Using Android gyroscope instead of accelerometer. I find lots of bits and pieces, but no complete code

Question

The Sensor Fusion video looks great, but there\'s no code: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7JQ7Rpwn2k&feature=player_detailpage#t=1315s

Here is my code which jus

Answer 1

Well, +1 to you for even knowing what a Kalman filter is. If you'd like, I'll edit this post and give you the code I wrote a couple years ago to do what you're trying to do.

But first, I'll tell you why you don't need it.

Modern implementations of the Android sensor stack use Sensor Fusion, as Stan mentioned above. This just means that all of the available data -- accel, mag, gyro -- is collected together in one algorithm, and then all the outputs are read back out in the form of Android sensors.

Edit: I just stumbled on this superb Google Tech Talk on the subject: Sensor Fusion on Android Devices: A Revolution in Motion Processing. Well worth the 45 minutes to watch it if you're interested in the topic.

In essence, Sensor Fusion is a black box. I've looked into the source code of the Android implementation, and it's a big Kalman filter written in C++. Some pretty good code in there, and far more sophisticated than any filter I ever wrote, and probably more sophisticated that what you're writing. Remember, these guys are doing this for a living.

I also know that at least one chipset manufacturer has their own sensor fusion implementation. The manufacturer of the device then chooses between the Android and the vendor implementation based on their own criteria.

Finally, as Stan mentioned above, Invensense has their own sensor fusion implementation at the chip level.

Anyway, what it all boils down to is that the built-in sensor fusion in your device is likely to be superior to anything you or I could cobble together. So what you really want to do is to access that.

In Android, there are both physical and virtual sensors. The virtual sensors are the ones that are synthesized from the available physical sensors. The best-known example is TYPE_ORIENTATION which takes accelerometer and magnetometer and creates roll/pitch/heading output. (By the way, you should not use this sensor; it has too many limitations.)

But the important thing is that newer versions of Android contain these two new virtual sensors:

TYPE_GRAVITY is the accelerometer input with the effect of motion filtered out TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION is the accelerometer with the gravity component filtered out.

These two virtual sensors are synthesized through a combination of accelerometer input and gyro input.

Another notable sensor is TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR which is a Quaternion synthesized from accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyro. It represents the full 3-d orientation of the device with the effects of linear acceleration filtered out.

However, Quaternions are a little bit abstract for most people, and since you're likely working with 3-d transformations anyway, your best approach is to combine TYPE_GRAVITY and TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD via SensorManager.getRotationMatrix().

One more point: if you're working with a device running an older version of Android, you need to detect that you're not receiving TYPE_GRAVITY events and use TYPE_ACCELEROMETER instead. Theoretically, this would be a place to use your own kalman filter, but if your device doesn't have sensor fusion built in, it probably doesn't have gyros either.

Anyway, here's some sample code to show how I do it.

  // Requires 1.5 or above

  class Foo extends Activity implements SensorEventListener {

    SensorManager sensorManager;
    float[] gData = new float[3];           // Gravity or accelerometer
    float[] mData = new float[3];           // Magnetometer
    float[] orientation = new float[3];
    float[] Rmat = new float[9];
    float[] R2 = new float[9];
    float[] Imat = new float[9];
    boolean haveGrav = false;
    boolean haveAccel = false;
    boolean haveMag = false;

    onCreate() {
        // Get the sensor manager from system services
        sensorManager =
          (SensorManager)getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
    }

    onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        // Register our listeners
        Sensor gsensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY);
        Sensor asensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
        Sensor msensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD);
        sensorManager.registerListener(this, gsensor, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_GAME);
        sensorManager.registerListener(this, asensor, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_GAME);
        sensorManager.registerListener(this, msensor, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_GAME);
    }

    public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
        float[] data;
        switch( event.sensor.getType() ) {
          case Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY:
            gData[0] = event.values[0];
            gData[1] = event.values[1];
            gData[2] = event.values[2];
            haveGrav = true;
            break;
          case Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER:
            if (haveGrav) break;    // don't need it, we have better
            gData[0] = event.values[0];
            gData[1] = event.values[1];
            gData[2] = event.values[2];
            haveAccel = true;
            break;
          case Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD:
            mData[0] = event.values[0];
            mData[1] = event.values[1];
            mData[2] = event.values[2];
            haveMag = true;
            break;
          default:
            return;
        }

        if ((haveGrav || haveAccel) && haveMag) {
            SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(Rmat, Imat, gData, mData);
            SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(Rmat,
                    SensorManager.AXIS_Y, SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X, R2);
            // Orientation isn't as useful as a rotation matrix, but
            // we'll show it here anyway.
            SensorManager.getOrientation(R2, orientation);
            float incl = SensorManager.getInclination(Imat);
            Log.d(TAG, "mh: " + (int)(orientation[0]*DEG));
            Log.d(TAG, "pitch: " + (int)(orientation[1]*DEG));
            Log.d(TAG, "roll: " + (int)(orientation[2]*DEG));
            Log.d(TAG, "yaw: " + (int)(orientation[0]*DEG));
            Log.d(TAG, "inclination: " + (int)(incl*DEG));
        }
      }
    }

Hmmm; if you happen to have a Quaternion library handy, it's probably simpler just to receive TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR and convert that to an array.

Answer 2

To the question where to find complete code, here's a default implementation on Android jelly bean: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/jb-release/services/sensorservice/ Start by checking the fusion.cpp/h. It uses Modified Rodrigues Parameters (close to Euler angles) instead of quaternions. In addition to orientation the Kalman filter estimates gyro drift. For measurement updates it uses magnetometer and, a bit incorrectly, acceleration (specific force).

To make use of the code you should either be a wizard or know the basics of INS and KF. Many parameters have to be fine-tuned for the filter to work. As Edward adequately put, these guys are doing this for living.

At least in google's galaxy nexus this default implementation is left unused and is overridden by Invense's proprietary system.