For anyone following this site, here is what I've been up to lately – building a quadcopter based on the Acc_Gyro 5DOF IMU sensor and a 16bit PIC. Although it's still a work in progress I decided to start putting together an article placeholder and build it up as project evolves. It's going to be a long one !
The source code will be Open-Source and will be hosted here:
This article introduces an implementation of a simplified filtering algorithm that was inspired by Kalman filter. The Arduino code is tested using a 5DOF IMU unit from GadgetGangster – Acc_Gyro . The theory behind this algorithm was first introduced in my Imu Guide article.
The Acc_Gyro is mounted on a regular proto-shield on top of an Arduino Duemilanove board.
This guide is intended to everyone interested in inertial MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) sensors, in particular Accelerometers and Gyroscopes as well as combination IMU devices (Inertial Measurement Unit).
I'll try try to cover few basic but important topics in this article:
- what does an accelerometer measure
- what does a gyroscope (aka gyro) measure
- how to convert analog-to-digital (ADC) readings that you get from these sensor to physical units (those would be g for accelerometer, deg/s for gyroscope)
- how to combine accelerometer and gyroscope readings in order to obtain accurate information about the inclination of your device relative to the ground plane
I have received some feedback from my readers regarding my first usb gamepad project , so for the past few weeks I was working on a new imrpoved design. There are plenty of new improvements that I hope will address many of your requests.
