Incorporating engineering attributes like external engine sound or ride comfort into the design cycle is nothing new for automotive engineers and especially NVH experts. What is new though is the role of the brand image in engineering the overall driving experience. Like any product today, automotive brands are no longer just status symbols; they have become value symbols and customers expect that a car lives up to its brand promises. From a development point of view, this requires a systematic multi-attribute engineering process that allows vehicle manufacturers to integrate essential brand traits as key differentiating parameters in their design targets.
“The role of the brand in the target setting stage is becoming extremely important in the automotive sector. Our clients need to know how to translate brand definitions into functional performance criteria. They need the right type of tools and processes to reach the end targets successfully,” said Peter Mas, Innovation Business Manager for LMS Engineering Services.One of the processes that can help is what some people refer to as multi-attribute optimization. This process lets engineers create concept models in the early design stage that can predict all functional performances related to the brand image. They can be optimized and balanced to find the right blend of all the different design aspects. It is something that LMS sees as a major theme in new product development. The idea is to take the “art” or subjectivity out of the scientific process of developing a car – and doing it in such a way that it correctly reflects certain brand values that the customer expects to find. Integrating the “voice of the customer” into real performance data requires a tried-and-true process and the right tools - expertise and tools that LMS Engineering Services can provide.
One might take the case of brand sound for example. Sonic attributes – be it the hum of an engine or the harmonies of a symphony played on a top-of-the-line in-car surround sound system -- are confirmed using objective listening tests conducted by strategically placing sensors that collect data from different parts of the vehicle. To account for the feeling of a sound, subjective listening data is gathered using jury sampling where actual listeners are asked to rank sound quality subjectively in a sound studio. These results are correlated and confirmed against objective in-car signals. On the objective side, even the internal audio equipment is taken into account using a CD reference signal and an acoustic head simulating acoustic performance in real-world driving conditions. But how do you correlate these two data sets into actual defined brand attributes for use in the design process? This is the million-dollar question for acoustic specialists designing brand sound today.
“To start, you need a good subjective-objective correlation tool. We’ve partnered with one of the best psychoacoustics experts in the business, Professor Bisping who has worked with some major OEMs on sound quality issues to optimize our objective - subjective correlation tools to fit into a robust brand sound engineering solution,” stated Peter Mas.
The next essential element to engineer the right brand image is the quality of the target-setting tools. A manufacturer may want to make a multi-dimensional space based on an emotion such as powerfulness. But what is powerfulness? This concept is highly dependent on the target audience driving the car. LMS Engineering Services is able to extract an “emotional” matrix for a specific brand by charting the brand’s own cars along with several competitors. The brand targets can be set using objective indices and by applying the newest TPA and ASQ tools, customers can understand the impact on the component targets using a good balance between sound reconstruction and path accuracy.
“Thanks to the new algorithms we developed last year, our tools are some of the best performers on the market today,” added Peter Mas. Besides the ability to develop tailored algorithms, LMS offers dedicated solutions for global issues like overall noise quality, one that balances road noise, engine noise and wind noise.
“LMS Engineering Services experts can help you identify and balance each individual noise to its dedicated target. To assist with this, we also offer an extremely advantageous membersonly database, NVH Observer. Members pay a reasonable annual fee to access NVH Observer on a 24/7 basis. This extremely comprehensive database presents an excellent overview of the overall NVH performances in the market and can be used to fine-tune the correct brand image balance,” added Peter Mas. “Users can also gain engineering insights thanks to the included TPA database.”
LMS Engineering Services offers a set of customized advanced modeling tools that accommodate total target settings for powertrain, tire and body systems. To address the higher frequencies requirements for this type of work, LMS Engineering Service offers in partnership an advanced hybrid- FEM SEA solution for the complete development process of the vehicle body. There is also a cutting-edge multi-pole BEM approach to predict noise radiation from automotive components, such as tires or powertrains, up to the highest frequency levels.
The final area of multi-attribute optimization is most likely the most difficult since it deals with breaking traditional barriers, in the sense of cross-departmental synergy, but also technical limits. At automotive OEMs, there is a tendency towards compartmentalization of various functional performance attributes: NVH, ride & handling, comfort… In the early development stage, the handling teams determine most of the vehicle parameters. This limits the room for improvement for the other attributes such as ride comfort and NVH. This structure can be challenging when it comes to designing full-system brand attributes. LMS Engineering Services has the know-how to develop in-house CAE processes and early development stage models that allow multi-attribute crossdepartmental balancing, up-front in the design process.
“We know how to obtain the right type of information for correct target setting and balance multi-attributes early in the virtual model stage and we know how to master the performance of the acoustic chain in the car. This unique combination of tools and expertise is how we help engineers integrate the subjective side of the brand into the overall driving experience. It is all about translating subjectivity into the correct type of data and finding the right balance between the various departments to create the type of brand image our customers want,” concluded Peter Mas.
