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IN-NOVA - Active reduction of noise transmitted into and from enclosures through encapsulated structures

Lead Research Organisation: University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Engineering

Abstract

To better reduce exposure of people to noise and increase their acoustic comfort, innovative noise barriers should be developed. The overarching aim of IN-NOVA is to provide a top-level training for 10 Supported Researchers (SR) - PhD Candidates, in a wide variety of cutting-edge noise control technologies, developing a new generation of creative and entrepreneurial innovators. The SRs will benefit from a unique soft-skills training programme that will kick-start their careers as highly employable professionals. To reach these goals, IN-NOVA has pooled the interdisciplinary, complementary and multisectoral expertise of leading research universities and innovative global companies in the fields of acoustics, vibration, materials engineering, signal processing, and control sciences, represented by outstanding researchers and practitioners. All SRs will get strong intertwining academic and non-academic supervision to jointly develop novel, complete concepts for innovative barriers to reduce noise transmitted into and from enclosures through encapsulated structures (dual problems), thus creating a more pleasant and healthier local soundscape in workplaces and leisure areas as well as in car and aircraft cabins. They will use structural design, destructive interference of waves, holistic approaches to soundscape forming, metamaterials, and employ advanced combined active, novel passive and semi-active technologies. The IN-NOVA research, training and outreach activities will have an important and lasting impact on the SRs, members of the consortium, individual people, society, environment, international scientific community, industry, policy makers, and on the EU as a whole. It will propose first standards and labelling rules for active noise control systems. It will also make possible reduction of mineral resources and energy consumption due to reduced weight of the structures. The project is fully consistent with EU, WHO and UNESCO policy declared in numerous acts.
 
Description This reaerch has made two key discoveries:

1. whilst local active noise control can improve the performance of active noise control systems, it is limited by head-movements. This can be overcome by tracking the position of the head and updating the control system accordingly. However, this requires some advanced knowledge about the system in terms of the response between the loudspeakers used for control and the acoustic pressures measured at the locations of the ears. This information must be measured in advance for all different possible head positions and rotations, which can be a very time consuming for practical applications, such as controlling noise for a car occupant. This reserach has uncovered the resolution requirements for measuring the acoustic resposnes between the control loudspeakers and the ears for different performance targets in terms of the level and the frequency range of noise control. This helps support the realisation of practical local active noise control systems with headtracking, which are of interest for application in automotive and aerospace applications.

2. in order to use active control to reduce the noise at locations at which the acoustic pressure cannot be measured, for example, at the ears of a potenitally moving person, it is neccessary to predict the pressure using the pressure measured at some remote locations. This reserach has explored how this prediction can be improved by using advanced microphone array geometries, which incorporate both pressure and pressure gradient components.
Exploitation Route The findings may be applied to support the development of practical applications of local active noise control systems by both OEMs and suppliers to both automotive and aerospace sectors.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine