Drive by Noise System and Corresponding Facility Upgrades for Test Efficiency, Data Quality and Customer Satisfaction

An existing pass by noise data acquisition system was upgraded to provide the sophisticated data analysis techniques and test site efficiency required to comply with the current and future drive by noise regulations. Use of six sigma tool such as voice of the customer helped in defining the customer requirements which were then translated into the desired engineering characteristics using QFD. Pugh concept matrix narrowed down the best option suitable for the test site modifications taking into account the critical constraints such as test complexity, system cost & transparency to the existing drive by noise setup. Features of the new system include data telemetry, frequency analysis, portability and efficient data management through the use of advanced data acquisition system. Wireless mode of the data transmission helped significantly avoid most of the test site modifications, which in turn helped to reduce the overall system implementation cost. The benefits of the improvements included providing suitable platform to share test results with internal and external customers (OEMs) with improved data quality. The system generates accurate, dependable data in a final test report at the conclusion of each test minimizing manual data entry and driver subjectivity in validating the test runs.