Sensing

[From the last episode: We saw that adding a pressure sensor to our IMUs means we can navigate not only along roads and paths, but also up and down ramps, stairs, and elevators.] OK, we’re going to take one final look at a different type of sensor – one that […]

[From the last episode: Sensor fusion can help gyros and magnetometers correct each other, and it can turn a magnetometer into a compass.] We’ve covered basic navigation in the last couple posts, but our focus has been only on finding out where we are on the surface of the earth. […]

[From the last episode: We saw how accelerometers and gyroscopes can work with GPS to improve figuring out where you are.] OK, so we’ve seen how we can have accelerometers and gyros work together, and how they can also work with GPS. In each of these cases, we used a […]

[From the last episode: We introduced the notion of sensor fusion, where we get more value by combining sensor outputs.] Today we take our first look at specific sensor-fusion applications: mixing accelerometers and gyroscopes. Because this is about determining where we are and where we’re going, there’s one more source […]

[From the last episode: A magnetometer can detect the earth’s magnetic field – or any other one.] OK, so we’ve looked at three different sensors that tell us something about our motion – which means that they can also tell us something about our position. There’s a little bit of […]