All tyre makers to benefit from ‘new-gen’ Michelin/Murata RFID

Michelin and Murata Manufacturing have developed a new generation of embedded RFID modules. Several million Michelin tyres are already equipped with these, and the partners are now making the technology available to other tyre makers.

The passive RFID tags require no external power supply and reportedly continue to operate even when driven on for extremely high mileages. The partners describe the technology as a “simple yet elegant” solution that delivers low cost and easy tyre traceability throughout its entire lifespan, enabling the management of inventory logistics, aftermarket maintenance, and recycling operations.

“RFID technology is a key enabler to gain efficiency and optimise tyre operations, but also to improve the customer experience while identifying tyres and associating data. An embedded tag is the only way to identify tyres, from the cradle to the grave, consistently,” says Jerôme Barrand, Michelin RFID programme leader. “Thanks to a great collaboration with Murata, a new efficient and cost-effective solution has been developed, enabling Michelin to address a larger market. This new generation of RFID tags is already in more than four million Michelin tyres. As the technology is also available, from now on, to any other tyre manufacturer, this shall foster market adoption.”

100% RFID by 2024

At present, Michelin predominantly uses RFID tags in commercial vehicle tyres, but it working to roll out the technology to all of its passenger car, light commercial, bus and truck tyres by 2024. It also anticipates that key market players will embrace this technology for improved tyre traceability.

“Murata will continue to improve technologies for innovative solutions and will contribute to tyre management operations throughout its lifecycle and the enhancement of customer experience,” says Masamichi Ando, senior director of Murata’s RFID Business Department.

As small as a grain of rice

Murata has extensive experience and knowledge of RF technology and downsizing. Improving reliability compared to existing RFID tags while minimising cost were critical factors when developing the tyre embeddable RFID tag. The RFID module that Murata designed and also manufactures is approximately the size of a grain of rice, measuring 1×1×6 mm. To give it a simple communication architecture and to enable its linkage to the tyre ecosystem, the RFID tag is inserted into a simple spring antenna designed and manufactured by Hana Technologies.

In addition to supplying this RFID module, Murata offers its id-Bridge platform (RFID middleware), which processes and interprets the data transmitted from the RFID tag in conformance with ISO standards.