Work

Automatic Speech Recognition of Public Safety Radio Communications for Interstate Incident Detection and Notification

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Most urban areas have Traffic Management Centers that rely partially on communication with 9-1-1 centers for incident detection. This level of awareness is often lacking for rural interstates spanning several 9-1-1 centers. This paper presents a novel approach to extending TMC visibility by automatically monitoring regional 9-1-1 dispatch channels using off-the-shelf hardware and open-source speech-to-text libraries. Our study presents a proof-of-concept study servicing 71 miles of rural I-65 in Indiana, successfully monitoring four county dispatch centers from a single location, and efficiently transcribing live audio within 60 s of broadcast. This work’s primary contribution is demonstrating the feasibility and practical value of automated incident detection systems for rural interstates. This technology is implementation-ready for extending the visibility of Traffic Management Centers in rural interstate segments. Further work is underway for developing scalable procedures for integrating multiple remote sites, extracting more diverse keyword sets, investigating optimal speech-to-text models, and assessing the technical aspects of the experimental procedures of this manuscript.

Source: Smart Cities

DOI: 10.3390/smartcities8050157

Authors: Christopher M. Gartner, Vihaan Vajpayee, Jairaj Desai, Darcy M. Bullock

Institution: Purdue University West Lafayette

Language: English

Topic: Speech Recognition and Synthesis

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,413