Tire-Pressure Identification Using Intelligent Tire with Three-Axis Accelerometer

An intelligent tire uses sensors to dynamically acquire or monitor its state. It plays a critical role in safety and maneuverability. Tire pressure is one of the most important status parameters of a tire; it influences vehicle performance in several important ways. In this paper, we propose a tire-pressure identification scheme using an intelligent tire with 3-axis accelerometers. As the primary sensing system, the accelerometers can continuously and accurately detect tire pressure with less electronic equipment mounted in the tire. To identify tire pressure in real time during routine driving, we first developed a prototype for the intelligent tire with three 3-axis accelerometers, and carried out data-acquisition tests under different tire pressures. Then we filtered the data and concentrated on the vibration acceleration of the rim in the circumferential direction. After analysis, we established the relationship between tire pressure and characteristic frequency of the rim. Finally, we verified our identification scheme with actual vehicle data at different tire pressures. The results confirm that the identified tire pressure is very close to the actual value.