TREEL’s solution utilizes Nordic SoCs for tire pressure monitoring
TREEL Mobility Solutions, a provider of advanced automotive products focusing on improving road safety and vehicle efficiency, is addressing the issue of road safety while simultaneously improving vehicle, tire, and fuel efficiency with its rugged ‘Tire Pressure Monitoring Solution’ (TPMS). The solution is available in three variants, one made up solely of individual sensors installed on each tire—including the spare—to monitor both pressure and temperature. Each sensor is equipped with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52810 SoC, employing its powerful Arm® Cortex™-M4 processor to supervise the devices.
The highly durable system can withstand varying pressure, excessive vibration, and fluctuating temperature conditions. It can be applied to two- and four-wheel vehicles, buses, light and heavy commercial vehicles, as well as in off-road applications. This system has been in production for over four years and has been tailored to meet the demands of the growing tire monitoring market.
The second variant combines these sensors with a Bluetooth central and peripheral device featuring a multiprotocol radio, transmitting its data to an nRF52832 SoC using Bluetooth® LE wireless connectivity. The SoC then transmits tire pressure and temperature data to the vehicle via the vehicles Controller Area Network (CAN) or to a smartphone app for the user’s attention. TREEL’s third product variant integrates the sensors with a ‘TREEL Mobility Solutions TPMS Receiver’. The receiver incorporates the nRF52833 SoC to receive the data and enables a graphical tire status indication via a separate display unit.
Customizable monitoring for enhanced safety
“Our customers are seeking cost-efficient, maintenance-free, and reliable TPMS operation throughout the sensors’ lifespan, all while working in harsh automotive environments,” says Manish Ingale, Director at TREEL Mobility Solutions. “We designed our TPMS solution around Nordic’s nRF52 Series to achieve this. The nRF52 SoCs met our low power consumption, wireless performance, and robustness requirements.”
Using the ‘Smart Tire’ app (available for iOS and Android), users can set alarms to notify them if the tire pressure fluctuates outside of specified levels. The app provides users with the flexibility to customize transmission intervals. Users can also set up active and sleep modes for optimal battery performance.
“We designed this system to last for more than a decade. When selecting the Nordic SoCs, we prioritized robustness and sustained performance over extended periods,” says Manish Ingale, Director at TREEL Mobility Solutions
The TREEL sensors, crafted for two-wheeled uses, run on a CR1632C coin cell battery, boasting a lifespan exceeding three years. The sensors tailored for four-wheel vehicles employ a CR2025HR coin cell battery, offering a lifespan of over seven years. The commercial vehicle sensors also include the CR2025HR, allowing it to operate for more than three years. The extended battery life owes much of its possibility to the ultra low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC. Engineers designed the nRF52810 SoC to minimize power consumption. It includes features such as the 2.4 GHz radio’s 4.6 mA peak RX/TX currents and a fully automatic power management system.
“While TPMS can’t replace manual tire safety checks, it enhances the driver’s safety,” says Gaurav Kapoor, Regional Sales Manager India, Nordic Semiconductor. “Proper tire pressure also reduces fuel consumption and lowers emissions. In India, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reports more than eight thousand accidents annually due to worn-out, punctured, or burst tires. We hope that TREEL’s TPMS solution powered by Nordic’s Bluetooth LE SoCs can help to prevent some of these accidents.”
Reliable performance over an extended lifetime
“We designed this system to last for more than a decade. We highly focused on robustness and sustained performance over extended periods when we selected the Nordic SoCs,” continues Ingale. “The chip selection process was seamless, thanks in no small part to the invaluable support of the Nordic sales team.
“The ease of integration and excellent transmission range were also major drawcards. Prompt and highly efficient technical support complemented our custom code development, utilizing the Nordic nRF Connect SDK for our project.”
