Identification of winter tires using vibration signals generated on the road surface

• Published in: Applied acoustics Vol. 83; pp. 116 - 122
• Main Authors: Tanizaki, Tetsuya, Ueda, Koji, Murabe, Toshihiko, Nomura, Hideyuki, Kamakura, Tomoo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acoustics; Applied sciences; Buildings. Public works; Exact sciences and technology; Frequency analysis; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Noise: its effects and control; Physics; Road construction. Pavements. Maintenance; Road transportation and traffic; Surfacing; Tire/road noise; Transportation infrastructure; Tread impact noise; Vibration signals; Winter tires; Tire/road noise; Frequency analysis; Tread impact noise; Winter tires; Vibration signals; Motor car; Vibration; Road vehicle; Pavement; Tyre; Winter; Road traffic; Traffic noise; Tread
• ISSN: 0003-682X; 1872-910X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apacoust.2014.03.021

During the winter, traffic regulations state that automobile drivers must use winter tires on unsafe roads such as snowy expressways. The present report is concerned with the development of an automatic tire identification system that can discriminate winter tires from summer tires with high accuracy. The system detects the impact vibration signal that is specifically generated by winter tires when tread blocks with wide grooves strike the road surface during rolling. The signal is picked up by a commercially available vibration sensor. If the signal contains specified impact frequency components, the tire is judged to be a winter tire. Compared with the previous identification system, which used airborne tire/road noise, the proposed system has two advantages. First, it is unaffected by meteorological factors such as wind noise. Second, the proposed system performs well even when the target vehicle is traveling at low speed. We evaluate the performance of the system outdoors using a number of vehicles with various tires and demonstrate an overall improvement in identification accuracy for vehicles traveling at low or moderate speeds.