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Robust NVH Development of Steering Systems Using In-Situ Blocked Forces

from Measurements with Low-Noise Driver Simulators

Conference Paper · June 2017

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 Grand Rapids, MI
NOISE-CON 2017
2017 June 12-14

Robust NVH Development of Steering Systems Using In-Situ

Blocked Forces from Measurements with Low-Noise Driver
Simulators
Michael Sturm Craig Marchand Michael Priebe Andy Moorhouse
Michael Yankonis Scott Sherman Shasvat Parikh University of Salford
Robert Bosch Jonathan Hirscher MB Dynamics Acoustics Research
Automotive Steering LLC General Motors 25865 Richmond Rd. Centre
15000 N Haggerty Rd. 3300 General Motors Rd. Cleveland Salford, M5 4WT
Plymouth Milford OH 44146 United Kingdom
MI 48170 MI 48380
michael.sturm2@bosch.com

ABSTRACT
A detailed case study on using in-situ blocked forces for advanced NVH development of
automotive structure-borne sound sources is presented. The discussed approach provides a realistic
auralization of a steering system virtually operated in a vehicle using in-situ blocked forces from
a bench with vehicle transfer paths allowing reliable subjective and objective design evaluations.
In-situ Transfer Path Analysis is used to validate the obtained Virtual Acoustic Prototype from
operational measurements with low-noise Driver Simulators (DS) yielding highly repeatable
steering conditions on the bench and in the vehicle. Potential impact of the DS on the measured
and predicted cabin sound is examined. The presented method is believed to be a promising
approach towards enabling OEMs to accurately source vibrating components and suppliers to
develop robust components on test benches due to the invariant property of the blocked force.

1. INTRODUCTION
Regardless of whether approaching noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) problems in the vehicle
or developing robust automotive components on test benches, advanced tools and techniques for
diagnosis and prediction of structure-borne noise are required. Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) is
one of such advanced techniques. One merit of TPA is that even complex structures can be broken
down into discrete source excitations and transfer paths, facilitating rank ordering noise and
vibration sources and studying the transmission of the induced vibrations to connected receivers.
TPA does have limitations though. Classic TPA is rather time consuming to apply due to the
inherent labor intensive inverse approach, requiring the source to be removed for frequency
response function (FRF) measurements and then refitted for operational measurements on the
assembly. In addition, decoupling of source and receiver can induce errors in the TPA model1,2.
Since classic TPA characterizes vibrating components by contact forces, these data are only valid
for exactly the source-receiver assembly in which they are acquired. With respect to developing
components remotely from the vehicle, this information is of limited use.
In recent years, the in-situ blocked force method3 has emerged as a very promising approach
towards independent characterization of structure-borne sound sources. Invoking matrix inversion
to indirectly measure blocked forces at the source-receiver interface, the in-situ blocked force
approach is similar to inverse force synthesis as used in classic TPA. The major difference,
however, is that all measurements are conducted in-situ omitting the cumbersome decoupling stage
Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

which can cause inconsistency between operational and FRF measurement. Several case studies
exist in which the applicability of in-situ blocked forces for automotive TPA is investigated1,2,4,5.
This so-called in-situ TPA (iTPA) approach was found to be around 50 percent faster to apply than
classic TPA at no cost in terms of reliability4. Due to the invariant property of the blocked force,
source data measured in-situ is transferable between different assemblies. This allows comparing
sources operated under similar conditions, but in different assemblies (e.g. bench and vehicle), or
employing blocked forces from one installation (e.g. bench) to predict vibration in or sound
radiated from a different source-receiver combination (e.g. vehicle). The latter application is
known as Virtual Acoustic Prototyping (VAP). Recent research related to automotive VAP1,5,6
aims to predict and auralize noise induced by Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems. Throughout
these studies, EPS systems were found to be challenging components to control for operational
measurements on the bench or in the vehicle. Problems arise from the sensitivity of the EPS
induced noise on the steering speed and the road load, as well as the small excitation levels easily
masked by secondary noise sources1,5.
This paper contributes further to establishing advanced methods for robust NVH develop-
ment of EPS systems based on in-situ blocked forces. Using the example of a Column Electric
Power Steering (CEPS) system, iTPA is conducted in the vehicle to verify the CEPS as a structure-
borne sound source. Noise transfer functions measured in the same vehicle are then combined with
blocked forces measured in-situ on a component test bench to model the sound pressure response
of the CEPS virtually operated in the vehicle. Validation of the obtained virtual acoustic prototype
is achieved by utilizing low-noise Driver Simulators (DS) to perform highly repeatable steering
maneuvers on the bench and in the vehicle. Potential influences of the used DS on the measured
and predicted cabin sound are investigated.

2. THEORY
CEPS systems are low-noise structure-borne sound sources in the vehicle1. Section 2.1 explains
the use of in-situ blocked forces for structure-borne sound source characterization applicable to
CEPS systems. An approach to achieve repeatable steering maneuvers when operating CEPS
systems in the vehicle or on component test benches is discussed in section 2.2.
2.1. The in-situ blocked force method and useful applications
The fundamental problem to be solved in many automotive applications is explained in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Illustration of the transfer path problem in the context of in-situ blocked forces: A vibration source (A), e.g.
steering system, connected to a passive receiver (B), e.g. bench or vehicle, causes vibration (vC) in, or structure-borne
sound (pC,d) radiated from, the assembly (C) at interfaces (b,v) and (d), respectively. The internal excitation at (a) is
unknown, requiring the source to be characterized at the contact interface (c) by blocked forces fA,c, inferred from vc,b
and the assembly FRF matrix YC,bc. Additional structural, YC,vc, and vibro-acoustic FRFs, HC,dc, can be used for
prediction and validation purposes.
The in-situ blocked force method3 is a very promising approach to solve the transfer path
problem in Fig.1 using a two-stage measurement in which source (A) and receiver (B) remain
connected. In the first step, frequency response functions (FRFs) between the contact degrees of
freedom (DOFs) (c) and the receiver DOFs (b) are determined, yielding the transfer mobility
matrix, YC,bc, of the assembly (C).

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Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

If more convenient, this matrix can be measured reciprocally, as YTC,cb. In a second step, the
vibration source is operated and the vector of operational velocity responses, vC,b, is measured at
interface (b). The vector of operational blocked forces of source (A), fA,c, then is obtained from
f A,c = YC+,bc vC,b ; (1)
the symbol ‘+’ denoting Moor-Penrose pseudo inverse since YC,bc may not be square. If accessible
for measurements, in-situ blocked forces can also be determined as per
f A,c = YC−,1cc vC,c , (2)
where YC,cc is the square and symmetric point mobility matrix of DOFs at (c) and vC,c is the corres-
ponding velocity vector. Partitioned matrices and vectors can be used to combine Eq. (1) and (2)
+
Y   v C,c 
f A, c =  CT,cc   . (3)
 YC ,cb   v C,b 
On Board Validation (OBV) should be utilized to check the reliability of the identified
blocked force vector. As illustrated in Fig.1, OBV predicts additional validation responses at the
receiver interface (v) within the same source-receiver installation (C)
vˆ C ,v = YCT,cvf A,c . (4)
These predicted responses then are compared to actual measurements to quantify errors included
in the blocked force vector. The method was found to be suitable for identifying errors in the
identified source data, even for complex technical applications1. Due to its invariant property, the
(validated) blocked forces can be used to estimate the target vibration, vC,v, and sound pressure
response, pC,d, in arbitrary source-receiver installations, as per
 v C ,v   YC ,vc 
 =  f A, c , (5)
pC ,d  HC ,dc 
where YC,vc and HC,dc are the vibration and noise transfer functions matrices of the assembly. The
approach defined by Eq. (3) and (5) usually is referred to as in-situ Transfer Path Analysis (iTPA)
if an actual source-receiver assembly is considered. If used to predict and/or auralize sound in a
virtual assembly, this procedure is usually called Virtual Acoustic Prototyping (VAP).
2.2 Operational measurements with low-noise Driver Simulators
Transferability of in-situ blocked force data requires vibration sources being operated under the
same conditions. Controlled actuators can help to achieve highly repeatable conditions for steering
noise evaluations in the vehicle or on the bench. However, the relatively small structure-borne
sound levels of CEPS systems require usage of quiet actuators. Also, actuators installed inside the
vehicle may negatively affect the noise transfer functions. To minimize these risks, low-noise
Driver Simulators (DS) from MB Dynamics are used within this study. DS are closed-loop
controlled, rotary servo motors generating highly repeatable and precise steering maneuvers for
objective and subjective steering noise evaluations in the vehicle or on the bench. Superior NVH
quality is achieved by a direct-drive, slotless design, preventing noises from mechanical gears or
belt drives and torque ripple from cogging, respectively. Frictionless air bearings are used to
mechanically decouple rotor and stator and to avoid noise from recirculating balls or rollers.
Applications of DS to operate CEPS systems in the vehicle and on the bench, are shown in Fig.2.
Fig.2(a) depicts the use of a DS-10 motor (10 Nm continuous torque capability) for in-vehicle
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Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

steering noise evaluations in which the DS is connected via a clamping mechanism to the steering
wheel and supported via the in-car fixture shown in (b). The flexible structure of the steering wheel
clamp, the retaining bracket and the suction pads of the in-car fixture minimize the risk of creating
secondary transfer paths. As shown in Fig.2(c), a similar DS-10 motor is used for operational
measurements on a bench. In the bench setup, high-torque road load is generated by a DS-25 motor
(25 Nm continuous torque capability). Decoupling elements (1)-(3) help compensate for potential
misalignment of CEPS and DS-10/25 as well as minimize structure-borne sound transmission from
either motor into the CEPS and its fixture.

Figure 2: Operational measurements with low-noise Driver Simulators (DS) from MB Dynamics: (a) DS mounted in
stationary vehicle via (b) windshield holding fixture to conduct in-vehicle steering noise evaluations; (c) Matched DS
pair in horizontal arrangement to provide driver inputs and torsional road loads during CEPS lab tests.

3. VALIDATION OF BLOCKED FORCES FOR STEERING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

The applicability of in-situ blocked forces for in-vehicle TPA and VAP for CEPS induced noise is
investigated. CEPS systems control and assist the vehicle steering with the aid of electronically
controlled electric motors. In a previous study1, the CEPS was found to be a low-noise structure-
borne sound source in the vehicle. As shown in Fig.2(c), the CEPS induces vibrational energy into
adjoining structures via 4 rigid connections, each exhibiting 3 transversal forces.
3.1 Influence of Driver Simulators on the vehicle response
Potential influences of the DS on the cabin Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and the vehicle Noise
Transfer Functions (NTF) were investigated. Fig.3(a) shows the vehicle SPL, summed over the
inner ear positions of driver and passenger. Sufficient separation of at least 20 dB(A) is apparent
between the SPL measured during a high-friction steering maneuver with CEPS and DS operated
at constant speed under maximum load (grey) and the noise induced by DS only when operated at
the same speed without load (black). Between 500-1300 Hz, noise provoked by the decoupled DS
hardly exceeds the noise floor of the microphones as measured (blue). Fig.3(b) shows the vibra-
tion response, summed over 3 perpendicular DOFs on the DS housing, of operating the DS without
load (black) and at maximum load (grey). It can be found that the different loading causes vibration
levels to increase by less than 10 dB, mostly at frequencies related to the functional principle of
the DS. Subjective evaluations in the vehicle confirm this increase not being audible.
To evaluate potential impact of the DS on the vehicle NTFs, three sets of NTFs were
measured between the passenger’s inner ear (PASS:Inr) and the CEPS coupling DOFs. First,
NTFs were measured in the vehicle with DS fully installed including fixturing, denoted by ‘DS
installed’. In subsequent measurements, the NTFs were re-measured after removing the DS from
the steering wheel clamp and the in-car windshield fixture (Fig.2(b)), denoted by ‘DS fixture’, and,
finally, after removing the fixturing, in the production vehicle, denoted by ‘vehicle’. A
comparision of the NTF data is achieved by applying the Frequency Response Assurance Criterion
(FRAC) and the Phase Assurance Criterion (PAC) to derive a single-value correlation of any two
FRFs representing the same input-output relationship7. Using the NTF data from the production
vehicle as a reference, 2x12 FRAC and PAC matrices are obtained, as plotted in Fig.3(c).

NOISE-CON 2017, Grand Rapids, MI, June 12-14, 2017

Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

(a) L/dB(A) [SPL]: Influence of DS on cabin sound (b) L/dB [m /(s^2)]: V ibration response m easured on housing

10 dB
10 dB

Sum | CEPS & DS (100% load) | CEPS & DS (100% load)

Sum | DS decoupled (no load) | DS decoupled (no load)
Sum | Background noise | Background noise

200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000 200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000
(c) Influence of DS on noise transfer functions (NTF) to target PASS:Inr (d) Comparison of NTF (DOF#7/Pass:Inr) with and without DS

10 dB

Figure 3: Influence of Driver Simulators (DS) on vehicle response and Noise Transfer Functions (NTF): (a) Acoustic
and (b) vibration response with DS operated at max load (grey), without load (black) and noise (blue). (c) FRAC-PAC
comparison of NTF sets relating the sound pressure at the passenger’s inner ear to the CEPS coupling DOFs and (d)
Plot of NTF “DOF#7/PASS:Inr” for production vehicle (grey), DS fixture (black) and DS fully installed (blue).
Each row represents deviations from the production vehicle caused by the DS instrumentation
while columns represent the correlation in a certain transfer path. Color ‘red’ indicates the identical
magnitude and phase responses while ‘blue’ indicates large differences. It is found that the DS and
fixturing does not negatively impact NTF measurements in the vehicle. Even for NTFs with
relatively low correlation, such as DOF#7/PASS:Inr (Fig.3(d)), errors are found to be within the
expected repeatability range of reciprocal NTF measurments with volume velocity sources.
3.2 In-situ Transfer Path Analysis (iTPA)
The case study used to investigate the suitability of in-situ blocked forces for vehicle TPA, is a
contribution analysis of CEPS induced noise in a passenger car. Repeatable steering maneuvers
were applied by a DS-10 as shown in Fig.2(a). To operate the CEPS under realistic loading, the
front wheels were placed on friction plates providing high-torque road load to the CEPS.
Operational accelerations, measured on the cross-car beam in 26 DOFs, are used to characterize
the CEPS at its coupling DOFs by in-situ blocked forces, as per Eq.(3). Additional validation DOFs
are considered to conduct OBV, using Eq.(4). The validated blocked force vector then is used to
predict the sound pressure response at the inner ears of driver and passenger, using Eq.(5). Micro-
phone recordings are used to verify the iTPA results. Structural FRFs for in-situ blocked force
identification and vibro-acoustic NTFs for iTPA prediction were measured via shaker and a
volume velocity source. Fig.4 summarizes the iTPA results with no regularization applied.
The OBV results in Fig.4(a,b), show excellent agreement of predicted (black) and measured
acceleration response (grey) with errors less than 1 dB at the dominant excitation frequency of the
electric motor (A) and its harmonics (dashed lines). To evaluate how parasitic noise affects the
blocked forces, background noise was used to calculate a ‘blocked force noise’, using Eq.(3). OBV
via Eq.(4), then allows predicting sensor noise at the validation DOF after matrix inversion.
Fig.4(a,b) shows the calculated sensor noise (red) being lower than the measured noise (blue),
indicating the vector of operational blocked forces is not affected by parasitic noise or errors
introduced by matrix inversion.

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Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

(a) L/dB [m /(s^2)]: On-board val idation / OBV-1 (Y) (b) L/dB [m /(s^2)]: On-board validation / OB V-1 (Y)

10 dB
A
Measured 10 dB Measured
Predicted Predicted
Calc. Noise Calc. Noise
Meas. Noise Meas. Noise

200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000 200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000
(c) L/dB(A) [SPL]: In-situ T PA (d) L/dB(A) [SPL]: In-si tu TPA

10 dB A Sum | Measured
10 dB
Sum | Measured
Sum | Predicted Sum | Predicted
Sum | Calc. Noise Sum | Calc. Noise
Sum | Meas. Noise Sum | Meas. Noise

200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000 200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000
Figure 4: On board validation results (top) for CEPS operated under constant speed in the vehicle and iTPA prediction
of vehicle sound pressure (bottom) in narrowband (a,c) and third octave bands (b,d): Structural and acoustic responses
as measured (grey); predicted responses (black); predicted sensor noise after matrix inverse (red) and measured
background noise (blue). Dominant motor excitation (A) and harmonics are marked by dashed green lines.
The validated blocked forces thus can be used to predict the vehicle sound pressure response.
From Fig.4(c,d), it can be found that excellent approximation of the measured (grey) and the
predicted sound pressure (black) can be achieved within a multi-kHz range. At the dominant motor
excitation frequency (A) and its next lower and higher harmonic, the prediction error is less than
2 dB(A). At frequencies where the characteristic motor excitation is not dominating the sound
pressure spectrum, iTPA tends to underestimate the actual cabin sound due to secondary sources
contributing to the measured SPL while not significantly impacting vibrations considered in the
iTPA prediction (see section 3.3). Compared to the measured microphone noise (blue), the
calculated sensor noise (red) is significantly smaller, for which reason iTPA is believed to still
provide reliable SPL estimates for CEPS noise at very small levels while this noise would already
be masked by noise in the microphone measurements.
3.3 Virtual Acoustic Prototyping (VAP)
A case study on the feasibility of VAP for CEPS induced noise was carried out. First, the CEPS
system was characterized at its 12 coupling DOFs by in-situ blocked forces from measurements
on the component test bench, shown in Fig.2(c). Operational accelerations, measured in 29 DOFs
on the CEPS frame fixture, were used to identify the blocked force vector according to Eq.(3).
Additional validation responses were used to perform OBV as per Eq.(4). The validated blocked
force vector then was combined with NTFs from the iTPA study, described in section 3.2, to
predict the sound pressure response in the virtual vehicle. A DS-10 actuator was used to simulate
dynamic steering on the bench, applying the exact steering input to the CEPS as in the iTPA vehicle
measurements. Theoretically, this should yield blocked force data fully transferable between the
vehicle and the bench so that iTPA prediction and microphone data can be utilized to benchmark
the VAP predictions. Fig.5 summarizes the VAP results with no regularization applied.
The OBV results in Fig.5(a-b) show good agreement between predicted (black) and measured
acceleration response (grey), providing confidence that the identified blocked force vector is
suitable for VAP sound pressure predictions. Errors are expected in the frequency ranges between
310-350 Hz and 910-1050 Hz at which FRF measurements were found to show poor coherence.
Fig.5(c,d) shows the summed sound pressure responses predicted by VAP (red), iTPA (black) and
the actual measurement (grey). The iTPA prediction provides a clean representation of the total

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Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

structure-borne sound contribution from the CEPS on the cabin sound, thus underestimating the
true vehicle response contaminated by noise from secondary sources. The same applies for the
VAP prediction. The sound pressure spectrum predicted by VAP is found to have the same
characteristic shape as the iTPA estimate although the absolute levels are reduced by about
5 dB(A) on average. This results from torque limitations imposed by the DS-25 used to apply
dynamic road load to the CEPS during the bench test (Fig.2(c)). Therefore, it was only possible to
acquire blocked force data for VAP by operating the CEPS at about 70 % of the vehicle load.
(a) L/dB [m/(s^2)]: On-board validation / Bench: OB V-2 (Z) (b) L/dB [m/(s^2)]: On-board validation / OB V-2 (Z)

10 dB

Measured | Measured
Predicted | Predicted
Calc. Noise 10 dB | Calc. Noise
Meas. Noise | Meas. Noise

200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000 200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000
(c) L/dB(A) [S PL]: iTP A vs. VA P prediction (d) L/dB(A) [SPL]: i T PA vs. VAP prediction

10 dB 10 dB
Sum | Measured Sum | Measured
Sum | iTPA prediction Sum | iTPA prediction
Sum | VAP prediction Sum | VAP prediction
Sum | Calc. noise (VAP) Sum | Calc. noise (VAP)

200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000 200 300 400 500 700 f/Hz 2000 4000
(e) L/dB(A ) [SPL]: Measured sound (f) L/dB(A ) [SPL]: i T PA P rediction (g) L/dB(A) [SPL]: V AP p redi ction f/Hz
Sum | Measured Sum | iTPA prediction Sum | VAP prediction 2k
Output torque: 100% Output torque: 100% Output torque: 70%
1.6k
steering steering steering
cycle cycle cycle
1.25k
A A A 1k
800

500
315
0 1 2 t/s 4 5 6 0 1 2 t/s 4 5 6 0 1 2 t/s 4 5 6
Figure 5: On board validation results (top) for CEPS operated dynamically on the bench and comparison of predicted
cabin sound (middle) using blocked force bench data (VAP) and blocked force vehicle data (iTPA), in narrowband
(a,c) and third octave bands (b,d), respectively: Structural and acoustical responses as measured (grey); predicted
responses (black and red); measured background noise (green) and predicted sensor noise after matrix inverse (blue).
Spectrograms (bottom) of measured (e) and predicted vehicle sound pressure response using iTPA (f) and VAP (g).
In order to subjectively evaluate the similarity of the measured and the predicted sound
pressure responses, the frequency domain models used for iTPA and VAP, respectively, were
converted into time domain, using the approach described in1, providing time signatures of the
corresponding vehicle sound pressure responses suitable for auralization. Fig.5(e-g) shows
spectrograms of the measured (e) and the predicted sound pressure time histories using iTPA (f),
and VAP (g) for a typical steering maneuver under 100% road load in the vehicle (e,f) and 70%
road load on the bench (g), respectively. The dominant motor excitation order (A) and its
harmonics are indicated by arrows. From diagrams (e,f), excellent agreement of measurement and
iTPA prediction is apparent and was confirmed subjectively by listening to the binaural recordings.
Differences in the iTPA prediction result from missing contributions from secondary sound
sources, subjectively identified as tire-road friction noise, bearing noise in the upper column and
steering wheel scraping. The sound pressure time history predicted by VAP (Fig.5(g)) essentially

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 Robust NVH development using in-situ blocked forces Sturm et al.

contains the same CEPS characteristics but at lower levels due to the load sensitivity of the induced
noise. Subjectively the binaural virtual acoustic prototype was found to provide a realistic
representation of the CEPS being operated in the vehicle.

4. DISCUSSION
iTPA and VAP were found to be very promising approaches towards robust NVH development of
CEPS systems. Whereas iTPA is useful to trouble shoot or diagnose CEPS noise issues in the
actual assembly, VAP can be employed to conduct objective and subjective design evaluations in
a virtual vehicle, employing data purely obtained from operational measurements on component
test benches. Both methods, iTPA and VAP, further allow the predicted sound pressure response
to be broken down into partial path contributions which is of interest for in-depth design studies.
From the presented case studies, the sound pressure response predicted with either iTPA or VAP
was found to provide a clean representation of the total CEPS contribution since secondary noise
sources do not significantly contribute to the operational responses considered by either approach.
This is considered as an advantage of the methods, resulting in placing emphasis on the CEPS
induced contributions while attenuating unwanted secondary noise. The resulting increase in the
signal-to-noise ratio allows even small excitation levels from CEPS systems to be sufficiently
resolved in the iTPA and VAP prediction while these are already masked in the measured vehicle
sound pressure response. The realistic binaural time domain models achieved with iTPA and VAP,
respectively, are believed to significantly improve robust NVH development for CEPS systems.

5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the applicability of the in-situ blocked force method for robust NVH development
of Column Electric Power Steering (CEPS) systems has been investigated with the objective to
advance communication between OEM and supplier. In-situ Transfer Path Analysis (iTPA) has
been found to yield highly accurate contribution results within a multi-kHz range. Virtual Acoustic
Prototyping (VAP) employing operational blocked forces from component test benches has been
found to provide realistic representations of CEPS systems virtually operated in a vehicle and to
facilitate binaural auralization suitable to conduct objective and subjective in-depth design
evaluations. The vehicle sound pressure response synthesized by either iTPA or VAP has been
found to place more emphasis on the CEPS-specific contribution allowing to resolve CEPS noise
at even very small excitation levels. It has been shown that Driver Simulators used to apply
repeatable steering inputs to the CEPS systems do not affect the cabin sound or the vehicle noise
transfer functions and are required to acquire meaningful in-situ blocked force data for VAP.

REFERENCES
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