Automotive NVH testing

Full-field automotive NVH testing without contact sensors

Measure vibration across vehicle bodies, panels, glazing, tires, doors, trims, and subassemblies without adding accelerometers, wiring, or sensor mass.

Ommatidia Q2 combines dense optical vibrometry with 3D geometry, helping NVH teams see response patterns directly on the measured surface.

65

simultaneous measurement points per line in Q2 vibrometry mode

4-5 m

reported stand-off range in car-body vibration testing

3D ready

geometry-linked velocity, displacement, and strain-ready outputs

Why teams move beyond contact-heavy setups

Reduce setup burden without losing spatial detail

Traditional accelerometer layouts can add mass, change the behavior of lightweight structures, and slow down prototype or validation work through mounting, cabling, and channel checks.

Preserve dynamic boundary conditions by measuring without contact.
Reduce installation time and cabling complexity.
Identify which panels and subassemblies respond at each frequency.
Support ODS review, FEM correlation, and faster design comparison.

What Q2 changes in NVH testing

Full-field data with less instrumentation effort

Quantitative vibration measurements in physical velocity units.
High spatial density for localized source and response detection.
Fast deployment with less fixture and cable preparation.
Usable across lab and field validation setups.
Portable between prototypes, test rigs, and measurement campaigns.

Car Body Vibration application note

Vehicle-scale vibration data on measured geometry

Use one optical head to capture surface geometry and vibration response, then review the NVH behavior directly on the measured vehicle surface instead of stitching separate scans and sensor layouts together.

One non-contact setup for body, tire, door, and trim response.
Dense line-based acquisition for full-field interpretation.
Geometry-aware results that make modal analysis and ODS review easier to communicate.

Example from Ommatidia car-body vibration testing.

Why Q2 fits automotive NVH

Dense spatial coverage with geometry context

Q2 captures multiple points per line and links vibration data to measured geometry, helping teams move from test setup to engineering interpretation with fewer toolchain handoffs.

Practical on real vehicle surfaces

The car-body measurement work includes dark body and tire surfaces, a practical requirement for validation environments where reflectivity and surface finish vary across the vehicle.

For platform selection across single-point LDV, portable Laser RADAR, and dense 3D vibrometry, use the Q-Series comparison guide.

Proof from real vehicle measurements

Body vibration mapped across the vehicle

Full-field body vibration mapping from 65 simultaneous points per line, with response visualized directly on the vehicle geometry.

One optical head for geometry and dynamics

Q2 combines 3D surface measurement and vibration data, so NVH teams can relate velocity, displacement, and strain-ready fields to measured vehicle geometry without running a separate scan.

Applications

Typical NVH use cases

Vehicle body operational response
Panel and trim vibration
Windscreen bonding inspection
Damping-material comparison
Component and subassembly diagnostics

Related resources

Continue the technical evaluation

Q2 Laser RADARReview the Q2 platform for dense, geometry-linked vibrometry.
Laser RADAR vs Scanning LDVCompare setup effort, coverage, and measurement tradeoffs.
Q-Series platform comparison guideChoose between Qmini, Q1S, Q1, and Q2.
Car Body Vibration application noteSee the vehicle-scale measurement example.
Remote vibrometry and modal testingExplore adjacent NVH and modal-testing workflows.
Application BriefsBrowse more application-focused technical notes.

Next step

Check fit for your NVH test setup

If you are planning body, panel, trim, glazing, tire, or subassembly tests, we can review target size, stand-off distance, excitation method, and required outputs.

Plan a focused technical review

Bring your vehicle structure, range, setup, and analysis objectives. We will help identify whether Q2 is the right route for denser full-field vibration insight with less instrumentation burden.

Automotive NVH testing questions

Use the required engineering output, spatial coverage and test constraints to choose the measurement workflow.

What is automotive NVH testing?

Automotive noise, vibration and harshness testing characterizes how a vehicle, body-in-white, subsystem or component responds to operating and controlled excitation. A useful test links the measured motion to the engineering decision: locating resonances, comparing variants, validating a simulation, diagnosing a source or checking a corrective change. Define the frequency range, operating condition, spatial resolution, reference channels and acceptance criteria before choosing sensors. This keeps a visually impressive vibration map tied to a repeatable and reviewable result.

Why use non-contact vibrometry for vehicle NVH?

Non-contact vibrometry avoids adding sensor mass and cabling to panels, trim, lightweight components and hard-to-reach locations. It can reduce setup effort when many spatial points are needed and preserves the tested structure. Optical access, target return, line of sight, instrument stability, sampling settings and the required motion bandwidth still need to be checked. Use reference sensors or a defined validation route where the programme requires correlation with an established method.

What does Q2 contribute to a full-field NVH test?

Q2 provides 65 simultaneous optical channels and supports up to 1,300 measurement points with 20× spatial oversampling. The workflow can place vibration results on measured geometry so teams can inspect operating-deflection or mode-shape behaviour in spatial context. Q-Series systems measure vibration velocity up to ±155 mm/s. These figures are configuration boundaries, not a universal promise of suitability: working distance, surface return, motion bandwidth, environment and the validation plan determine the achievable result for a specific vehicle test.

When should contact sensors or a hybrid NVH test be used?

Use contact sensors or a hybrid test when the required reference quantity, hidden location, optical obstruction, surface condition or validation procedure makes them the stronger evidence source. Accelerometers can provide durable reference channels, while microphones and force or speed references connect motion to acoustic and operating conditions. A hybrid plan can combine these references with dense non-contact spatial data. Choose the smallest measurement set that answers the decision and document alignment, timing, coordinate systems and uncertainty.