A survey on adaptive active noise control algorithms overcoming the output saturation effect

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison of contemporary algorithms aimed at mitigating the saturation-induced challenges in active noise control (ANC) systems. The saturation effect introduces nonlinear elements into the adaptive algorithm, consequently impacting the ANC system’s performance and degrading the system’s stability. The detailed theoretical analysis indicates that the cause of the output saturation issue lies in the exceeding output power of the control signal. Recently, two categories of adaptive algorithms have been developed to address this issue. The first category focuses on effectively constraining the output signal to manage the saturation effect, exhibiting notable practical efficacy. The second category employs nonlinear ANC algorithms (NANC) to model the inherent signal nonlinearity, controlling harmonic distortion caused by saturation effects. This work summarizes the key results in the literature and demonstrates that output constraint algorithms outperform the NANC algorithms in computational efficiency and robustness. Hence, they should be a more practical choice than others in coping with the output-saturation issue in ANC systems.