Understanding Sensor Fusion and Tracking, Part 2

This Matlab video describes how one can use a magnetometer, accelerometer, and a gyro to estimate an object’s orientation. The goal is to show how these sensors contribute to the solution and to explain a few things to watch out for along the way.

The video explains how to determine orientation using an accelerometer and a magnetometer. It also talks about calibrating a magnetometer for hard and soft iron sources and ways to deal with corrupting accelerations. The video also shows a simple dead reckoning solution that uses the gyro on its own.

Finally, the video shows how to blend the inputs from all three sensors to accurate gauge the orientation of the object.

You can view the video here.

Spencer Chin is a Senior Editor for Design News covering the electronics beat. He has many years of experience covering developments in components, semiconductors, subsystems, power, and other facets of electronics from both a business/supply-chain and technology perspective. He can be reached at [email protected].