High-capacity Traffic Monitoring with DAS and AI

About the project

Sub-optimal traffic flow and road congestion are growing challenges in urban areas, further exacerbated by increasing urbanization and stricter environmental standards. Effective traffic management relies on realistic modeling based on real-world data, making widespread instrumentation essential. This project proposes an innovative solution: transforming roadside fiber-optic telecommunication cables into vibration sensors for traffic monitoring, with a spatial resolution of meters over a range exceeding 100 km. The objective is to develop advanced machine learning algorithms capable of detecting, tracking, and counting vehicles in real-time under dense traffic conditions. Additionally, the project aims to provide tools such as instantaneous speed estimation radars and average travel time estimators between locations. This groundbreaking approach seeks to revolutionize traffic monitoring and management while adhering to stringent environmental quality requirements.

Principal investigator
Project's partners
  • SLADEN Anthony (Géoazur)
  • FERRARI André (Lagrange)
  • VAN den ENDE Martijn (Lagrange&Géoazur)
  • KHACEF Yacine (Lagrange)
  • FULCONIS Jérémy (Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur)
  • BIONDI Biondo (Stanford University, USA)
Duration
  • October 2022 - December 2023
Total amount
  • 28 000 euros
Publications

[C1]
Y. Khacef, M. van den Ende, A. Ferrari, C. Richard, A. Sladen,
Self-supervised velocity field learning for high-resolution traffic monitoring with distributed acoustic sensing,
Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove (CA), États-Unis, 2022.

[C2]
Y. Khacef, C. Richard, C. C. Cavalcante, A. Ferrari,
Leveraging distributed acoustic sensing for vehicle counting in high-traffic-density environments,
Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove (CA), États-Unis, 2024.
Articles dans des revues internationales avec comité de lecture

[C3]
M. van den Ende, A. Ferrari, A. Sladen, C. Richard,
Next-generation traffic monitoring with distributed acoustic sensing arrays and optimum array processing,
Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove (CA), États-Unis, 2021.

[C4]
M. van den Ende, I. Lior, J.-P. Ampuero, A. Sladen, C. Richard,
A self-supervised deep learning approach for improving signal coherence in distributed acoustic sensing,
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, Vienne, Autriche, 2021.

[C5]
M. van den Ende, A. Ferrari, A. Sladen, C. Richard,
Deep deconvolution applied to distributed acoustic sensing for traffic analysis,
European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), 2022.

[J1]
Y. Khacef, M. van den Ende, C. Richard, A. Ferrari, A. Sladen,
Precision traffic monitoring: Leveraging distributed acoustic sensing and deep neural networks,
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 26, no 6, pp. 7678–7689, 2025.

[J2]
M. van den Ende, I. Lior, J.-P. Ampuero, A. Sladen, A. Ferrari, C. Richard,
A self-supervised deep learning approach for blind denoising and waveform coherence enhancement in distributed acoustic sensing,
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 34, no 7, 2023.

[J3]
M. van den Ende, A. Ferrari, A. Sladen, C. Richard,
Deep deconvolution for traffic analysis with distributed acoustic sensing data,
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 24, no 3, pp. 2947–2962, 2023.

[J4]
S. Yuan, M. van den Ende, J. Liu, H. Y. Noy, R. Clapp, C. Richard, B. Biondi,
Spatial deep deconvolution U-Net for traffic analyses with distributed acoustic sensing,
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 25, no 2, pp. 1913–1924, 2023.

Transfer of technology
Creation of a startup, SequoIA Analytics, in the pre-maturation phase.
Visual presentation: https://youtu.be/kfuhaxnRxHc
Other projects financed by leverage effect
  • 3IA Start-it-Up Program, 2021-2023
  • INRIA Startup Studio Program, 2023-2024
  • Bpifrance i-PhD Innovation Competition, Winner 2023
  • Research Victory Award from the City of Nice, Winner 2023
  • Sci-Ty Prematuration Program, PEPR VDBI, 2024-2025
  • Young Innovative Doctors Program, PACA (South-East) region, 2025