What is General Noise's approach to noise regulation?
General Noise is exploring innovative ways to address vehicle noise pollution. Our technology’s mission is to provide accurate and affordable noise enforcement.
What sets our technology apart?
Vehicle noise measurement is a complex task, but we simplify it. Our system uses radar to capture exhaust pipe vibrations and translates them into a decibel value, with close agreement to a professional microphone.
Why use radar and not microphones?
It’s all about knowing which vehicle made the noise.
Unlike microphones, radar can precisely target a specific vehicle, ensuring that the noise measurement is accurate and attributable to the correct source. This precision eliminates the risk of "sound smearing" where noises from different sources blend together, a common issue in bustling urban environments.
Radar offers superior accuracy, simplicity, and cost-effectiveness. Unlike microphone arrays, which require numerous microphones - up to 30-50 in a single unit), with each microphone needing ongoing maintenance and calibration.
Radar excels in all weather conditions, while microphones are unsuitable for extended outdoor exposure due to their susceptibility to dust, debris, wind noise, humidity, and extreme temperatures.
Moreover, a radar system is less socially invasive than a microphone, as radar cannot capture conversation. “Government microphones on street corners” will be unwelcome in many jurisdictions.
The present state of our system
Our prototype has reached TRL 5 through UK government-funded testing
A key milestone was collaborating with radar manufacturer Anteral to rapidly prototype a compact system using off-the-shelf components.
We emphasise that no further investment is need to prove the concept – we know that radar works well.
We now seek further govt and/or commercial funding to finalise our device specifications and build out a software API + user interface.
Coverage and range capabilities
Our current prototype covers 1-20 meters, with potential for expansion through increased radar power.
In real world use, the flexibility and affordability of radar sensors will allow for each sensor to cover a separate lane, enhancing the system's applicability across various traffic conditions.
Testing and applications
So far our tests have included vehicles at rest and those traveling up to approximately 30MPH. There is no practical upper MPH limit to our system.
Much effort went into optimising our statistical methods, where our device’s sensitivity was constantly refined to allow for “lenient” and “aggressive” settings, similar to speed enforcement tolerance guidelines. We can choose the threshold level applied to the spectral distribution of acoustic frequencies to be just above the background acoustic noise level. By being sure of background noise rejection, we give a further headroom to the likely offending noisy motorist, typically around a 2-dBA advantage, when the really loud offending vehicles are at least 10-dBA (often more) above noise limits. Although our system leans toward giving offenders the benefit of the doubt, it can be easily adjusted for stricter enforcement.
We envision our sensors being particularly effective in "acceleration zones" such as near traffic lights, junctions, and pedestrian crossings, targeting specifically the "noisy fleet" of sports cars, modified vehicles and motorcycles. Noise level detection for bikes was notably robust.
What's the trade-off?
We need line-of-sight to the exhaust pipe. We find this requirement is well worth the trade-off, especially as pipes among the "noisy fleet" are nearly always visible, for long-standing cultural and technical reasons.
How much?
Loud vehicle issues are a problem everywhere - not just in upscale areas. Therefore, our product vision aims for a simple, affordable, and widespread solution, rather than a complex and costly one limited to specific noise hotspots. The final price will be set by our licensees but, for context, our prototype cost less than <£500 in components.
Are you portable? Handheld?
Yes, if preferred. Indeed, our initial testing was based on an adapdted handheld police radar, obtained for a few hundred dollars.
Portability offers fresh enforcement possibilities, including utilization by traffic wardens and other local government personnel.
Certification and advantages over existing systems
No noise camera system, to our knowledge, has been certified by any jurisdiction. However, we are working hard to make the UK Department of Transport aware of all its options, and that a radar-based system has several definitive advantages over microphone-based systems.
What does the market look like?
For comparison, there are approximately 110k speed cameras globally, excluding hand-held devices.
If we consider real-world expenditure on noise cameras to date and scale it according to global city population, we find a TAM in excess of £600m. See here for a fuller market analysis.
Crucially, noise violations are not crimes, unlike speeding offenses. Consequently, the legal threshold for prosecution is lower, and in many cases, the revenue from penalties can be kept by the local authority - often not the case with speed camera revenue.
Our business model
We seek to license our IP rather than manufacture finished goods. We welcome ITS industry partners who share our vision of more peaceful, quieter streets. More details on our product's specifications are available to prospective partners under NDA.
About General Noise Ltd
General Noise Ltd is a two-person start-up. Our CTO, Professor Robert Brown, has a distinguished background in science and engineering, including classified projects for UK and US military. Business development director Jason Dunne has a background in noise policy and publishing. We are committed to building a second generation of vehicle noise enforcement technology.
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