MEDISOV
Urban sound quality diagnosis through distributed sensing
MEDISOV focused on turning urban acoustic monitoring into a deployable field system rather than a lab-only prototype. The project combined embedded signal processing, low-power radio links, and deployable sensor nodes to observe how city soundscapes evolve in real conditions.
Read the Cerema project pageProject Context
Why the project mattered
MEDISOV investigated how distributed sensing could help characterize urban sound quality beyond isolated manual measurements.
The ambition was to deploy affordable and autonomous nodes capable of supporting mapping, diagnostics, and evidence-based environmental decisions.
This required a practical balance between embedded processing capability, wireless connectivity, and field-ready power consumption.
Technical contributions
Wireless communication
Implementation of low-power wireless links for node-to-gateway communication in constrained outdoor deployments.
Embedded DSP
Real-time acoustic indicator computation on DSP hardware for noise characterization and spectral analysis.
Sensor node design
Integration work around autonomous acoustic nodes combining microphone front-ends, compute, and deployable packaging.
Key Features
Distributed Network
Multiple nodes could be positioned across an urban area to build spatial acoustic coverage.
Low-Power Design
The platform targeted battery-friendly operation and autonomous deployment constraints.
Real-Time Mapping
Measured indicators could be aggregated into actionable views for observation and planning.
Measurement Quality
The project aimed for calibrated and methodical acoustic measurements adapted to field usage.
Project Timeline
September 2015
Initial Prototyping
The first development phase started at ISEN Lille around architecture studies and early prototypes.
September 2016
Field-Oriented Development
Work continued at Cerema with validation, deployment-oriented refinement, and field experimentation.
August 2017
Project Completion
Demonstration results validated the feasibility of the distributed acoustic monitoring approach.