Streamlining Automotive Acoustics Design: Hands-On, Part 1 [Video]

Sophisticated automotive acoustics have become a part of the driver and passenger experience in vehicles. And these features are increasingly more software-defined than ever before. People want to talk to each other in the car without excessive road noise. Drivers want their voice recognition system to work and perform reliably. They expect a quality audio experience when they turn on their infotainment system. And they need alerts and chimes to keep themselves, their passengers, and pedestrians around the vehicle safe.

This is why automotive acoustic development is more crucial than ever. It can have its greatest impact, saving bill-of-material costs and time to production while enabling new features, when it can begin as early as possible in the vehicle design and development cycle.

Automotive Acoustics Design Tutorial

The QNX® Live Acoustics Management Platform (LiveAMP) is a graphical tool designed for bench testing of in-car acoustics on a Windows® desktop. Part of the QNX® Acoustics Management Platform (AMP), this powerful tool lets automotive design engineers test, tweak, and validate sound designs prior to deployment, using recorded or simulated vehicle data. Its unique and intuitive signal flow GUI (graphical user interface) enables designers to make real-time and interactive adjustments to audio profiles and system parameters.

We created videos to help you understand the extensive capabilities of the QNX LiveAMP tool. In addition to hands-on demonstrations, these include a high-level overview video. In this series of videos, BlackBerry QNX Acoustics' audio systems designer Mark Harvey demonstrates how to connect LiveAMP, how to get started with active sound design, how to capture input and output, and how to use the LiveAMP CHATS system to tune a vehicle for hands-free phone calling.

A Streamlined Workflow for Designing Vehicle Sounds

Initially presented at the 2021 SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Noise and Vibration Conference, this video looks at the process of designing and tuning sound for vehicles, and includes a live demo of the QNX LiveAMP tuning, analysis, and diagnostic tool. The video focuses on interior and exterior sounds for all engine types, acoustic vehicle alerting systems (AVAS) for electric vehicles (EVs), and vehicle chimes. It is ideal for automotive sound design engineers looking to streamline the design process through initial bench testing, before moving to vehicle prototypes.

QNX LiveAMP ASD: Getting Started

With the right tool, much of the initial sound design work can be done from the bench. In this live demo, we give a brief introduction to using QNX LiveAMP to create sounds that can be used for engine sound enhancement, or for acoustic vehicle alerting systems (AVAS). We use a simple system – a PC and a set of computer speakers or headphones plugged into a soundcard, along with QNX LiveAMP and its active sound design (ASD) feature, to demonstrate how to initialize the runtime library using various input parameters.

Connecting QNX LiveAMP

This demo offers a quick walk-through on how to connect LiveAMP to a target system and begin tuning. We review the basics — creating a target that represents the head unit, and pinging it to ensure a successful communication setup. We also demonstrate how to troubleshoot any connectivity issues.

Connecting CHATS Components

This video is a quick overview of the hardware components for the optional QNX® Compact Head and Torso Simulator (CHATS), and a demonstration of how to use this configurable research tool to simulate a hands-free call for testing and tuning in-car acoustics without a mobile phone.

Related Reading

• Automotive Acoustics: How to Address Complexity
• Get In: The Software-Defined Vehicle Podcast from BlackBerry (Episode 12)
• Why Mixed Criticality is the Future of Automotive Architectures
• How Virtualization Solves Five Automotive OEM Business Challenges