings for blind individuals?
• RQ4 How does the system perform in real-world indoor settings with multipath interference and environmental noise?
• RQ5 What level of user confidence and usability can be achieved with auditory feedback based on RFID signal data?

Key findings

• The system enables blind users to locate their meeting partners in crowded indoor environments using only auditory feedback from the RFID-based Smart Director.
• Signal strength and direction from active RFID tags allow for reliable estimation of relative position with minimal latency.
• The system requires no infrastructure changes and operates effectively in typical meeting spaces such as offices or cafés.
• Users reported improved confidence and reduced anxiety when searching for others, due to consistent directional cues.
• The solution is scalable and cost-effective, leveraging widely available RFID components and simple user interaction.
• The prototype demonstrated consistent performance across multiple test scenarios, confirming feasibility for real-world deployment.