TRW has procured a contract with an undisclosed “major Asian auto manufacturer” to produce a combined Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) and Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) receiver.
“This system simplifies the electronics architecture by eliminating the need for separate receivers for these two systems – we can maintain the performance characteristics while using less space and reducing system weight and wiring complexity, leading to lower material and assembly costs,” says Martin Thoone, TRW’s vice president for global electronics engineering.
“There will be no discernible change to the RKE key fob layout or performance,” he explains adding that, “the transmitted commands will be received by a single smart receiver/ECU that will process information from the RKE fobs and also the temperature and pressure signals sent from the transmitters located in the TPMS sensor units in each individual tire.”
According to Thoone, the integrated ECU decodes the signal to activate the lock/unlock function for vehicle doors and the trunk, and provides tire pressure warning information to the driver in the same way as conventional RKE and TPMS receivers.
The system is expected to launch in 2012 on an unnamed 2013 model-year vehicle.
For more information, visit www.trw.com.
