5 ms·
This seems like (clearly?) bad journalism. RFID tags on their own are for sure not taking active sensor readings, that'd be left for something closer to TPMS s
by w1nk 3y ago
This seems like (clearly?) bad journalism. RFID tags on their own are for sure not taking active sensor readings, that'd be left for something closer to TPMS style systems.
- ridgeguy 3y agoIt seems there are RFID tags that provide sensing functions. I didn't do a deep dive, here's the first thing I found. [1] They sense temperature, pressure, and other parameters. I wouldn't be surprised if something like this is used by tire makers. [1] https://www.atlasrfidstore.com/sensor-rfid-tags/ https://www.atlasrfidstore.com/sensor-rfid-tags/
- valianteffort 3y agoBut RFID are unique, read-only keys burned in to silicon at time of production. Perhaps the car is using Wi-Fi for TPMS.
- mh- 3y agoThey don't use Wi-Fi. There's a small battery-powered device mounted inside the tire, attached to the valve stem. In regular passenger vehicles, it's usually woken up regularly by a signal from the car. It takes sensor readings, and transmits them back to the car (using that region's unlicensed UHF bands). I imagine Formula teams may have need for greater frequency of sensor data, so there could be some variations here, but that's broadly how it works. In a passenger car, the battery outlives the tire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_TPMS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_TPMS
- entropie 3y agoThanks for the explanation. > In regular passenger vehicles So this system gets abused in sports. I wonder if there are applications in the real world (like tracking of movement of (individual) cars).
- reaperducer 3y agoSo this system gets abused in sports. I wonder if there are applications in the real world (like tracking of movement of (individual) cars). It's already done. When you drive into a parking lot, or go through a restaurant drive-through, your tires may already be scanned and your information sold. It doesn't take much to corollate a person using the same credit card more than once at a store with the transmitted IDs of their tires in the parking lot, and then follow that person, via their tires, from place to place as they shop, do errands, visit an abortion clinic, etc.
- flangola7 3y agoHow do you prevent this
- reaperducer 3y agoCash, and transit. That's about it.
- mlyle 3y agoA lot of TPMS are basically just specialized RFID systems. Some don't even have a power source for the tag.
- reportingsjr 3y agoActive RFID tags with integrated sensors are becoming more common. Electronic sensors of various sorts have become low enough power to enable embedding a very small battery with sensors and RFID transmitter. These can log readings every second or few for a few _years_.
- melony 3y agoAre there antennas in car wheel wells? The main car battery can probably power it with a correctly calibrated antenna.
- mh- 3y agoSee my other comment for a simplified explanation, or check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_TPMS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_TPMS