In-Vehicle Panoramic Noise Source Mapping

For many years engineers in the automotive market have struggled to find ways to accurately and efficiently map the noise sources found inside a vehicle. Many techniques, both theoretical and measurement based, have been proposed and used, but there has always been a trade off between accuracy and efficiency. Techniques like sound intensity mapping and Statistical Energy Analysis have proven to be accurate when mapping noise sources in vehicle, but require a large investment in time and money to create a simple, easy to interpret picture showing where dominant noise sources come from. In this paper the authors will introduce and demonstrate a novel technique, spherical beamforming, which can overcome the issue of test time and produce fast, accurate noise maps from the interior of a vehicle.