Method of locating vehicle wheels equipped with an electronic box

A method of locating the positions of wheels (2-5) of a vehicle (1) equipped with an electronic module (6-9) adapted to transmit to a central unit (11), mounted on the vehicle (1), signals comprising data representative of operating parameters of each wheel (2-5) and an identification code of said electronic module, said location method comprising:

• equipping the vehicle (1) with NTA transmitting antennas (13-15) positioned in such a way that the coverage area (A1-A3) of each transmitting antenna (13-15) covers at least one wheel position, and that the total coverage area of all the transmitting antennas (13-15) covers all the wheel positions (2-5),
• successively commanding the transmission of a predetermined number of identification request signals by each transmitting antenna (13-15),
• calculating values which are representative, for each electronic module (6-9), of the rate of reception Ti by the module of the signals transmitted by each of the transmitting antennas (13-15),
• and executing a location procedure which is adapted, by analysis of the values representative of the reception rates Ti, to enable a wheel position to be assigned to each electronic module (6-9),
• said location method being characterized in that:
• in a preliminary step, a predetermined geometric reference frame (CT) is defined, and the following are defined within this reference frame:
• the coordinates {right arrow over (TAi)} of each transmitting antenna (13-15),
• for each wheel position, the coordinates of the centroid {right arrow over (LAj)}, called the reference centroid, of the transmitting antennas (13-15) whose coverage area (A1-A3) covers said wheel position, to each of which is assigned a weighting coefficient wi in the form of a value representative of a 100% rate of reception Ti of the signals transmitted by said transmitting antenna,
• the following location procedures are executed:
• defining, for each electronic module (6-9), the coordinates of the centroid {right arrow over (WUi)} of the NTA transmitting antennas, to each of which is assigned a weighting coefficient wi in the form of a value representative of the rate of reception Ti, by said electronic module, of the signals transmitted by said transmitting antenna,
• and determining, on the basis of the relative position between the reference centroids {right arrow over (LAj)} and each of the centroids {right arrow over (WUi)} representative of an electronic module (6-9), the wheel position to be assigned to each of said electronic modules.