Audible pedestrian signal (APS) is an auxiliary apparatus to provide the location of a crosswalk and status information about pedestrian signals by non-visual formats such as audible tones and verbal messages. A pedestrian who is blind or has low vision uses a 358Mhz wireless switch in order to activate the APS. The existing APS can only receive an activation message from the wireless switch. Therefore, all APSs within the communication range of the wireless switch are activated simultaneously. It can cause noise problems and confuse the visual impaired pedestrians. In this paper, we present a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon based APS that can enable two-way communication via Bluetooth with a smartphone in order to solve this problem. It allows the visual impaired pedestrians to cross the street at signalized intersections more conveniently and safely.

BLE, Bluetooth, audible pedestrian signal, visual impaired pedestrian, IoT.