Non-contact Doppler sensor for real-time tire slip and
This technology uses laser-based Doppler sensing to measure how a vehicle's wheels or tires are actually moving relative to the road surface beneath them. By shining light onto the road and analyzing how the reflected light shifts in frequency, the system can detect subtle differences between a tire's rotational speed and true ground speed — capturing phenomena like torsional slip that conventional wheel speed sensors miss entirely. It can derive friction conditions, slip ratios, and related dynamic properties of the vehicle-road interface in real time. This gives vehicle control systems far more accurate inputs than current encoder-based approaches.
What you could build
A non-contact optical sensor module integrated into vehicle chassis or wheel assemblies that feeds real-time slip and friction data to ADAS and vehicle dynamics control systems; primary buyers would be Tier 1 automotive suppliers and vehicle OEMs developing advanced traction control and autonomous driving platforms.
Who in Virginia should care
Defense and autonomous ground vehicle programs at Virginia-based primes (Leidos, SAIC, Booz Allen) or the automotive supplier ecosystem supporting the Volvo Trucks and other transportation manufacturers with Virginia operations would have interest.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Carvel HOLTON, Mehdi Ahmadian
- Granted
- April 27, 2010
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 7705972
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.