IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. VT-25, NO.

2 , MAY 1976

33

Radiated Ignition Noise Dueto the Individual Cylinders of an Automobile Engine

GARTH L. MAXAM, MEMBER, IEEE, W E 1 P. HSU, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, AND PAUL W. WOOD

Absmcr-It is known that mobile communication systems are susceptible to radio-frequencyinterference (RFI) generated byautomotive ignition systems. In this paper the automotive ignition noise generated by individual engine cylinders is investigated. Using specially designed instrumentation,the pulseamplitude densities of individual cylinder ignition noiseare measured and analyzed. It is found that the ignition noise generated by the individual cylinders is not statistically uniform and the modes of the pulse amplitude densities of different cylinders may differ by as much as 30 dB ( a s measured by an antenna positioned to one side of the vehicle). Themeasurementprocedureandresultsdiscussed i n this papermay prove to be valuable in the diagnosis of ignition system RFI.

measure individual cylinder ignition noise is described and measured PADs of individual engine cylinderignition noise are reported and discussed. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT The data acquisition system used to measure the PADs of individualcylinderignition noise is shownin the block diagram in Fig. l . Fig. 2 shows the actual bench setup of this measuringsystem. It consists of a radio-frequency receiver, a logarithmic amplifier, a peak detector, single cylinder gating circuitry, and a pulse height analyzer with an oscilloscope and a teletype as readout devices. Amplification with adjustable gain precedes the peak detection circuit. The gain of the system is adjusted so that the 45-dB dynamic range occupies up to 128 channels of memory in the pulse height analyzer. The peak detector used was that specified in SAE Standard J55 l a [ I ]. Detector output follows the rise of the IF envelope impulse response and decays sufficiently between ignition firings to permit observation of each impulse. The individualcylinder gating circuitry consists of three units: a signal interface and line driver circuit, a synchronous gate pulse generator, and a FET gate. The signal interface and line driver circuit senses two signals from the ignition system of the car: the voltage signal across the ignition points and a signal generated by a capacitive pickup placed on one of the spark plug cables. This circuit is used to drive 30-m (100-ft) coaxial cables leading from the car to inside the test facility. The two signals from the pulse shaping circuit are fed into the synchronous gate pulse generator which produces an output pulse centered around the firing of a given cylinder. This pulse is initiated by the ignition points closing immediately before the firing of the given cylinderandendswhen the ignition points again close after the firing of that cylinder. The pulse generated by thismechanism is used toopen afield-effect transistorgate allowing the signal from the peak detector to pass to the pulse height analyzer. The signal interface and line driver circuit andthesynchronous gate pulse generator are discussed further in the Appendix. The pulse height analyzer contains three modules; an analog-to-digital converter, a data handling module, and a memory core module. The peak amplitude of the detected signal (in this case, a pulse) is converted to a memory address by the A/D converter; ascending addresses corresponding to increasing amplitudes. The data handling module also controls the acquisitiontime and allows the contents of the memory core to be displayed

INTRODUCTION HE PROBLEM of measuring automotive ignition noise which may create radio-frequency interference (RFI) is importanttothe engineer who is concerned aboutthe effects of the ignition noise on various electronic systems. It is importantto define a suitable parameter or parameters which can easily be related to the performance deterioration of a given system. Mobile communication systems are particularly susceptible to RFI. Conventionally, radiatedignition noise is measuredbya field intensity meter over some frequency range [ l ] , [ 2 ] .The noise parameters which may be measured include peak level, quasi-peak level, average value. and the root-mean-square value. Though these parameters may be useful, so far no study has shown that they are adequate for the study of the deteriorationeffects of ignition noise on various ,communication systems. Attempts have been made to characterize ignition noise by amplitudeprobabilitydistributions (APDs) [3], [4] and by noise amplitudedistributions (KADs) [5] . Recently, pulse amplitude densities (PADs) of ignition noise have been reported [6] , [7] . A pulse amplitude density is a plot of the distribution of thenumber of detected noise pulses for a fured time interval versus the peak amplitude of those pulses. Conventionally, the ignitionsystemhasbeen treated as a single unit and the ignition noise of the system as a whole has been measured. From the diagnostic viewpoint, it will be valuable to investigate the ignition noise generated by individual engine cylinders. In this paper the technique used to
Manuscript received June 25, 1974; revised January 30,1976. G. L. Maxam was with the Electronics Department, General Motors ResearchLaboratories, G M TechnicalCenter, Warren, MI 48090. He is now with Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. H. P. Hsu and P. W. Woodare with theElectronics Department, General Motors Research Laboratories, GM Technical Center, Warren, MI 48090.

34

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, MAY

1976

IMPULSE CALIBRATOR

--------R F I RECEIVER
LOG AMPLIFIER

-l

---L

ANTENNA

i
PEAK DETECTOR
F

FET GATE

VEHICLE

L - - _ _ _ _ - - - - .i

1-7
I

LINE

DRIVER

UNBLANKING CIRCUIT

Fig. 1. Instrumentation system for obtaining pulse amplitude densities (PADS) of vehicle ignition noise.

CONVERTER

OSCILLOSCOPE DIGI

5:
KANCLING

PUNCH

Fig. 3.

Relative position of the vehicle and the PAD measuring input sensors.

Fig. 2.

Bench setup of the PAD measuring system.

as a histogram on an x-y oscilloscope and to be read out on a teletype. The overall time resolution of the system is 4.7 ps and is determined by the A/D conversion speed. This is adequate for obtaining pulse amplitude densities of automotive ignition noise from a single vehicle. Relative calibration is achieved by connecting an impulse generator to the front end of the receiver while the FET gate is held open by a dc voltage signal. Impulses of known amplitudes are recorded in a given channel of the memory unit of the pulse height analyzer and thus a calibration curve is obtained. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

fed by a resonant length dipole antenna placed 1.8 m (6 ft) to left of the left front wheel and 1.2 m (4 ft) above the gr0und.l Measurements were made on each cylinder plus one composite for both vertical and horizontal polarization of the antenna making atotal of (2 polarizations) X ( 2 frequencies) X ( 2 cars) X (8 cylinders + 1 composite) = 7 2 distributions.For each of the tests the acquisition time was 1000 s, the car was set to run at approximately 1700 r/min, and the hoods of the vehicles were raised during the tests. The positioning of the antenna and the car are shown in Fig. 3. MEASUREMENT RESULTS In this section examples of the individual cylinder ignition noise PADS are shown, and analyzed in terms of their modes which are defined as the abscissas of the maximum value of
This antenna position is closer to the vehicle than that specified

Individual cylinder and composite pulse amplitude densities were measuredfrom two different vehicles, eachat two receiver frequencies: 147 MHz and 230 MHz. The receiver was

by SAE Standard J55 l a [ 11. Antenna placement was chosen to provide an evaluation of automotive ignition noise at the site of mobile two-

way communication equipment installed in a vehicle in an adjacent highway lane.

MAXAM et al. : RADIATED IGNITION NOISE

0

35

CYLINDER 1

?Ik,, ,,,,I
CYLINDER 2
-0 D O
0

: ?

30

35

40

L 1 5
LEL.

50

55
1 C

bo10

b5

75

00

LIIPLITUDE

CYLINDER 3
0

CY LlNDER
' 1

: - I " " " "

30

35 45

40
LEL.

50

55

b0

b5

10

15

80

~ I I P L l l U O E1 0 8 1

CY UNDER 5

CY LlNDER 6

CYLINDER 7
position. (Test car A .)

CY LlNDER 8

Fig. 4. Measured PAD for an 8 cylinder test car.The test frequency was 147 MHz and test antenna was in a vertical

the density. Composite PAD's (PAD'S due to all 8 cylinders) obtained by measuremsnt as well as by numerical addition of individual cylinder PAD's are also compared and discussed. Figs. 4 and 5 show sample pulse amplitude densities for each of eight cylinders of two automobiles. InFig. 4 individual cylinder PAD's are shownforcar A measured at 147 MHz with a vertically polarized dipole antenna. Note that for the odd numbered cylinders in Fig. 4, there is an accumulation of

pulses at a high level and also an accumulation of pulses at lower amplitude levels. The high-amplitude pulses are due to the firing ofthe cylinder while the lower amplitude pulses occur afterthe firing ofthe cylinder butbeforethenext cylinder fires. These lower amplitude pulses make the analysis of the densities in terms of mean values, standard deviations, etc., difficult and so we have chosen to characterize the densities by their modes.Also note that for themeasured densities

36
5

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, MAY 1976

! i i
-=
- 0
10

Z?

30

35

40

-5

50

55 b5

bO

10

15

e0

REL L.C P L L l U O E

LOB1

CYLINDER 1

CYLINDER 2

-0

eo
0

;I?

30

35

SO

S5

50

55

bo

b5

10

15

80

30

*O

S5 55
nEL.

50

bO
LOBI

b5

10

15

80

n E L . ~ ~ P L I ~ U O LEO B I

blPLIlUOE

CYLINDER 3

CY LlNDER 4

30

35

50

55

M)

65

10

15

80

@ E L . bIPCl1UOE I O B )

CY LlNDER 5

CYLINDER 6

CYLINDER 7

CYLINDER 8

of the even numbered cylinders, the modes were below the sensitivity level of our receiver andthusthe fulldensities were not obtained. Fig. 5 shows the measured PADs for car B measured at 230 MHz with a vertically polarized dipole antenna. The modesfor cylinders fourand six, even numbered cylinders, were measurable, but note that the densities for cylinders one, two, and eight are not accuratelydescribed by their modes.

For this reason, the interpretations and conclusions presented here are general and the dataare not analyzed in great detail. Figs. 6 and 7 give the measured composite PAD and the PAD obtained by addition of the 8 individual cylinder ignition noise PADs forthe 147-MHz verticalpolarization case for car A . The densitiesshow an obvious gross similarity. The differencesin the two traces may be due to nonuniformity of the noise process (bearing in mind that the measurements

M A X A M e t al. : RADIATED IGNITION NOISE

37 are made over aperiod of 9000 s). The comparison of the composites is useful as a check to insure that the instrumentation is operating correctly. Several interesting observations can be made aboutthe modes of the individual cylinder PADs for the four test cases for each of thetwo cars tested. Thesemodes are given in Tables I and I1 for car A and car B , respectively. A study of these tables indicates that, generally, butnot always, the modes of the odd numbered cylinders are greater than modes for the even numbered cylinders. This may occur because the odd numbered cylinders are located in the left bank, or side of the engine which is positioned closer tothe receiving antenna. Adifference of greater than 30 dB is seen betweenthe modes of some cylinders in different engine banks. For example, the modes of cylinders six and seven of car A given in Table I for the 147-MHz vertical test differ by 33.43 dB. For cylinders in the same bank of the engine, differences in modes of up to 15 dB are observed,i.e.,cylinders five and seven of car A for the 230-MHz vertical test. A study of Tables I and I1 for cars A and B, respectively, also indicates thatone of thecomer cylinders (one,two, seven, or eight) generally produces the PAD with the largest amplitude mode for a given test condition. For example, the PADs of cylinder seven of car A (Table I) have the highest mode for all four test cases. CONCLUSIONS

J
80

30

35

40

45

50

55

bO
100)

65

7 0

I5

REL C .l C l P L l T U D E

Fig. 6. The aggregate PAD for a test car measured at 147 MHz with a vertically polarized dipole test antenna. (Test car A . )

30

35

55 90 50

45

60
( O B )

65

70

75

80

R E LC. n P L l T U O E

Fig. 7. The aggregate PAD for a test car constructed by adding together the individual cylinder PADs. The test frequency was 147 MHz with a vertically polarized dipole test antenna. (Test car B.)

TABLE I MODES O F THE INDIVIDUAL CYLINDER IGNITION NOISE PADS FOR CAR A
1 4 7 MHz VERTICAL HORIZONTAL A VERTICAL HORIZONTAL CAR 1 4 7 MHz

230 .Wz

230 MHz

cy1. #1
cy1. #2 cy1. #3 cy1. x4 cy1. $5 Cyl. # 6 cy1. #7 cy1. t8

63.03 (dB)

52.89 52.31 47.68 52.04 53.40 43.03 57.85 49.43

53.93 53.21 47.18 34.97 43.86 38.49 55.10 44.08

47.80 43.11 40.60 36.77 42.22 35.40 49.46 42.44

45.20 53.39 35.98 64.26 33.60 67.03 33.60

The major conclusion that can be drawn from this work is that the statistics of the indiviual cylinder ignition noise are notuniform;thatis,the pulse amplitude densities forthe individualcylinders are different.The modes of the PADs may differ by as much as 30 dB. The limited test data indicate that one of the comer cylinders generally produces the PAD with the largest amplitude mode. Additional measurements are necessary for a more conclusive evaluation of this effect. The technique discussed in this report may prove to be a valuable tool in the investigation of the processes which generate ignition noise. It can be used to determine the relative offensiveness of individual cylinders and then the physical characteristics of the noisy and quiet cylinders can be compared and studied. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to thank L. Troxel for his work on the computer whichmade the handling of the large number of data sets possible. APPENDIX INDIVIDUAL CYLINDER IGNITIONNOISE MEASUREMENT CIRCUITRY The circuitry described here was originally intended to be a spectrum analyzer unblanking device, but has evolved into a more generalized synchronous gate pulse generator. By

TABLE I1 MODES O F THE INDIVIDUAL CYLINDER IGNITION NOISE PADS FOR CAR B
CAR B 1 4 7 MHz 147 m z VERTICAL HORIZONTAL VERTICAL HORIZONTAL
iil

230 M H z 32.53 54.50 46.22 30.56 35.79 41.55 31.84 45.45

230 MHz 58.60 47.88 54.06 55.55 47.34 42.72 38.84 48.43

cy1.

50.36 53.63 51.16 51.56 41.35 42.53 41.35 52.50

(dS)

61.23

cy1. 42 cy1. 113 cy1. 114

Cyl.

59.31 47.34 35.59 41.07 34.91 38.00 56.41

u5
h6

Cyl.

cy1. i i ;
Cyl.

(i8

38

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY. MAY 1 9 7 6

,
~

15v

6
Fig. A2. Signal interface and line driver circuit.

synchronizing the pulse generator with the firing of one of the spark plugs, the firing of any of the other seven plugs may be individually observed by moving selector switch to the appropriate number in thefiring order. Implementation of thesynchronous gate pulse generator was simplified by the use of a commercial COS/MOS counter. The single integrated-circuit module is a divide-by-eight counter with eight decoded outputs. As the counter is clocked each output rises sequentially for one clock period. Thus it is possible to reset thecounterwiththe signals from aspark plugfiringand use thedistributorpoint closure as a clock, obtainingoutput pulses on seven lines whichrepresent the remaining spark plug firings. Because the output pulse remains high forone clock period,the respective spark plug firing occurs in the center of the pulse time. This sequence of events can be seen in the timing diagram of Fig. A l .

I h

Fig. A3.

Synchronous gate pulse generator.

Signal Interface and Line DriverCircuit

The setup used t o make RFI measurements required that the automobile and the instrumentation be separated by up to 33 m (100 ft). With this consideration in mind, the electronic system was divided into two parts. The electronics used to produce the spark and point signals were housed in one box located in the test vehicle, while the synchronous gate pulse generator was located at the RFI measuring instrumentation. Suitable impedance matching was used to permit driving long lines. Fig. A2 is the circuit diagram ofthe signal interfaceline driver. The two battery operated circuits are housed in a box which may be placed under the hood or on the fender of the car under test. These circuits are identical except for the wave shaping componentsattheinputofthe respective inverters,whichconvert the noisy point andspark signals to clean square pulses. The inverters are an RTL logic module which is used simply as a pair of transistors with internal base and collector resistors. The output of the circuit is an emitter follower which has a low output impedance capable of driving 33 m (100 ft) of RG-58U coaxial cable.

tor switch. The Darlingtoncircuit is necessary because the counters output circuits have a rather limited current drive capability. The Darlington circuit drives an inverter which, in turn, drives an open collector transistor. T h s output transistor may be used as aswitch by referencing its collector to any voltage up to +60 V through a suitable pull-up resistor. REFERENCES
1 1 SAE J551a, Standard, Measurement ofElectromagnetic Radiation from Motor Vehicles (20-1000 MHz), Society of Automotive Engineers, Two Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, New York 10001, August 1968. 21 IEEE No. 263, Measurement of Radio Noise Generated by Motor Vehicles and Affecting Mobile Communications Receivers in the Frequency Range 25 to1000 Magacycles per Second, IEEE, 345East 47th Street, New York, New York 10017, November 1967. 31 R. A. Shepherd,J. C. Gaddie, V. E. Hatfield, and G. H. Hagn, Measurements ofAutomotiveIgnition Noise at HF, Stanford Research InstituteReport [Project 20511. Prepared forDepartment of the Navy under Contract N00039-71-A-0223, February 1973. 1 1 W. Q. Crichlow, C. J.Roubique, A. D. Spaulding, and W. M. Beery, Determination of the Amplitude-Probability Distribution of AtmosphericRadio Noise from Statistical Moments, J. Research, NBS64D,Radio Propanation No. 149, 1960. [ 5 ] N. Shepherd, Noise MeasGement Considerations, Report of the Advisory Committee for the Land Mobile Radio Services, Volume 2, Part 2, Federal Communications Commission, 1966. [6] R. M. Storwick, D. C. Schlick, and H. P. Hsu, Measured Statisical Characteristics of Automotive Ignition Noise, SAE Paper 730133, International Automotive Engineering Congress,January 1973. [7] H. P. Hsu, R. M. Storwick, D. C. Schlick, and G. L. Maxam, Measured Amplitude Distribution of Automotive Ignition Noise, I973 International Electromagnetic Compatibility Symposium Record, pp. 269-218, New York, New York, June 20-22,1973.

Synchronous Gate Pulse Generator

The synchronous gate pulse generatorcircuit is shown in Fig. A3. The output of the Johnson counter is connected to a Darlington impedance converter through the firing time selec-