Achieving a low noise level is of great interest to the forest machine industry. Traditionally this is obtained by using passive noise reduction, i.e. by using materials for sound isolation and sound absorption. Especially designs to attenuate low frequency noise tend to be bulky and impractical from an installation point of view. An alternative solution to the problem is to use active noise control (ANC). The basic principle of ANC is to generate an anti-noise signal designed to destructively interfere with the unwanted noise. In this thesis two algorithms (Feedback FxLMS and Feedforward FxLMS) are implemented and evaluated for use in the ANC-system. The ANC-system is tuned to the specific environment in the driver’s cabin of a Komatsu forest machine. The algorithms are first tested in a simulated environment and then in real-time inside a forest machine. Simulations are made both in Matlab and in C using both generated signals and recorded signals. The C code is implemented on the Analog Devices Blackfin DSP card BF526. The result showed a significantly reduction of the sound pressure level (SPL) in the driver’s cabin. The noise attenuation obtained using the Feedback FxLMS was approximately 14 dB for a tonal 100 Hz signal and 11 dB using recorded engine noise from a forest machine at 850 rpm.

The design of a battery-powered, portable headphone active noise control system with TI TMS320C5416 DSP is described. The preliminary implementation of the system on a C5416 DSK is also explained. The problems of fixed-point implementation are described and solutions are proposed. Sign-sign Fx-LMS algorithm with a dead-zone is introduced and used as the adaptation algorithm. Effective use of dynamic range to improve the accuracy in filtering operations is discussed. Details of the designed battery-powered DSP board are given and board software development process is explained. The DSK system and designed portable system is compared against two commercially available analog systems under three different types of noises / composition of tones, drill noise and propeller plane cabin noise. The results reveal that adaptive system has better overall performance.

An active noise control (ANC) system has been applied to the problem of attenuating low-frequency tonal noise inside small enclosures. The intended target application of the system was the reduction of the engine firing frequency inside heavy equipment cabins. The ANC system was based on a version of the filtered-x LMS adaptive algorithm, modified for the minimization of acoustic energy density (ED), rather than the more traditional minimization of squared acoustic pressure (SP). Three loudspeakers produced control signals within a mock cabin composed of a steel frame with plywood sides and a Plexiglas® front. An energy density sensor, capable of measuring acoustic pressure as well as acoustic particle velocity, provided the error signal to the control system. The ANC system operated on a single reference signal, which, for experiments involving recorded tractor engine noise, was derived from the engine's tachometer signal. For the low frequencies at which engine firing occurs, experiments showed that ANC systems minimizing ED and SP both provided significant attenuation of the tonal noise near the operator's head and globally throughout the small cabin. The tendency was for ED control to provide a more spatially uniform amount of reduction than SP control, especially at the higher frequencies investigated (up to 200 Hz). In dynamic measurement conditions, with a reference signal swept in frequency, the ED control often provided superior results, struggling less at frequencies for which the error sensor was near nodal regions for acoustic pressure. A single control channel often yielded performance comparable to that of two control channels, and sometimes produced superior results in dynamic tests. Tonal attenuation achieved by the ANC system was generally in excess of 20 dB and reduction in equivalent sound level for dynamic tonal noise often exceeded 4 dB at the error sensor. It was shown that temperature changes likely to be encountered in practice have little effect on the initial delay through the secondary control path, and are therefore unlikely to significantly impact ANC system stability in the event that a fixed set of system identification filter coefficients are employed.

Malgré les progrès accomplis dans la réduction du bruit des ventilateurs axiaux subsoniques, le bruit de raie basse fréquence, composante gênante du bruit, demeure difficile à contrôler. Aux basses fréquences, l'ajout de matériaux absorbants est inefficace et les silencieux encombrants et coûteux. Il faut alors faire appel à des "mesures curatives", comme le contrôle actif acoustique ou le contrôle actif à la source. Les contributions de ces travaux de doctorat sont : 1) l'estimation des sources aéroacoustiques du bruit de raie par modèle inverse, 2) une méthode de contrôle actif nécessitant un seul haut-parleur et 3) une méthode de contrôle passif adaptatif basée sur l'ajout d'obstructions dans l'écoulement. Les développements théoriques menés dans cette thèse sont valides pour les ventilateurs axiaux subsoniques et les expériences ont été réalisées sur un ventilateur de radiateur d'automobile.