Attitude sensor is a common sensor that applied in various systems to provide attitude data of the system. Our SAgro100 auto-steering system has also applied attitude sensors to obtain tractor attitude & heading data.
In previous blog, we have introduced the angle sensor that can provide the tractor steering data for some complex terrains, such as slopes, hills, mountains, etc. However, due to its installation difficulty and compatibility limit, users prefer attitude sensor better. So today we will introduce what the attitude sensor is and how it works.
1. Working Principle
The attitude sensor is a device used to detect the attitude of an object. It can measure the angle, direction and position of the object in space, determine the attitude of the object through the data fusion algorithm, and output the calibrated angular velocity, acceleration, magnetic data, etc. The motion attitude measurement is carried out through the sensor data algorithm based on the quaternion, and the zero-drift three-dimensional attitude data represented by the quaternion, Euler angle, etc. are output in real time. Attitude sensors are widely used in many fields, such as aerospace, robotics, automobiles, medical equipment and so on.
The working principle of the attitude sensor can be divided into two types: one is a sensor based on an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and the other is a sensor based on a magnetometer and an accelerometer.
1.1 IMU-based attitude sensor
An IMU-based attitude sensor usually consists of a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Gyroscopes can measure the angular velocity of an object rotating around three axes (X, Y, Z axes), while accelerometers can measure the acceleration of an object along three axes. By processing the gyroscope and accelerometer measurements, the pose of the object can be determined.
