ROBUST SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTO-LOCATION OF TIRE-BASED SENSORS

A tire sensor locating system and method for auto-location of tire-based sensors is disclosed. The system comprises a vehicle (26) supported by a plurality of vehicle tires, each of the tires mounted to a wheel hub and each of the tires having a respective tire-based sensor operable to measure a tire air pressure; a receiver for receiving from one of the tire sensors a measured tire air pressure at an unidentified sensor location on the vehicle (26); a plurality of hub acceleration sensors (88) mounted to the vehicle (26), wherein each hub acceleration sensor (88) is operable to make a hub vertical acceleration measurement at a preset and known location on the vehicle (26) for a respective one of the wheel hubs; a chassis acceleration sensor (90) mounted to a chassis of the vehicle (26), wherein the chassis acceleration sensor (90) is operable to make a chassis vertical acceleration measurement for the vehicle chassis; an estimator model (92) for deriving a tire vertical stiffness estimation from the hub vertical acceleration measurements and the chassis vertical acceleration measurement; a look-up table (96) correlating tire vertical stiffness estimation against measured air pressure; and a processor operable to consult the look-up table (96) and identify an assigned location of the one tire sensor from a correlation between the tire measured air pressure of the one tire and the tire vertical stiffness estimation of the one tire.