Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) for heavy vehicles
Göteborg, SE, 417 15
Transport is at the core of modern society. Imagine using your expertise to shape sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions for the future. If you seek to make a difference on a global scale, working with next-gen technologies and the sharpest collaborative teams, then we could be a perfect match.
Background
MSc Thesis proposal at Volvo Group
(30 ECTS credits, 20 weeks, One student, Spring 2026)
AVAS signal for electric vehicle can be arbitrary signals if the fulfil the requirements
According to the regulation UN_138. The regulation demands a minimum overall sound pressure level. The signal should cover at least two third octave bands one above and one below 1600 Hz. It should also include a frequency shift depending on speed to indicate acceleration.
At the same time there are demands which are not directly expressed in the regulation UN_138, but which should be natural parts of a functioning warning system.
These could be that the signals are detectable in good time before a vehicle is close to the pedestrian (often expressed in time to collision) and that signals help to localise vehicles around a pedestrian. These properties also have to work under natural conditions, i.e. when ambient noise (e.g. other vehicles or traffic noise in general) is present.
Finally, the AVAS signals should not be source of environmental noise having a negative impact on people (this concerns both people outdoors but also inside housing).
The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate how to add an additional value to these AVAS signals by including information about the size of the vehicle. Pedestrian should get from the AVAS signal the impression that there is a truck approaching.
What you will do
The task is to study how far such an approach is possible and what would be the consequences in the frame of demands given.
The work will consist of several steps
1) Literature research on perceived source size (e.g. in room acoustics)
2) Fundamental research with different types of signals and source configuration to see if the perceived source size can be influenced (maybe accompanied by a listening test)
3) Full scale simulation (either experimentally or numerically) to test the approach
4) Evaluation of the solution with respect to other demands (if time allows)
Ready for the next move?
Are you excited to bring your skills and disruptive ideas to the table? We can’t wait to hear from you. Apply today!
If you have any questions contact:
Industry supervisors: Frédéric Wullens, Pontus Larsson at Volvo GTT
University supervisors: Leon Müller, Wolfgang Kropp
We value your data privacy and therefore do not accept applications via mail.
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