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Drivetrain noise from heavy off-road vehicles mainly includes engine noise, drive shaft noise, wheel-side gear noise, tire pattern noise etc. They are the main noise sources for such vehicles as they greatly influence the ride comfort of the passengers inside. This paper solved the drivetrain noise problems of a heavy off-road vehicle using the method of active noise control (ANC). Firstly, the vehicle is benchmarked and the noise problems are analyzed, while the noise sources are identified by analyzing the transmission principles of the drivetrain. Secondly, ANC strategies are made for the vehicle based on the noise profiles under various operating conditions. Thirdly, the multiple parameters for ANC are computed from simulations modeling the vehicle in idle, constant speed and acceleration respectively. Lastly, road tests are conducted using the multiple parameters from the simulations and a noise reduction of 2-4 dB can be achieved in the whole vehicle.

A graphical user interface (GUI) toolbox called Vehicle System Simulator (VSS) is developed in MATLAB to ease the use of this vehicle model and hopefully encourage its widespread application in the future. This toolbox uses the inherent MATLAB discrete-time solvers and is mainly based on Level-2 s-function design. This paper describes its built-in vehicle dynamics model based on multibody dynamics approach and nonlinear tire models, and traction/braking control systems including Cruise Control and Differential Braking systems. The built-in dynamics model is validated against CarSim 8 and the simulation results prove its accuracy. This paper illustrates the application of this new MATLAB toolbox called Vehicle System Simulator and discusses its development process, limitations, and future improvements.