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ADI and Hyundai to Launch First All-Digital Road Noise Cancellation System

January 25, 2020 by Paul Shepard

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) announced a strategic collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) where Hyundai plans to launch the automotive industry’s first all-digital road noise cancellation system leveraging ADI’s Automotive Audio Bus (A2B®) technology. Hyundai also intends to more broadly adopt ADI’s A2B technology for its fundamental audio connectivity and infotainment applications across its automotive fleet.

“As an early A2B adopter, we realized the potential of this technology for not only our Road-noise Active Noise Control (RANC) systems but also for other vehicle applications fundamental to passenger and driver experience,” said Dr. Kang-Duck Ih, Research Fellow, Hyundai. “The low latency guaranteed by A2B enabled us to implement this groundbreaking RANC technology and accelerate its deployment to mass production.”

Hyundai’s RANC system dramatically reduces noise within the cabin of a vehicle. The system can analyze various types of noise in real-time and produce inverted soundwaves. For example, there are different types of road noises that the new technology can process, such as resonant sounds created between tires and wheels or rumble sounds coming up from the road.

“We have collaborated closely with Hyundai to architect its all-digital RANC system that leverages our A2B technology to reduce equipment cost, weight, and design complexity, and in turn, improve overall fuel efficiency – helping solve several challenges of the electronic RANC system,” said Patrick Morgan, Vice President, Automotive Electrification and Infotainment, Analog Devices. “ADI’s work with Hyundai demonstrates A2B’s increasing viability and further distinguishes Hyundai’s vehicles in today’s marketplace.”

A2B reduces cabling weight by up to 75 percent and improves automotive fuel efficiency and total system costs. ADI’s A2B is the industry’s lowest latency, high-speed digital interconnect technology distributing audio and control data together with clock and power over a single, unshielded twisted-pair wire.

Current deployment of automotive road noise cancellation systems has been constrained by the availability of a cost-effective, low latency networking technology that efficiently connects required input sensors to a central processing unit. ADI’s A2B technology significantly reduces associated wiring harness cost and complexity found in traditional analog-based road noise cancellation system deployments.

ADI’s collaboration with Hyundai emphasizes the growing importance of A2B for automotive manufacturers in emerging wiring intensive and latency sensitive applications, including road noise cancellation, in-car communications, and personalized audio or sound zones.