iTire - Intelligent Tire

01.04.2008 - 31.12.2010
Forschungsförderungsprojekt
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) have become an important safety feature in modern vehicles. Some countries already introduced new legislation which enforces the use of TPMS. Today the electronic direct Tire Pressure Modules are mounted on the rims of the wheels. They are powered by small batteries and transmit pressure data to the vehicle via an RF link. In future much more information such as tire temperature, contact area, vertical load and slip angle shall be captured by tire monitoring systems and furthermore lifecycle management and identification shall be supported. Therefore, the TPMS modules have to be mounted directly at the inner-liner of on the tires instead of rims. This introduces big challenges in terms of miniaturisation, weight reduction and enhancement of functionalities of the new future Intelligent Tire Modules. Bulky components like battery or crystal need to be substituted by alternative realisation concepts. Research activities are ongoing to investigate generation of electric power out of the mechanical acceleration energy of the rotating wheel. Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) devices are evaluated as potential replacement for the crystal. Nevertheless, there remains still a lot of open questions: How to operate the System when the vehicle stands still? What is the best frequency for BAW integration and data transmission through the tire into the vehicle¿s control unit? Is it possible to power the intelligent tire modules via an RF signal and how can this be achieved without introducing additional components and costs for the car manufacturer? Which is the optimum antenna geometry in terms of efficiency, robustness and miniaturisation? How can the type of the tire, its life history and its position on the vehicle be identified and detected? Those questions will be addressed in the proposed project by competent and renown project partners in the field of radio frequency technologies, antenna theory and integrated circuit design and vehicle dynamic testing. Outcome of the project shall be Intelligent Tire Prototype Modules which clearly demonstrate feasibility of Tire mounted modules with extended functionalities to significantly further improve safety of operation of vehicles at the point where we are confronted with the strongest and most critical mechanical interaction between vehicle and environment.

Personen

Projektleiter_in

Subprojektleiter_in

Projektmitarbeiter_innen

Institut

Grant funds

  • FFG - Österr. Forschungsförderungs- gesellschaft mbH (National) Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • Telecommunication: 90%
  • Sensor Systems: 10%

Schlagwörter

DeutschEnglisch
Antennenentwurfantenna design
SensornetzeSensor nets
Kanalcharakterisierungchannel characterisation
Transpondersystemtransponder system

Externe Partner_innen

  • FKA Forschungsgesellschaft Kraftfahrwesen mbH Aachen
  • Infineon Technologies Austria AG
  • Technische Universität Graz

Publikationen