Smart wireless tyre pressure monitoring system
12/07/2024
TREEL Mobility Solutions, a leading provider of advanced automotive products, is addressing the issue of road safety while simultaneously improving vehicle, tyre and fuel efficiency with its rugged Tyre Pressure Monitoring Solution (TPMS). The highly durable system can withstand varying pressure, excessive vibration and fluctuating temperature conditions and can be applied to two- and four-wheel vehicles, buses and light and heavy commercial vehicles, as well as in off-road applications. This system has been in production for over four years and has been tailored to meet the demands of the growing tyre monitoring market.
The solution is available in three variants, one made up solely of individual sensors installed on each tyre, including the spare, to monitor both pressure and temperature. Each sensor is equipped with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52810 system-on-chip (SoC), employing its powerful Arm Cortex-M4 processor to supervise the devices.
The second variant combines these sensors with a Bluetooth central and peripheral device featuring a multi-protocol radio, transmitting its data to an nRF52832 SoC using Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) wireless connectivity. The SoC then transmits tyre pressure and temperature data to the vehicle via the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) or to a smartphone app for the user’s attention. TREEL’s third product variant integrates the sensors with a TREEL Mobility Solutions TPMS Receiver. The receiver incorporates the nRF52833 SoC to receive the data and enables a graphical tyre status indication via a separate display unit.
“Our customers are seeking cost-efficient, maintenance-free and reliable TPMS operation throughout the sensors’ lifespan, all while working in harsh automotive environments,” said Manish Ingale, Director at TREEL Mobility Solutions. “We designed our TPMS solution around Nordic’s nRF52 Series to achieve this. The nRF52 SoCs met our low power consumption, wireless performance and robustness requirements.”
Using the ‘Smart Tyre’ app (available for iOS and Android), users can set alarms to notify them if the tyre pressure fluctuates outside of specified levels. The app provides users with the flexibility to customise transmission intervals, as well as set up active and sleep modes for optimal battery performance.
“While TPMS cannot replace manual tyre safety checks, it enhances the driver’s safety,” said Gaurav Kapoor, Regional Sales Manager India, Nordic Semiconductor. “Proper tyre pressure also reduces fuel consumption and lowers emissions. In India, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reports more than 8000 accidents annually due to worn-out, punctured or burst tyres. We hope that TREEL’s TPMS solution powered by Nordic’s Bluetooth LE SoCs can help to prevent some of these accidents.”
“As we designed this system to last for more than a decade, we were highly focused on robustness and sustained performance over extended periods when we selected the Nordic SoCs,” continued Manish. “The chip selection process was seamless, thanks in no small part to the invaluable support of the Nordic sales team.
“The ease of integration and excellent transmission range were also major drawcards, as was the Nordic nRF Connect SDK, which we leveraged to create our custom code, while technical support from the company was also prompt and highly efficient.”
