Patent ID: 7555370

Claim:
A vehicle, comprising: a frame defining a passenger compartment; at least one component coupled to said frame; and a system for obtaining information about the vehicle or said at least one component, said system comprising: a plurality of sensors arranged on a fixed part of said frame, each of said sensors being arranged to sense a property or condition of the vehicle or said at least one component and generate and wirelessly transmit a signal based on the sensed property or condition and upon receipt and detection of a radio frequency signal; and a multi-element, switchable directional antenna array arranged on the vehicle, each of said antenna elements being directed toward a respective one of said sensors and arranged to wirelessly transmit radio frequency (RF) signals toward said respective sensor and receive return signals wirelessly transmitted from said sensors, the return signals from said sensors being processed after reception by said antenna array into information about the property or condition of the vehicle or said at least one component sensed by said sensors.