Try this, it's an American site so it refers to ' tires' throughout the article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_pressure_mon itoring_system
Companies like Schrader Electronics designed first generation TPMSs using battery powered radio transmitters, with sensors mounted on a standard tire valve, and a chassis mounted radio frequency receiver.
Typical RF TPM systems employ four or five battery powered transmitter-sensors,[6] one RF receiver (either stand-alone or integrated in other vehicle electronics), and some other satellite hardware which can perform the function of identifying the tire position involved in the inflation anomaly. Each tire pressure sensor can periodically trigger a transmission of pressure status, or be polled continuously on demand.
Automakers require a battery lifespan of between seven and ten years, so TPMS system designers use power saving techniques to extend the battery life. The heart of the sensor is a silicon application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, which can manage critical power saving algorithms and other functions of the sensor. However, there remains the fundamental problem that all batteries eventually become exhausted, and this represents safety and replacement cost issues for the consumer.