Wireless Acoustic Sensor Nodes for Noise Monitoring in the City of Linares (Jaén)

Abstract

Noise pollution is a problem that affects millions of people worldwide. Over the last few years, many researchers have devoted their attention to the design of wireless acoustic sensor networks (WASNs) to monitor the real data of continuous and precise noise levels and to create noise maps in real time and space. Although WASNs are becoming a reality in smart cities, some research studies argue that very few projects have been deployed around the world, with most of them deployed as pilots for only days or weeks, with a small number of nodes. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a complete system for a WASN deployed in the city of Linares (Jaén), Spain, which has been running continuously for ten months. The complete system covers the network topology design, hardware and software of the sensor nodes, protocols, and a private cloud web server platform. As a result, the information provided by the system for each location where the sensor nodes are deployed is as follows: LAeq for a given period of time; noise indicators Lden, Lday, Levening, and Lnight; percentile noise levels (LA01T, LA10T, LA50T, LA90T, and LA99T); a temporal evolution representation of noise levels; and the predominant frequency of the noise. Some comparisons have been made between the noise indicators calculated by the sensor nodes and those from a commercial sound level meter. The results suggest that the proposed system is perfectly suitable for use as a starting point to obtain accurate maps of the noise levels in smart cities.

Application of a Prediction Model for Ambient Noise Levels and Acoustical Capacity for Living Rooms in Nursing Homes Hosting Older People with Dementia

“…Before deploying the sensor nodes at the nursing home, these were tested at the Ghent University Lab: they were calibrated using a Svantek SV 35A acoustic calibrator and the same procedure of indoor testing as proposed in Ref. [32], which is based on direct comparison of measurements with a Class 1 sound level meter, was performed, leading to an error of less than 0.2 dB on average. This is a well-accepted approach in literature, in order to check for the accuracy and reliability of acoustic sensor nodes [32][33][34][35].…”

Smart Wireless Acoustic Sensor Network Design for Noise Monitoring in Smart Cities

“…Other authors have centered their work on the sensor network and node design. In Prieto et al [ 2 ], the authors describe the design and implementation of a complete system for a WASN deployed in the city of Linares (Jaén-Spain). The complete system covers the network topology design, and the hardware and software of the sensor nodes elaboration, along with protocols and the web server platform.…”

ZARATAMAP: Noise Characterization in the Scope of a Smart City through a Low Cost and Mobile Electronic Embedded System

“…Rapid evolution of electronics and communications has given rise to wireless solutions that make numerous measurement and data collection points available in cities. Thus, wireless sensor networks (WSN) are a technological alternative that make it possible to increase the number of measuring stations in the city [ 10 ], in a simple way that does not require large economic investments.…”