Wheel Antenna of Wireless Sensors in Automotive Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Due to the electrically small antenna of wireless sensor in automotive tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), wireless transmission efficiency of TPMS is low. To increase the wireless transmission efficiency of TPMS system, a wheel antenna is proposed in this paper. The wheel antenna consists of a valve and a wheel. The three-dimensional electromagnetic (3D EM) simulation model of the wheel antenna is presented. The simulation results are used for the design of wheel antenna matching circuit and the determination of wireless sensor input power. To evaluate wireless transmission performance, the test methods of received power and wireless data transmission are used. The vehicle-carrying test results show that the TPMS with the wheel antenna has a better performance than the previous TPMS system with a dynamic antenna.