Proc.

of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016

Noise Suppression Method for an AM Radio Receiver

Using Digital Signal Processing
Yohiyuki Hattori, Tomohisa Harada Shinya Ito, Mitoshi Fujimoto, Toshikazu Hori
Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc. Graduate school of Engineering, University of Fukui
Aichi, Japan Fukui, Japan
y-hattori@mosk.tytlabs.co.jp ito@wireless.fuis.u-fukui.ac.jp

Abstract Recently, electromagnetic interference in AM Radio Receiver System

radio receivers associated with noise generated from the power
control unit (DC-DC converters/inverters) and other power
electronics devices, such as an electric power steering (EPS) AM Radio Station
control modules, in hybrid vehicles (HVs) has become a serious
Noise Noise
problem. In order to address this problem, most noise
suppression methods use either noise filters (for noise sources) or
shield wiring and ferrite cores (for noise propagation paths). We
have proposed a noise suppression method through digital signal
processing in an AM radio receiver. In this method, the received
AM radio signal containing HV noise is first quadrature Noise Source
demodulated. Next, a replica signal of the noise is generated using - DC-DC Converter Noise Propagation
- Inverter
the noise signal in the quadrature component. The replica signal - EPS etc
is then subtracted from the AM radio signal containing the noise
of the in-phase component. In this paper, first, we show the
noise canceling method. And then, we construct a prototype of Fig. 1. Electromagnetic interference to radio receiver system caused by HV
noise
the radio receiver system based on the method. Finally, we
demonstrate that the system can reduce the DC-DC converter
noise and the EPS noise superimposed at the same time on the
AM Radio Signal
AM radio signal by more than 15 dB. + HV Noise
AM Radio Station
Keywords AM radio receiver; quadrature demodulation; Noise Cancelling System
AM Radio Signal
digital signal processing; hybrid vehicle; DC-DC converter; electric
+
power steering (EPS); noise suppression AM
Noise - Receiver
Signal
Processing
I. INTRODUCTION Power
Control Unit Noise Sensor
Electromagnetic noise generated by the power control unit
(DC-DC converters/inverters) and other power electronics
devices, such as the electric power steering (EPS) control Fig. 2. Noise canceling system using a noise sensor
module, in a hybrid vehicle (HV) causes interference with AM
radio receivers, as shown in Fig. 1 [1]. In order to address this the signal processing circuit must be shielded from the radio
problem, noise suppression methods for noise sources and antenna.
propagation paths have been mainly utilized. For example,
noise suppression methods that address noise sources use Alternatively, a method that uses the periodicity of HV
filters, and noise suppression methods that address noise has been proposed [5]. This method cancels noise by
propagation paths use shield wirings, ferrite cores, or using the correlation between noise at a frequency at which no
capacitors [2, 3]. radio signal exists and the noise superimposed on the radio
signal [5]. The suppression effect deteriorates significantly
Recently, noise suppression methods that work in the when the periodicity of the noise changes even slightly. In
radio receiver itself have also been proposed [4, 5]. One such addition, it is difficult to cancel certain noise from several
method is shown in Fig. 2 [4]. A noise signal is obtained by a different sources.
sensor placed near the power control unit, and the noise signal
is then subtracted, by means of signal processing, from the We have proposed a new noise suppression method using
AM radio signal containing the HV noise. This method digital signal processing in the AM radio receiver [9]. This
requires a noise sensor, and a sufficient noise suppression method does not require a noise sensor or the periodicity of
effect is not obtained when the target noise cannot be the noise. Instead, a receiving AM radio signal containing HV
accurately detected. Therefore, it is necessary to choose the noise is resolved into the in-phase component and the
sensor location such that only the target noise is detected, and quadrature component of a carrier by quadrature demodulation.
As a result, the radio signal and the HV noise appear in the in-

978-1-5090-1416-3/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE

393
 Proc. of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016

phase component, and only the noise appears in the quadrature

component. The noise superimposed on the AM radio signal is
eliminated using the noise in the quadrature component. In-phase Component
LPF it 
We have shown noise cancelling effect when one noise is
superimposed on in either sideband of the AM radio [9]. In an Received Signal cos Zc t
actual HV, plural noises may be superimposed on both r t  (In-phase Carrier)
sidebands simultaneously. In this paper, the noise cancelling
Quadrature Component
effect of the case is considered.
LPF qt 
First, we describe the quadrature demodulation of an AM
radio signal containing noise. Next, we showed the noise cosZc t  S 2 
canceling method that uses the noise in the quadrature (Quadrature Carrier)
component. Finally, we construct a prototype of the radio
Zc: Carrier Frequency
receiver system and demonstrate that the system can reduce
LPF: Low-pass Filter
the DC-DC converter noise and EPS noise superimposed at
the same time on the AM radio signal by more than 15 dB.
Fig. 3. Block diagram of quadrature demodulation

II. QUADRATURE DEMODULATION OF AN AM RADIO SIGNAL Time Waveform Frequency Spectrum

SUPERIMPOSED WITH HV NOISE [9] In-phase i AM t  a t  Lower
rAM t  a t  cos Zc t Side Carrier

Amplitude

Amplitude
Component
Quadrature demodulation of an AM radio signal Band Upper
Side
superimposed with HV noise is shown schematically in Figs. 3 0
Time
Band
and 4. The AM radio signal is generated by varying the Time
0 Frequency
amplitude of the carrier signal in accordance with the audio q AM t  0

Amplitude

Amplitude
signal a(t), as shown in Fig. 4(a). Thus, the phase of the AM Carrier: cos Zc t
Quadrature
radio signal is always equal to that of the carrier. First, Component 0
Time 0 Frequency
quadrature demodulation of the AM radio signal is explained.
Figure 3 shows a block diagram of quadrature demodulation.
The received signal r(t) is multiplied by two sinusoidal signals (a) Quadrature demodulation of an AM radio signal
with frequencies equal to the carrier frequency but with a Time Waveform Frequency Spectrum
In-phase
phase difference of 90 degrees, i.e., in-phase carrier and n t  U cos Zc  'Z t Component inoise t  U cos 'Z t
U U

Amplitude

Amplitude
quadrature carrier. Then, low-frequency components are 2 2
0
extracted by low-pass filtering. The signals obtained by Time
multiplying the in-phase carrier and the quadrature carrier are Timee 'Z 0 'Z Frequency

referred to the in-phase component and the quadrature qnoise t  U sin 'Z t U U
Amplitude

Amplitude
j
component, respectively. The AM radio signal r AM (t) can be 2 2j
Quadrature 'Z
expressed as Component
0
Time
'Z 0 Frequency
rAM t  a t  cos Z c t (1)

where a(t) and Zc denote the audio signal and the carrier (b) Quadrature demodulation of HV noise
frequency of AM radio, respectively. Hence, the in-phase In-phase Component Quadrature Component
component and the quadrature component of the AM radio
signal are calculated as follows:
Audio Signal HV Noise
i AM t  LPF> rAM t  cos Z c t @ (2) U U
Amplitude

Amplitude

a t  U
HV Noise j
2 2j
U
2
q AM t  LPF> r t  cosZ c t  S 2 @ (3)
0 'Z 0 'Z Frequency
where LPF[*] denotes low-pass filtering. As shown by (2) and
(3), the in-phase component i AM (t) includes only the audio
signal a(t), and the quadrature component q AM (t) includes no
signal. The waveforms are shown in the center of Fig. 4(a).
The Fourier transform of these components can be written
as
2
'Z
'Z 0 Frequency
(c) Frequency spectrum of the received signal after quadrature demodulation
Fig. 4. Quadrature demodulation of the received signal
where A(Z) denotes the Fourier transform of a(t). The
frequency spectra of the components are shown on the right
side of Fig. 4(a). The carrier signal, the upper side band (USB),
I AM Z AZ (4) and the lower side band (LSB), which are the components of
the AM radio signal, appear in the in-phase component. In
Q AM Z 0 (5) contrast, no signal appears in the quadrature component.

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 Proc. of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016

Next, quadrature demodulation of the HV noise is III. PROPOSED HV NOISE CANCELING METHOD USING
explained. The HV noise generated by the DC-DC converter QUADRATURE DEMODULATION [9]
and the EPS is composed of a number of sinusoidal waves.
Figure 5 shows the proposed noise canceling method. As
Since the noise is generally asynchronous with respect to the
an example, the canceling procedure is described for the case
carrier, the frequency of the noise does not coincide with that
of interference with the USB of the AM radio signal. As
of the carrier. The noise signal n(t), which is mixed in the
shown by (11) and (12), the noise signal of frequency 'Z in
receiver channel, can be expressed as
the quadrature component is delayed by 90 degrees compared
n t  U cos Zc  'Z  t (6)
where U denotes the amplitude of the noise, and 'Z denotes
the frequency difference between the carrier and the noise.
Hence, the in-phase component and the quadrature component
of the noise are calculated as follows:
>
to the noise signal of the same frequency in the in-phase
component. On the other hand, the noise signal of frequency -
'Z in the quadrature component is ahead by 90 degrees
compared to the noise signal of the same frequency in the in-
phase component. In the proposed method, the phase of the
noise signal of frequency 'Z in the quadrature component is
rotated by +90 degrees, and the phase of the noise signal of
inoise t  LPF n t cosZ c t @ (7) frequency -'Z in the quadrature component is rotated by -90
U cos 'Z t degrees. As a result, a replica of the noise signal contained in
the in-phase component can be generated. Here, in the case of
>
qnoise t  LPF n t cosZc t  S 2  @ (8)
U sin 'Z t
As shown by (7) and (8), a noise signal having a frequency
equal to the frequency difference between the carrier and the
HV noise appears in both components. The waveforms are
shown in the center of Fig. 4(b). The Fourier transform of
these components can be written as
U U
interference with the LSB of the AM radio signal, the
direction of the phase rotation is reversed. Finally, HV noise
can be cancelled by subtracting the replica noise from the in-
phase component that contains the AM radio signal and the
noise.
Figure 6 shows the structure of the noise canceling block
in Fig. 5. First, the in-phase component and the quadrature
component are transformed into the frequency domain by a
fast Fourier transform (FFT). The canceling procedure is
I noise Z  G Z  'Z   G Z  'Z  (9)
carried out in the frequency domain. The rotation direction of
2 2
the noise phase depends on whether the noise interferes with
U U the USB or the LSB. In the proposed method, the rotation
Qnoise Z  G Z  'Z   j G Z  'Z  (10)
2j 2 direction of the noise phase is decided based on the complex
correlation between the in-phase component and the
By comparing the noise signal elements of the same quadrature component. The complex correlation in the
frequency in (9) and (10), their amplitudes are found to be frequency domain is calculated as follows.
equal to U/2, and the phases between the components differ by
90 degrees. Thus, the frequency spectra of these components
are shown on the right-hand side of Fig. 4(b).
R IQ Z >
MA IZ Q * Z @
2 2
(13)
U U
The quadrature demodulation of the AM signal | j GZ  'Z  j GZ  'Z
superimposed with the HV noise results in the frequency 2 2
spectrum shown in Fig. 4(c). The components are obtained by where MA[*] denotes the moving average. From (13), the
adding the corresponding components of Figs. 4(a) and 4(b). complex correlation values at the noise frequencies are
The Fourier transform of the two components can be obtained as
expressed as follows:
2
U
IZ AZ 
U U
GZ  'Z  GZ  'Z (11) R IQ 'Z | j ! j 0 (14)
2 2 2
U U
QZ GZ  'Z  j GZ  'Z
2
(12) U
2j 2 R IQ  'Z |  j
As shown in Fig. 4(c), the in-phase component contains
both the audio signal and the HV noise. In contrast, the
quadrature component contains only the HV noise.
 j 0 (15)
2
The phase of the noise element in the quadrature
component, the correlation value of which is positive
imaginary, is rotated by +90 degrees. The phase rotation of
+90 degrees is achieved by multiplying the noise element by j.
In contrast, the phase of the noise element in the quadrature
component having a negative imaginary correlation value that
is rotated by -90 degrees. A phase rotation of -90 degrees is
achieved by multiplying the noise element by j.

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 Proc. of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016

In-phase Component Receiver

Channel

Amplitude
Amplitude
Carrier HV Noise Cancelled
Amplitude USB Carrier
LSB
U U
LSB 2 2 USB
0 Frequency
'Z 0 'Z Frequency 0 Frequency

Quadrature Component

In-phase Cancelling Block

Component AM
Quadrature Quadrature + Receiver
-
AM Radio Station Demodulation Component Generation of
Noise Replica
Noise

Noise source 90 deg.

Amplitude
Phase Rotation
U U
2 2
U
'Z 0 2j 'Z
U 'Z Frequency 0 'Z Frequency
j
2

Fig. 5. Concept of the proposed HV noise canceling block

In-phase
Component AM Radio Signal As described above, the proposed method has the
It  FFT IFFT st  following advantages. (1) No noise sensor is necessary,
Quadrature
because noise cancellation can be achieved with only the
Component received signal. (2) The noise suppression is not affected by
Qt  FFT
the sensing accuracy of the noise, because the replica noise is
(*) generated from the received signal. (3) The proposed method
Moving
Average rj
has applicability to noise generated by different sources,
because the periodicity of the frequency is not needed for the
Complex Correlation
noise signal.
Generation of Noise Replica

IV. PROTOTYPE AM RADIO RECEIVER DEVELOPED USING THE

Fig. 6. Structure of the noise canceling block
The replica of the noise signal is generated as
U U
PROPOSED METHOD
In order to experimentally verify the effect of the proposed
canceling method, a prototype AM radio receiver was
constructed using GNU Radio [6] and a Universal Software
Radio Peripheral (USRP) [7]. GNU Radio is a free and open-
N Re p Z ju GZ  'Z   j u j GZ  'Z source software development toolkit that provides signal
2j 2 (16) processing blocks to implement software radios. GNU Radio
U U Companion (GRC) [6] is a graphical tool of GNU Radio for
GZ  'Z  GZ  'Z
2 2 creating signal flow graphs and generating flow-graph source
code. The USRP is a software radio platform for designing
By subtracting the replica noise from the in-phase and evaluating wireless communication systems. Figure 7(a)
component, and applying the inverse FFT (IFFT) to the in- shows a block diagram of the receiver system. The received
phase component, the AM radio signal from which the HV signal is amplified and filtered to remove the noise from the
noise is removed is obtained.

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 Proc. of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016

Receiver Front End Speaker

Amp LPF USRP PC

GNU Radio

(a) Configuration of prototype receiver

Mix
Receiving Receiver
Antenna Front End PC (GNU Radio) Radio
Signal

Noise + PC
Signal (GNU Radio)

Noise
Signal

EPS
USRP

(b) Photo of prototype receiver

Fig. 8. Experimental method
Fig. 7. Prototype AM radio receiver that uses the proposed noise suppression
method
'f1=1.5 kHz
AM radio band in the receiver front end, and the signal is then
converted to the digitized complex intermediate frequency (IF) 'f2=1.2 kHz
signal in the USRP. Then, quadrature demodulation, noise Carrier
cancellation, and AM demodulation are performed in real time
in the PC, and an audio signal is output from the speaker of DC-DC
the PC. Figure 7(b) shows a photograph of the receiver system. Converter
EPS Noise
Noise
V. VERIFICATION OF THE NOISE SUPPRESSION EFFECT OF THE
PROTOTYPE RECEIVER
The noise suppression effect is verified for the noise
generated by the step-down DC-DC converter and the EPS.
Figure 8 shows the experimental method. The AM signal is
generated by a signal generator (SG). The AM radio signal, (a) Received signal
the DC-DC converter noise, and the EPS noise are received
separately and stored separately and are then retrieved and
summed in the PC in order to evaluate the cancellation effect
on these noise sources. Carrier
The frequency band from 531 to 1602 kHz is allocated for
AM radio broadcasting in Japan [8]. The switching frequency Cancelled
of the DC-DC converter and the inverter of the EPS are
approximately 170 and 20 kHz, respectively. The harmonics
of these switching waveforms interfere with the AM radio
band. Since the frequency bandwidth per AM radio channel is
15 kHz, one or two of the harmonic noise components may
become mixed into the band. In this experiment, the carrier
frequency of the AM radio signal into which two noise
components were mixed was chosen. Here, the frequency
difference 'f between the carrier and the DC-DC converter
noise was set to 1.5 kHz, and that between the carrier and the (b) Canceling output
EPS noise was set to 1.2 kHz, in order to generate a clearly
audible tone in the case of insufficient cancellation. Fig. 9. Canceling effect of DC-DC converter noise and EPS noise

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 Proc. of the 2016 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC EUROPE 2016, Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-9, 2016
Figure 9 shows the frequency spectrum of the received
signal and the canceling output for the case in which the DC-
DC converter noise and EPS noise interfere with both
sidebands of the AM radio. The sideband of the AM radio
signal varies greatly depending on the audio signal, so the
frequency spectrum of the silent period in Fig. 9 clearly shows
the canceling effect. The two superimposed noise components
are eliminated almost entirely by the proposed method. A
noise suppression effect of more than 15 dB is achieved.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The electromagnetic noise generated by the power control
unit and other power electronics devices, such as the EPS, in
an HV cause interference with the AM radio. We have
proposed a method by which to cancel such noise by signal
processing using the AM radio signal superimposed with the
noise.
In this method, a received AM radio signal containing HV
noise is first quadrature demodulated. Next, a replica signal of
the noise is generated using the noise signal in the quadrature
component. The replica signal is then subtracted from the AM
radio signal containing the noise of the in-phase component.
This method has the following advantages as compared to
several conventional methods. The proposed method does not
require a noise sensor. The noise reduction effect of the
proposed method is superior to that of the noise sensing
method, because a replica signal of the noise is generated
using the noise signal itself superimposed onto the received
signal. This method can be applied to noise that is either
periodic or non-periodic.
In the present paper, we constructed a prototype of the
radio receiver system. And then, we demonstrated that the
398
system could reduce the DC-DC converter noise and the EPS
noise superimposed at the same time on the AM radio signal
by more than 15 dB.
By applying this system to the radio receiver, it is expected
that conventional noise suppression methods, such as noise
filters and shielding wires, can be simplified significantly.
References
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Compatibility (EMC), (Massachusetts, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
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[3] Mngesh Borage, Sunil Tiwari and S.Kotaiah, Common- mode Noise
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[7] http://www.ettus.com/
[8] Frequency allocation in Japan, Ministry of Internal Affairs and
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