MELAUDIS: A Large-Scale Benchmark Acoustic Dataset For Intelligent Transportation Systems Research

Hossein Parineh ¹, Majid Sarvi ², Saeed Asadi Bagloee ²

⁰Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3053, Australia. hparineh@student.unimelb.edu.au.

Scientific Data +

|

February 28, 2025

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Researchers developed MELAUDIS, a large real-world acoustic dataset for intelligent transportation systems (ITS). This dataset enhances vehicle detection and classification, improving accuracy with advanced audio processing techniques.

Area Of Science

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Acoustic Signal Processing
Machine Learning for Transportation

Background

Acoustic traffic sensors offer cost-effective road traffic monitoring.
Existing audio datasets for ITS lack real-world complexity and diversity.
There is a need for comprehensive acoustic data to advance intelligent transportation research.

Purpose Of The Study

Introduce MELAUDIS, the first comprehensive real-world acoustic dataset for ITS.
Facilitate vehicle detection, traffic status monitoring, and vehicle type classification.
Establish a benchmark dataset to drive innovation in urban acoustic intelligence.

Main Methods

Collected diverse audio recordings from multi-lane, two-way traffic roads.
Included various traffic conditions, ambient noises, and weather settings.
Annotated six vehicle types (bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses, trucks, trams) in single and multi-vehicle scenarios.

Main Results

MELAUDIS comprises 5,792 background noise, 7,345 vehicle sound, and 2,955 idling sound recordings.
Achieved a classification accuracy improvement from 65.1% to 82.84% using log-mel-spectrograms and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs).
The dataset's extensive labeling (1,200+ man-hours) ensures high quality for research.

Conclusions

MELAUDIS is the largest urban acoustic dataset to date, addressing critical data gaps in ITS.
The dataset significantly improves the performance of acoustic-based vehicle analysis.
MELAUDIS provides a robust foundation for future research and development in intelligent transportation systems.