Melexis launches highly integrated smart tire sensor

Melexis has claimed the industry’s first combo sensor for smart tires, which is designed to be embedded in the tire, unlike current rim-mounted TPMS sensors. Also new is the capability to add value-added features such as tire load and tire wear monitoring, and road condition estimation. The automotive-qualified MLX91805 smart tire sensor integrates an 800 g XZ-axis accelerometer that senses up to 10,000 samples per second and a high-accuracy pressure sensor as well as temperature and voltage sensors.

The smart tire sensor provides tire status and load monitoring along with pressure sensing to enable smart-tire features and other value-added services such as road condition estimation.

The MLX91805 also integrates a low-power 16-bit microcontroller and 315/433 MHz RF transmitter (for wireless communications) that draws only 5 mA at 5 dBm output power. It also has an extremely low 90-nA sleep current. Together, the low-power consumption enables the sensor to run from a tiny battery for the life of the tire.

Other features include a built-in diagnostics and fault detection, math coprocessor for fast and energy-efficient digital signal processing (DSP), and a -40°C to 135°C operating temperature range. Pressure measurement ranges include 100 – 900 kPa and 100 – 1,400 kPa.

Aimed at helping OEMs meet the upcoming extension of mandatory tire-pressure monitoring, which will include commercial vehicles under new EU regulations, the MLX91805 is suited to tires for commercial vehicles, including heavy duty, and passenger cars. The MLX91805 TMS with its multiple sensors can help ensure compliance and provide extra information, such as loading, that can extend tire life and boost fuel economy and safety, said Melexis.

“The interface between the tire and the road has a huge influence on vehicle behavior. This is exactly where our new sensor is designed to be, capturing information directly from the road,” said Ivan Zagan, product manager tire monitoring sensors at Melexis, in a statement. “This world-first device lets tire manufacturers create the next generation of smart tires to deliver extra value for owners and operators, enable new services to maximize fuel efficiency and safety, and contribute to the development of self-driving vehicles.”

Housed in compact and low weight sensor modules, the MLX91805, in a 5 x 4-mm DFN14 package, is available in volume production. It comes with Melexis’ Library to help application-level software capturing and interpreting the data such as accelerometer signals.