Design Of An Electronic Muffler A Dsp Based Capstone Design Project

Active control of noise has been an emerging technology for the past two decades.  Active noise control (ANC) is an attractive means to achieve large amounts of noise reduction in a small package, particularly at low frequencies, where passive noise control may be impractical.  While the concept of ANC has long been established, the technological means for implementing ANC have only recently become available.  With the advent of high-speed digital signal processors (DSPs) and modern signal processing methods, ANC is now becoming a reality. This paper presents an interesting undergraduate design project involving ANC.  In their capstone engineering design course, students designed and built a prototype ANC system that successfully demonstrated the concepts of an electronic muffler.  The heart of the project centered on the popular Analog Devices’ SHARC DSP evaluation module (EVM).  In this paper we will discuss ANC concepts of the electronic muffler, the students design project, and the pedagogical outcome.