Project Details

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Smart Luggage Logistics and Connectivity for Wheelchair Travelers

Company: Exacta Global Smart Solutions

Major(s):
Primary: CMPEN
Secondary: CMPSC
Optional: ME

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Extension of: Hands-Free Luggage Attachment for Wheelchair Users Penn State Sites Problem Statement: Wheelchair users who travel independently rely on hands-free luggage attachments to maintain mobility and safety. While prior work (https://sites.psu.edu/lfshowcasefa24/2024/12/10/hands-free-luggage-attachment-for-wheelchair-users/) has addressed the mechanical attachment of luggage, there remains a critical gap in situational awareness when luggage becomes separated, snagged, or unstable. Project Concept: The objective of this project is to design, implement, and validate a standards-based smart luggage proximity system that provides reliable, repeatable, and low-latency distance estimation between a wheelchair user and their luggage. The system will use Bluetooth Channel Sounding (CS) as the primary ranging mechanism and will expose proximity data and alerts through a oneM2M-aligned IoT architecture. Embedded Development: The system will consist of two Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15 Development Kits, configured as a Channel Sounding Initiator (wheelchair hub) and a Channel Sounding Reflector (luggage tag). Bluetooth Channel Sounding will be used for proximity measurement due to its channel-aware ranging capability, improved resilience to multipath effects, and availability of measurement confidence metrics. https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-3.0.0/page/nrfxlib/softdevice_controller/doc/channel_sounding.html Additional features are to be defined based on the existing project, e.g. detect proper closing of the luggage attachment, automatic opening-closing of the attachment, retract-extend the attachment, etc. Software Development: The application will provide a simple, accessible user experience focused on maintaining situational awareness with minimal cognitive and physical effort. It presents the user with a clear, continuously updated indication of luggage proximity, abstracted into intuitive states (e.g., normal, caution, separation) rather than raw technical data. When unsafe conditions are detected, the application delivers immediate, alerts using multimodal feedback such as visual emphasis, audible cues, and optional haptic signals, allowing the user to respond without fine motor interaction. The interface prioritizes readability, high contrast, and minimal interaction steps, ensuring that critical information is available at a glance. Overall, the application provides an assistive companion that proactively communicates safety-relevant information without requiring continuous user attention or technical expertise.