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We present an experimental study assessing the ability of two RSSI-based methods at detecting inter- personal distances shorter than 1 meter or 2 meters. The first method uses the power received from the smartphone carried by another person, while the second one measures the disparity in the power received by the two smartphones from one or more fixed BLE beacons. Our results show that use of the RSSI disparity enables discrimination results that are as good or better than using the RSSI received from another smartphone. 

Public transit has been affected disproportionately by the social distancing requirements consequent to the COVID-19 pandemic. Technologies such as effortless ticketing and crowdedness assessment have the potential to increase safety and instill confidence for transit users. One key component of these technologies is the ability to detect the presence of a passenger inside a bus vehicle, as well as their approximate location within the vehicle. We present a preliminary study demonstrating the potential of a system that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (beacons), placed inside a vehicle, to localize a passenger within the length of the vehicle with an accuracy better than 1 meter. Based on these preliminary results, we are working on a long-term experiment that will collect RSSI data from BLE beacons (as well as GPS and inertial data) from passengers using the transit system of our campus. 

Riding public transit can be confusing for everyone, especially in an unfamiliar environment. One needs to figure out which transportation lines to take to reach a destination, when and where to catch a bus or a train, when to exit, and how to negotiate transfers. For those with sensorial or cognitive disa- bilities, these problems become even more daunting. Several technological ap- proaches have been proposed to facilitate use of public transit for everyone. For any assistive technology to be successful, though, it is imperative that it is de- veloped from the ground up with a clear understanding of the intended users’ needs and requirements, and possibly with a direct participation of these users throughout the project lifecycle. In this study, we conduct a focus group with blind participants, designed to highlight the main issues, problems, and limita- tions with the current transit system in our local area as well as the perception of the participants our proposed RouteMe2 technology. We found two core categories of issues faced by blind travelers: (1) spatial/location awareness, and (2) temporal/ time awareness. Configurability and accessibility were the most desired features requested for a new transit information app.