Visibility evaluation experiments of optical wireless pedestrian-support system using self-illuminating bollard

We proposed a pedestrian movement support system using visible-light communication (VLC) with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the people of weak eyesight and the elderly. It provides the user safety information in the neighborhood or the route information, and receives a request from the user and traffic information by the LED light. We conducted visibility evaluation experiments with visually impaired people to satisfy the quality of experience for flickerfree. We created three-types of hands-free receiver (neck, arm, and white cane) of the navigation system to inform danger condition and/or obstacles such as steps and signals. The prototype was evaluated by visually impaired users, clarifying the effectiveness of the system.