Smart gateway selected for Michelin-SoftBank IoT tyre control system

The Michelin Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Cloud Service provides improved safety and efficiency, as well as cost savings benefits, for industries such as fleet management and construction.

The TPMS system contains sensors that measure a tyre’s air pressure and temperature, sending out alerts when these deviate from their standard levels. ADLINK’s industrial IoT gateway, the MXE-110i, provides a compact form factor with versatile RF connectivity and fanless rugged construction to serve as the vehicle-mounted communications device. Softbank provides the IoT platform within the Michelin infrastructure and overall system. The versatility of the TPMS allows it to handle vehicles of all classes.

When factors within the tyre are outside of normal tolerance levels, the ADLINK MXE-110i will send an email over-the-cloud to the end customer’s operations manager and the Michelin tyre vendor. An alert will also go out automatically to the Michelin Rescue Network, which can dispatch a vehicle to provide assistance.

Vincent Tseng, General Manager of ADLINK’s Asia Pacific Region, stated: “The beauty of this system is that both the driver of the vehicle and the operations manager can monitor all of the vehicle’s data right on a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer. This information is invaluable for preventing blowouts and other problems. It increases safety and saves both human and monetary resources.”

Paul Perriniaux, Managing & Representative Director of Nihon Michelin Tire, added: “Japan faces societal issues such as reduction in the working population and the ageing of society. Particularly serious is the lack of staffing in the transportation, construction and agriculture industries. The improvement of productivity and reduction of workload are matters of great urgency. At Michelin we believe it our duty to contribute through our tyre and related services, such as our TPMS.”

SoftBank anticipates business growth not just in communications infrastructure and services but also in the IoT field for mobility such as ride-sharing and automatic driving. 

Yasuyuki Imai, Representative Director & COO of SoftBank, commented: “In facing the coming future of 5G and IoT, we support the development of new services for our customers as an IoT service platform for the further ‘value-fication’ of data.”