Purposes to develop PICS are to support elderly and disabled persons for "their safe, convenient and comfortable movement to improve their daily lives". Infrared communication technology is applied as an essential media for the development of PDA (personal digital assistant) based on the experiences of infrared beacon used for VICS (vehicle information and communications systems). For visually impaired persons, the information is provided via voice message (PICS-A). For elderly and other disabled persons, the information is provided via literal, imagery and voice messages (PICS-B). An experimental unit of PICS-A was built and installed at an intersection in Yokohama-city for field tests during November and December 1998. The results showed that the system works very well, especially effective for visually impaired at intersections. As for PICS-B, the fundamental functions required for each subsystem and essential contents for services should be identified for further development. Field tests to be conducted by elderly, hearing and locomotory impaired persons are planned. (A*)
Samenvatting