Leuven (Belgium) - LMS International, the engineering innovation company, today introduced NVH Observer, a highly detailed and subscription-based database with vehicle NVH benchmarking information.

Currently, the database contains fourteen reference vehicles with plans to increase it by at least 8 vehicles on an annual basis. For each vehicle in the database, NVH Observer includes 6,000 curves such as spectra, orders, sensitivities, TPA noise contributions, modes and binaural time traces. The full collection of data has been gathered by NVH experts from LMS Engineering Services.

NVH Observer offers several unique benefits both from a cost-effectiveness point of view as well as a quality standpoint. Thanks to NVH Observer, members are able to keep their benchmarking budgets under control and access a wider range of vehicles, as well as more detailed data, while at the same time eliminating costly and time-consuming external studies. Available around the clock 24/7, users will be able to access ready-to-use benchmarking data from practically anywhere in the world. A dedicated search interface on top of the LMS Tec.Manager database software helps users from various internal departments access relevant data much easier and faster. A few mouse clicks and users can view competitive NVH differentiators that can help strategically position new vehicles, investigate possible concepts and support solution development.

After initially establishing the system with a core group of four members from European and Japanese OEMs, NVH Observer membership is now open to all automotive development centers and suppliers worldwide. One of the early members, Dr. L. Gagliardini from NVH vehicle development at PSA PEUGEOT CITROËN stated, ''With LMS NVH Observer, the PSA PEUGEOT CITROËN NVH department has more than doubled the amount of competitive data, providing us a broader view of the NVH performances in the market.''

''NVH Observer offers excellent value since it contains highly consistent data obtained via a standardized measurement process which facilitates vehicle-to-vehicle comparisons and prevents misinterpretations or erroneous processes. Users are assured that the data is correct; they can even trace and verify the exact instrumentation via the photographic database,'' stated P.J.G. van der Linden, LMS' NVH Observer Manager. ''Thanks to the fact that the database cost is distributed over a large group of users, membership terms to this unique initiative are extremely advantageous. Membership to LMS NVH Observer not only gives users easy access to existing data, members are also invited to set priorities for the next vehicles to be benchmarked.''