NAVIG: Navigation Assisted by Artificial Vision and GNSS

Finding ones way to an unknown destination, navigating complex routes, finding desired inanimate objects; these are all tasks that can be challenging for the visually impaired. The project NAVIG (Navigation Assisted by artificial VIsion and GNSS) is directed towards increasing the autonomy of visually impaired users in known and unknown environments, exterior and interior, large scale and small scale, through a combination of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and rapid visual recognition with which the precise position of the user can be determined. Relying on geographical databases and visually identified objects, the user is guided to their desired destination through spatialized audio rendering, always maintained in the head-centered reference frame. This paper presents the overall project design and architecture of the NAVIG system.