FI-Sonic – Continuous Environmental Noise Monitoring & Location and Identification of Sound Events (2015-)
Entities: Audio and Acoustics Laboratory – Etconcept
The FI-Sonic project emerges within the Smart Cities concept, which aims to improve the comfort and well-being of populations within and on the outskirts of urban areas and promote sustainable development. This project performs continuous, real-time noise monitoring and analysis of sound events through the processing of audio signals captured by a network of microphones.
This information can be used for various purposes, namely for evaluating issues related to ambient noise or extracting relevant information about events that occurred in a specific location in the city. In this way, this concept can be used to ensure the application of the General Noise Regulation.
The FI-Sonic system also constitutes an auxiliary means of periodically updating noise maps and, together with these, creates the concept of dynamic noise maps, as it allows visualization of the evolution of noise levels over time.
Another important aspect concerns the possibility of accurately and promptly locating sound sources using multidirectional microphones and identifying types of sounds, such as light or heavy vehicles, horns, people in distress, or even gunshots, through sound patterns using artificial intelligence techniques.
These latter issues pave the way for a multitude of new disruptive approaches to city governance, since these sound events can be used with the video surveillance system, synchronizing video and sound. Thus, when an accident occurs, the FI-Sonic system detects the direction/location of the event, emits an alarm, and immediately displays the corresponding image captured by the video camera on the main monitor in the city’s operations and control room. This allows intervention forces and emergency services to act more quickly and anticipate actions regarding crucial events, potentially even saving lives. The system’s three main vectors are: Noise measurement + Detection of sound events + Identification of sound types. The FI-Sonic project stands out because it simultaneously uses information extracted from sound to measure, locate, and identify sound events in a city. It’s like ‘the ears of the city’.
The project was funded by the Soul-FI business acceleration program, which aimed to launch the FIWARE – Future Internet platform, within the framework of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development, FP7.