Comprehensive Software Library for Highway Noise Analysis

Abstract

Widespread availability of microcomputers has made highway noise analysis tools easily accessible to an ever-increasing number of users. This increased availability has brought to light a significant problem relative to the varying computer skills of those users. To effectively and efficiently accomplish the complex task of file management and program execution, the user must be very familiar with the operation of the computer as well as the process of developing input data, generating output, and managing the location of both input and output files. This paper is intended to introduce several enhancements to existing highway noise analysis capabilities, which have been combined in a library of user-friendly analysis tools that provide the user with improved analytical power. These enhancements are contained in the NOISE Software Library, a collection of microcomputer-based highway noise analysis tools that are arranged together under a powerful file-management system, which provides a transparent method for creating, editing, and storing data and output files in predetermined locations. This task is independent of the operation of the individual analysis programs and thus relieves the user of determining where individual input files are located or where the associated output will be stored.