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With the improvement of connectivity technologies, and the increase of data exchange capacity and cloud technologies, the usage of connected vehicle data by automakers is growing fast, and it represents an exciting, multi-faceted and high-growth area in the data analytics development – enabling a myriad of new possibilities, by including but not limited to: predicting failures in parts, accelerating issue detection and resolution, improve design validation, calibration updates over the air, advanced navigation assistance, passenger entertainment. The aim of this work is to present the process, methodologies and tools adopted in the implementation of an unsupervised machine learning solution based on data collected from connected vehicles whose main objective will be support the analysis of usage severity of the engine and transmission mounts parts of the vehicle.

Exhaust system noise has significant impact on vehicle exterior and interior noise. In a vehicle development, during early design verification phase, the exhaust tailpipe orifice noise performance is measured and validated at the proving ground tracks using design intent prototype parts developed and delivered by supplier, following previously technical specifications agreements and specific package constrains and targets. At late design verification phase, new measurements are performed in production intent prototype parts, and the results achieved are compared with initial measurements made for design intent prototype parts - with conflicting results in some situations.

Nowadays, due to the high competitiveness, projects and development of new products, must always seek out and adopt creative and viable solutions, and preferably with low implementation cost. In the automotive industry, where competitiveness is also very aggressive it becomes particularly necessary reducing costs - and therefore the opportunities should be sought, explored and adopted. This paper shows a case of adequacy of the efficiency of an old and unused existing infrastructure (originally a corrosion room), into a quiet room. An optimization of the design tuned for the room dimensions due to its inadequacy to meet the ideal sizing ratio in terms of acoustic efficiency, proved to be very successful. All design and sizing was done with the skills and knowledge available within the company, avoiding costs with external consulting (hiring of specialists) and project, combined with exploitation of existing construction, contributed decisively to the financial viability of the project.

The engineering improvement of tactile and psycho-acoustic responses in vehicles is important to please customer's quality expectations. However the same market demand for high quality also requires increasingly lighter vehicles, with less environmental impact and low cost which, at first, may appear as apposite voices to noise, vibration (NVH) refinement. So, seeking for high satisfaction of the passengers is necessary to manage the entire vehicle design, developing each one of chassis components, hard points attachments and body's behavior to optimize NVH sources balance without sacrificing durability and vehicle dynamics performance. Thus, as a case study, this paper presents an experimental analysis of the structural-borne contribution of noise, vibration and harshness during tire rolling, also referred to as Road NVH, using the energy transfer path analysis method (TPA).

The use of time selective techniques has been used for years in signal processing for acoustic, vibration and electro-acoustic to make simulated free-field measurements. Many acoustic solutions have been implemented and developed by specialized software companies and are offered to final users by the costs of large amounts of money. However, recent advances in hardware, software and data acquisition systems - allied to a good background in signal processing - has enabled the implementation of fast and practical solutions to more complex problems involving direct signal manipulations, analysis and post-processing.

Vehicle audio system performance is an important attribute for final customers. Usually the system performance is evaluated by subjective judgments and also some sort of objective measurements, as for example: reverberation time measurement of the internal cabin, frequency response and harmonic distortion. But all of these measurements are performed by the automaker at vehicle level - with audio system and speakers installed inside the vehicle cabin - for general quality inspections and definition of some spatial parameters of internal trim design. Loudspeaker performance evaluation usually requires great amount of investments due to the acoustic chamber requirements.

During later stages of an automotive development process, prototypes and normal production units are available to NVH evaluations and tests. During these phases, it is desirable to know as completely as possible the acoustical efficiency of the vehicle internal cavity. The interior of a modern vehicle is a complex combination of different materials, volumes and surface areas. Due to its relation to the absorption, the reverberation time measured inside a vehicle can be used as an indicator of the acoustic quality of the interior cavity, and also as parameter input into SEA models. This work presents a validation study for vehicle reverberation time measurement, including some examples of reverberation time measurement on different vehicles, addressing the difficulties and benefits of the technique.

In order to have an accurate statistical energy analysis model it is crucial to adjust and update it according to real measured parameters of vehicle internal absorption and material properties. This work brings a study case involving different areas of actuation - computer aided engineering, vehicle engineering design and testing & experimental areas - but with one goal: characterizing the interior cavity thru reverberation time measurements and simulation, evaluating the absorption of the sound package parts and its influence on the overall T60. Thus, some test benches and procedures were used for measurement of important parameters, as for example: vehicle internal reverberation time and material sound absorption coefficient. Reverberation time is defined as the time - expressed in seconds - that would be required for the sound pressure level to decrease 60 dB from its original value.

The NVH perception of a vehicle customer is the sum of contributions from various forces and its paths, structure and airborne. Each contribution is the product of an input force and body sensitivity. The tactile and acoustic transfer functions measurements determine how much of the input forces will reach to the costumer. Input points are suspension systems, powertrain and exhaust attachment points. Equivalent stiffness of these points is also determined on this test. This metric is used on target settings or to optimize body structure design at an early stage.