Embedded Wireless Sensors for Aircraft/Automobile Tire Structural

Health Monitoring
Amitabh Mishra, Farrukh M. Gondal, Arya A. Afrashteh, and Ryan R. Wilson
Bradley Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Ronanld D. Moffitt, Rakesh K. Kapania and Scott Bland
Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061

the tire, which is significantly different from [2] because of a

Abstract—Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of
automobile tires is an active area of research. Within this
area, the monitoring of strain on tires using wireless devices
and networks is gaining prominence because these techniques
do not require any wired connection to a base station. In this
paper we discuss a wireless sensor network based strain
monitoring architecture for aircraft/automobile tires present
some initial results, and outline future plans.
Index Terms— Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), Tire
Strain, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Resistive Strain
Gauge, TinyOS, NesC
I. INTRODUCTION
Tires that can measure strain within themselves are known
as intelligent tires. A vehicle equipped with intelligent tires is
considered far more reliable than the one which has regular
tires. Recently, various tire manufacturers are looking into
intelligent tires due to the Transportation Recall Enhancement,
Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) act which
demands installation of tire pressure monitoring devices within
the tire. Besides measuring tire pressures, tire manufactures
are also examining ways to measure strain and temperature as
well to enhance overall safety of a vehicle. There has been
some initial work for monitoring the health of tires [1] , [2].
A sensor system that can measure the overall strain of a tire
is known as a centralized strain sensing system discussed in
[1]. However, a centralized strain sensing system cannot find
the location and severity of the damage on the tire. In [2]
various sensors such as acceleration and optical sensors have
been proposed to be used to get more local damage
information on the tire, but this proposal did not succeed.
Besides, a tire equipped with multiple sensors is neither
practical nor cost effective. Moreover, the solutions proposed
in [2] are proprietary. Our work is significantly different. We
are proposing a sensor networking solution to tire SHM
problem using commercial off-the-self hardware and software
components such as Crossbow motes [3], and TinyOS [4]. Our
work also focuses on developing reliable and energy efficient
routing and transport protocols using cross-layer design for
this particular application that may find use in other areas. We
are researching approaches to get local strain measurements on
new sensing material.
This paper is organized as follows. In section II, we discuss
the architecture of a WSN and the hardware required for the
setup including transceivers and strain gauges. In section III,
we present the ongoing work and a few of the research
challenges about integration of the transceivers and strain
sensors on the tires. Our discussion about various hardware
components that will be used for creating a sensor monitoring
system will be brief and the discussion regarding the energy
efficient and reliable protocols that we intend to develop and
implement will also be minimal due to space limitations.
Our poster presentation will have additional details and
results.
II. ACQUISITION AND WIRELESS TRANSMISSION SENSOR
NETWORK SIGNAL
In this section, we discuss architecture of a WSN that will
be created to measure strain of a tire. The hardware that is
needed for forming the sensor network consists of Crossbow
motes, sensors, and an onboard computer. The mote setup
requires a transceiver (MPR410CB), a data logger (MDA300),
and a base station (MIB510) as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Data logger (MDA300) (left), Base station (MIB510) (middle), and
Transceiver (MPR410CB) (right)
The strain gauges will connect to the data logger. A
transceiver will be attached to the data logger and base station
to allow radio communication between them. A radio packet is
created in the transceiver with the sampled data and sent
wirelessly once all the samples have been obtained from the
data logger. The base station then receives the packet and
converts its data into meaningful units and displays them on
the console. The schematic of the setup is shown in Figure 2.

* This research is supported by NASA under contract NNLOSAA29G

1-4244-0732-X/06/$20.00 ©2006 IEEE 163

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 unless the strain detected reaches or surpasses a threshold
value. Such an event based system would save even more
power by simply not transmitting at all.
B. Verification of Strain Results
We have successfully transmitted strain readings off a strain
gauge mounted on a metal bar and verified its accuracy to
theoretical readings. The experimental setup is shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4: Experimental Setup

Figure 2: Schematic of a strain sensing system

The strain readings obtained from the Crossbow® nodes are

This project envisions development of a new model of strain
very close to the theoretical readings which are shown in
gauges called “Rubber Sensor” shown in Figure 3 which can
Figure 5.
measure strain on a rubber surface accurately. This
development is required because the sensing material need to Strain Results Validation

be flexible like rubber so that it can be embedded inside the 220

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rubber of the tire, and be conductive like metal so that strain 190
180

signals can be generated and measured. 170

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Microstrain (µε)

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Figure 3: Rubber Sensor 10

0
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Now we describe the essential details of our architecture and -30

Time

accomplishments.
A. Networking
The network topology used for tire strain measurements
involves a Base Station (BS) that acts as a sink. This sink is the
ultimate destination of all packets that originate from any
node. Inter-node communication is not needed initially in this
application as we are proposing a one – hop solution. The BS
will act as the command and control center and will also be
used for additional routing and multi-hopping if necessary.
Designing a specific routing algorithm as well as transport
protocol tailored for this application are also planned. These
will be built on some of the features that are pertinent to sensor
networks [5-7] and [8-11]. One approach to designing a
reliable data transport mechanism is to send out ACK hop-by-
hop instead of end-to-end [8] which we find more suitable for
measuring the strain of tire wirelessly.
We are envisioning a strain sensing system that is a TDMA
based where strain measurements are transmitted every fixed
time interval. As an optimization, we are thinking that strain be
measured by each node periodically but not be transmitted
Figure 5: Strain Readings
III. ONGOING RESEARCH
This section describes the future research challenges which
are mainly related with the network architecture, hardware, and
sensor setup.
A. Network Architecture
The transceiver’s signal strength plays an important role in
the network’s setup. Ideally each tire should have a transceiver
which can send signals with the tires current strain to a base
station as show in Figure 6(a). However, the transceiver’s
signal strength may not be high enough for the base station to
pick up. This is due to the fact that the transceiver is trying to
send a signal through a material such as a tire which attenuates
its strength. Multi-hopping option can be explored here to
solve the problem of weak signal strength. Figure 6(b)
illustrates such a multi-hopping network.

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 Figure 6: (a) Line of sight to the base station. (b) Multi-hopping to base
station.
B. Hardware Setup
A transceiver and data acquisition unit need to be placed
within the tire with a power source to keep them running. This
raises the issues of where the units should be placed and will
the unit’s power source outlast the tire’s life span.
1) Transceiver Placement
The placement of the transceiver and/or data acquisition unit
within the tire becomes an issue since there are many factors to
consider such as safety of units as well as the strength of
transceiver’s signal.
a) Outside the Tire
The first transceiver placement, shown in Figure 7(a),
depicts a transceiver on the outer portion of the tire’s rim. The
advantages of this option are: (a) Transceiver will have line-of-
sight to the BS which ensures optimal signal strength,
diminishing packet loss, and allows transceivers to operate
under weaker signal strength which conserves power. (b) The
equipment will be easily accessible for recharging,
replacement, or repair. Some disadvantages involve the unit
being exposed to hazardous debris which can damage it. This
problem can be solved by making a specialized compartment
within the tire’s rim to protect the units.
b) Inside the Tire
Another place to put the transceivers could be on the inner
portion of the tire’s rim or within the tire’s inner tread lining as
show on Figure 7(b) and 7(c).
One advantage of this option is that shorter sensor wires will
be needed which will provide more accurate strain readings.
However there are a few disadvantages too associated with this
option such as (1) The transceiver needs to send signals
through the tire’s rubber and metal mesh, and the signals will
be subject to multi-path fading due to the high density of
metallic components surrounding the transceiver. (2) The
equipment will be hard to reach for recharging, replacing, or
repairing. (3) Also, if placed within the tire’s inner tread lining
the units will undergo most, if not all, the stress a tire is
subjected to. The solutions being considered are (A) Make the
antenna weaved through the tire’s rubber and metal mesh so
the signal could bypass such obstacles. (B) Sticking the
antenna out of the tire’s valve or small hole on the rim. (C)
Applying a coating to the inner rim’s surface to prevent signals
from bouncing off as easily and (D) A specialized container
can be made to protect the unit from temperature and shock
variations.
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Figure 7: (a) Transceiver placed on the outer rim. (b) Transceiver placed on the
inner rim. (c) Transceiver placed within the tire.
C. Power Conservation
Alternate solutions can be implemented if the transceivers’
life span is significantly shorter than the tires’. A simple
solution is to hook a battery charger up to the transceivers’
batteries and place a plug on the tire’s rim where the user can
hook up a power source to the charger.
There are many options being considered to improve power
conservation within the transceiver itself. An event driven
algorithm will hold back on data transmission until a critical
event is detected. Also, strain data acquisition may be
suspended when the automobile/aircraft is not in motion as
well as adapting the sampling rates according to the vehicle’s
velocity, transceiver’s battery power, events raised, etc.
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