A disclosed apparatus includes sensors incorporated into adhesive material. In use, an apparatus may comprise an adhesive material and at least one split-ring resonator (SRR) disposed on or in the adhesive material. Additionally, the at least one SRR is formed from a carbon-containing material, and the adhesive material is a non-elastomeric material or a semi-rigid material. In some aspects, each SRR may resonate at a first frequency in response to an electromagnetic ping when the adhesive material is in a first state, and may resonate at a second frequency in response to the electromagnetic ping when the adhesive material is in a second state. A resonant frequency of the adhesive material may be based on physical characteristics of the adhesive material.

A disclosed vehicle component may include at least one split-ring resonator, which may be embedded within a material. The split ring resonator may be formed from a three-dimensional (3D) monolithic carbonaceous growth and may detect an electromagnetic ping emitted from a user device. The split ring resonator may generate an electromagnetic return signal in response to the electromagnetic ping. The electromagnetic return signal may indicate a state of the material in a position proximate to a respective split ring resonator. In some aspects, the split-ring resonator may resonate at a first frequency in response to the electromagnetic ping when the material is in a first state, and may resonate at a second frequency in response to the electromagnetic ping when the material is in a second state. A resonant frequency of the 3D monolithic carbonaceous growth may be based on physical characteristics of the material.

This disclosure provides a tire formed of a body having multiple plies and a tread that surrounds the body. In some implementations, the plies and/or the tread include a resonator that generates a resonant signal in response to being activated by locally generated power or by an externally generated excitation signal. Multiple resonators formed of carbon-containing materials are distributed in the plies and/or tread to respond to changes to the tire by altering a characteristic of the resonant signal. Such alterations include frequency shifting of the resonant signal and/or attenuation of the resonant signal. The resonator can be configured to resonate at a first frequency when a structural characteristic of a respective ply or tread is greater than a level, and to resonate at a second frequency different than the first frequency when the structural characteristic of the respective ply or tread is not greater than the level.

An automated tread analysis system and methods for using are described. The automated tread analysis system may include a sensing system having a plurality of cameras providing a plurality of sequential two-dimensional images. The automated tread analysis system may also include an analysis system configured to provide at least one surface model of a first object via photogrammetry using the plurality of sequential two-dimensional images. The automated tread system may execute processing software reading data corresponding to the at least one surface model of the first object. The surface model may correspond to a current condition of the first object. The processing software executed by the user system may analyze the at least one surface model of the first object and provide at least one indicative wear metric based on the analysis of the surface model of the first object.

The present invention provides a tire-wear detection sensor for a vehicle having a telematics system and tires including a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, and an RF antenna in electronic communication with the sensors, and capable of transmitting the temperature signal and the pressure signal to the telematics system.

An at least one acoustic sensor in form of a microphone configured for coupling with a tire pressure monitoring system and tire pressure monitoring system unit sensor to generally detect an acoustic signal within a tire interior space generated by a tire as the tire travels across a road surface. The detected signal can be used by various vehicle systems to generally determine a tire condition, such as, but not limited to, tread wear, tread depth, tire health, road condition, road characterization, status of noise reducing foam, and active noise cancelling.

A sensor system (10) for a vehicle tire (1) having at least one sensor (11, 12) and at least one control unit (13), wherein the sensor (11, 12) is electrically connected to the control unit (13) by means of at least one conductor track made of an electrically conductive elastomer.

A method and system for adjusting vehicle operations. Wheel sensors are disposed to detect parameters associated with treads of wheels and parameters associated with road conditions. An electronic control unit receives information from the wheel sensors. The electronic control unit determines a performance metric of the wheels based on the parameters associated with treads. The electronic control unit receives determine adjustments for operation of the vehicle based on the performance metric and the parameters associated with road conditions.

This disclosure provides a tire formed of a body having multiple plies and a tread that surrounds the body. In some implementations, the plies and/or the tread include a resonator that generates a resonant signal in response to being activated by locally generated power or by an externally generated excitation signal. Multiple resonators formed of carbon-containing materials are distributed in the plies and/or tread to respond to changes to the tire by altering a characteristic of the resonant signal. Such alterations include frequency shifting of the resonant signal and/or attenuation of the resonant signal. The resonator can be configured to resonate at a first frequency when a structural characteristic of a respective ply or tread is greater than a level, and to resonate at a second frequency different than the first frequency when the structural characteristic of the respective ply or tread is not greater than the level.

A system is provided for estimating a tread depth of a tire supporting a vehicle. The tire includes a pair of sidewalls that extend to a circumferential tread. The system includes a drive over reader, which includes a housing. At least one sensor is mounted in the housing to generate an image of the tire, which may be an image of the tire footprint or an image of the tread along a lateral line or section, and the tread depth is determined from the image. At least one piezoelectric actuator is mounted on the housing and is electrically connected to the at least one sensor to actuate the at least one sensor. A method for estimating a tread depth of a tire supporting a vehicle is also provided.