Active Noise Cancellation Health Managing Method

Ensuring the robustness of vehicle systems and features is a key aspect of customer satisfaction and therefore is of vital importance to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Both initial quality and quality over the life of the vehicle are important aspects to customers. Therefore, some features and systems require an active approach at monitoring system health. The intent of Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) systems in vehicles is to increase the customer’s perception of vehicle refinement and brand quality. Due to the nature of ANC system operation, it is critical that the system does not go divergent resulting in unwanted noise being heard by the customer. So, a method to monitor the ANC system operation and performance is required to ensure robustness. Despite tuning ANC systems considering expected vehicle build tolerances, vehicle aging and customer specific use cases, an ANC system can occasionally still go divergent in the field. An ANC audit procedure is included in the system software to verify functionality and performance at End of Line (EOL), repair centers or verified though an Over the Air (OTA) procedure. This type of procedure can verify the vehicle’s acoustic cavity response and update ANC tuning parameters to account for any changes. This paper will show vehicle examples of why an ANC health monitoring system is needed and how we developed, implemented, and utilized an ANC audit procedure to improve ANC system robustness and customer satisfaction.