Design and development of passive MEMS-IDT sensors for continuous monitoring of tire pressure

In this paper, design and development of polymeric based MEMS-IDT based passive microsensors for continuous monitoring of tire pressure is presented. The sensing system uses SAW sensor mounted on the tire valve stem which is interrogated with an antenna controlled from the dash-board of the car. This unique combination of technologies results in a novel tire pressure sensor that can be remotely sensed by a RF system with the advantage of no power requirements at the sensor site. The sensor presented is simple in construction and easy to manufacture with Microstereo Lithography. The sensors are programmable and can be identified with a bar-code. Thus the technology will not only alert drivers to potential problems, but also will identify which tire is involved.

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