A tire pressure monitoring sensor comprises an environmen tal pressure sensor, a non-volatile memory for storing a first program and a second program, a processing unit for execut ing the first program, a communication module including a wireless transmitter for transmitting at least one parameter indicative of conditions within a tire and a wireless or wired receiver for loading the second program into the non-volatile memory and a battery for powering the sensor. The second program contains a sensor operation description which is used by the first program.