A system and method for determining the magnitude of a force acting on a
tire are disclosed. Further, a sensor and a tire suitable for use in the
system and method are also disclosed. The system comprises: a tire strain
sensor mounted on the tire, for detecting a tire strain at the mounted
position, and generating data representing tire strain; a sensor locator
for locating the sensor on the tire; a memory in which data on the
relationship between the tire strain and force acting on the tire at each
of measuring points are stored; and a processor computing the magnitude
of the force, using the data representing tire strain obtained from the
tire strain sensor and the data on the relationship acquired from the
memory based on the data on the sensor location obtained from the sensor
locator. The method comprises: obtaining data on tire strain from a tire
strain sensor mounted on the tire; locating the tire strain sensor, to
obtain data on the position of the tire strain sensor; obtaining data on
a relationship between the tire strain and the force at the located
position of the tire strain sensor, from previously stored data on
relationships between the tire strain and force at a plurality of sensor
positions; and computing the force using the obtained data on the tire
strain and the obtained data on the relationship between the tire strain
and the force.