RawBench: A Comprehensive Benchmarking Framework for Raw Nanopore Signal Analysis Techniques

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Eris, Furkan, McConnell, Ulysse, Firtina, Can, Mutlu, Onur
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Eris, Furkan
McConnell, Ulysse
Firtina, Can
Mutlu, Onur
author_facet Eris, Furkan
McConnell, Ulysse
Firtina, Can
Mutlu, Onur
contents Nanopore sequencing technologies continue to advance rapidly, offering critical benefits such as real-time analysis, the ability to sequence extremely long DNA fragments (up to millions of bases in a single read), and the option to selectively stop sequencing a molecule before completion. Traditionally, the raw electrical signals generated during sequencing are converted into DNA sequences through a process called basecalling, which typically relies on large neural network models. Raw signal analysis has emerged as a promising alternative to these resource-intensive approaches. While attempts have been made to benchmark conventional basecalling methods, existing evaluation frameworks 1) overlook raw signal analysis techniques, 2) lack the flexibility to accommodate new raw signal analysis tools easily, and 3) fail to include the latest improvements in nanopore datasets. Our goal is to provide an extensible benchmarking framework that enables designing and comparing new methods for raw signal analysis. To this end, we introduce RawBench, the first flexible framework for evaluating raw nanopore signal analysis techniques. RawBench provides modular evaluation of three core pipeline components: 1) reference genome encoding (using different pore models), 2) signal encoding (through various segmentation methods), and 3) representation matching (via different data structures). We extensively evaluate raw signal analysis techniques in terms of 1) quality and performance for read mapping, 2) quality and performance for read classification, and 3) quality of raw signal analysis-assisted basecalling. Our evaluations show that raw signal analysis can achieve competitive quality while significantly reducing resource requirements, particularly in settings where real-time processing or edge deployment is necessary.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_03629
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle RawBench: A Comprehensive Benchmarking Framework for Raw Nanopore Signal Analysis Techniques
Eris, Furkan
McConnell, Ulysse
Firtina, Can
Mutlu, Onur
Genomics
Quantitative Methods
Nanopore sequencing technologies continue to advance rapidly, offering critical benefits such as real-time analysis, the ability to sequence extremely long DNA fragments (up to millions of bases in a single read), and the option to selectively stop sequencing a molecule before completion. Traditionally, the raw electrical signals generated during sequencing are converted into DNA sequences through a process called basecalling, which typically relies on large neural network models. Raw signal analysis has emerged as a promising alternative to these resource-intensive approaches. While attempts have been made to benchmark conventional basecalling methods, existing evaluation frameworks 1) overlook raw signal analysis techniques, 2) lack the flexibility to accommodate new raw signal analysis tools easily, and 3) fail to include the latest improvements in nanopore datasets. Our goal is to provide an extensible benchmarking framework that enables designing and comparing new methods for raw signal analysis. To this end, we introduce RawBench, the first flexible framework for evaluating raw nanopore signal analysis techniques. RawBench provides modular evaluation of three core pipeline components: 1) reference genome encoding (using different pore models), 2) signal encoding (through various segmentation methods), and 3) representation matching (via different data structures). We extensively evaluate raw signal analysis techniques in terms of 1) quality and performance for read mapping, 2) quality and performance for read classification, and 3) quality of raw signal analysis-assisted basecalling. Our evaluations show that raw signal analysis can achieve competitive quality while significantly reducing resource requirements, particularly in settings where real-time processing or edge deployment is necessary.
title RawBench: A Comprehensive Benchmarking Framework for Raw Nanopore Signal Analysis Techniques
topic Genomics
Quantitative Methods
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03629