Active Noise Control

March 5, 2015

Ryan Gehm

Mentor Automotive’s XSe ANC (Active Noise Control) technology is a high-performance noise cancellation solution that can perform a host of functions with fewer hardware components, requiring less tuning and calibration when compared to competing approaches, the company claims. By carefully placing microphones and accelerometers inside the vehicle, synthesized signals from ANC generate anti-noise to create “quiet zones” for both driver and passenger. Legacy, narrowband solutions typically reduce a few harmonically related frequencies addressing engine order cancellation (EOC) only; Mentor claims that its ANC technology not only includes algorithms to address EOC, but also offers a wider spectrum of frequencies for noise cancellation of the more erratic and unpredictable sounds associated with road noise. ANC has enhanced performance algorithms that cover the complete audio spectrum, compared to traditional least-mean-square and normalized-least-mean-square solutions. This gives ANC fast convergence so it can handle sudden dynamic changes in noise as a result of various road surfaces. The system can be tuned in real time while it’s running, which allows dynamic configuration.