22-11-2012, 05:23 PM
Smart Tire System
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Abstract
This project focuses on improving active safety
systems by utilizing advanced sensor
mechanisms within a car's tire. A tire with
sensors could provide useful data which would
help the vehicle's control systems react to
changing conditions and reduce the chance of
accidents. An enhanced version of Vehicle
Stability Control (VSC), where each corner of
the vehicle is analyzed and accounted for
separately would increase the ability of safety
systems to adapt to changing environments.
INTRODUCTION
Automobile accidents account for 25% of injuryrelated
deaths worldwide. Better safety systems
within vehicles would reduce the frequency and
severity of accidents. Many current systems
provide "passive" safety features, such as air bags
and seat belts, which are designed to minimize
injury in the case of an accident. Active safety
features act to prevent accidents from ever
occurring in the first place.
Many active safety features exist in cars and other
vehicles, but many improvements are
possible.However, any system is limited by the
amount of information that is available to it.
Ultimately, to become safer, additional information
beyond what can be provided by current sensors is
necessary.
Visual Structure
The Smart Tire System is roughly divided into two
parts: the sensor package within the tire, and the
control system within the car. The tire will contain
accelerometers, pressure sensors, and temperature
sensors. Since the spinning tire cannot be
physically coupled to the car, it will also need some
means to generate its own power, and wirelessly
transmit data back to the vehicle. The vehicle will
have a signal processing box near each tire to
receive the data, and a control box located in or
near the vehicle’s computer to process the data and
make adjustments to the vehicle’s characteristics as
necessary. A representation of the tire subsystem
can be found in Figure 1, and a representation of
the vehicle subsystem can be found in Figure 2.
Summary and Conclusions
Preliminary work on the Smart tire system shows
that the system is quite complicated. Its complexity
arises from the unique constraints that the
subsystems are exposed to, but in addition, it’s
quite complicated because of its diverse
architecture. Smart tire sensors utilize components
that draw on expertise from the mechanical,
electrical, communications, software design, and
signal processing fields. For improvement of the
system, further research and design is necessary.
Resolving the problem statement into use cases,
textual scenarios, requirements, and system
architecture really helps visualize the system. It
also assists in understanding what is required from
the system.