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European Space Agency

Press Release

More autonomy for blind people thanks to satellite navigation

4 June 2003
 
"When blind people take a taxi, they will be able to give directions
to the taxi driver!" says Jose Luis Fernandez Coya. The man speaking
really knows what he is talking about: he is blind but also heads the
R&D department of ONCE, the National Organization of Spanish Blind
people. 
 
This association has always been looking for helpful innovations and
has just developed a system based on GPS to guide blind people. The
system called "Tormes", named after a famous Spanish 16th century
story, is a computer with a Braille keyboard and satellite navigation
technology that gives verbal directions. 

This personal navigator was presented to the press in Madrid
recently. The European Space Agency (ESA) was involved in this event
because ONCE and ESA are already working on how to improve "Tormes". 
 
The accuracy given by GPS is not precise enough and not guaranteed. A
new tool, developed by ESA could be the breakthrough: EGNOS (European
Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service). EGNOS corrects the GPS
signals and gives an accuracy of 2 m while GPS provides an accuracy
of only 15 to 20 m. It also warns the users of any problem with the
signal thus giving integrity information.

EGNOS is transmitted to the ground via geostationary satellites, so
sometimes signals are blocked by buildings. This is called the canyon
effect. To solve this problem, ESA engineers had the idea of getting
the data through the Internet via a GSM connection, a project called
SISNeT (Signal In Space through Internet). This makes EGNOS available
anywhere downtown. Blind people who are able to access this
information could distinguish streets. For a blind person walking in
a town this will make all the difference because with an accuracy of
15 m (with GPS) the street is already crossed, with 2 m and less
(with EGNOS) you know which pavement you are on.

Tormes, the hand held device developed by ONCE along with the Spanish
company GMV Sistemas, speaks to the user, like any GPS device in a
car, but weighing less than one kilo it can be carried over the
shoulder. It can be used in two ways: to guide the user to their
destination or to tell them where they are as they walk around. 

Ruben Dominguez, a blind mathematician who has tried out the device
says 'This completes what exists for assisting blind people: the dog
or the white cane, but furthermore it will really improve the life of
the blind community by giving a lot more autonomy when moving around
town, specially in unknown places.'

Testing of the prototype is ongoing but already the results indicate
that this is a revolution under way for blind people. When EGNOS is
operational in spring 2004, blind people can expect unprecedented
assistance giving them more autonomy.

EGNOS, an initiative of ESA, the European Commission and Eurocontrol,
for use in civil aviation and other new services, paves the way for
Galileo, the first civil global satellite navigation system.

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