Performance evaluation of the wireless inertial measurement unit WB-4 with magnetic field calibration

Zhuohua Lin*, Massimiliano Zecca, Salvatore Sessa, Luca Bartolomeo, Hiroyuki Ishii, Atsuo Takanishi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents the performance evaluation of our wireless miniature Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) WB-4 by compared with the Vicon motion capture system. In particular, a magnetic field calibration method is introduced to improve the sensor orientation estimate accuracy. The WB-4 IMU primarily contains a motherboard for motion sensing, a Bluetooth module for wireless data transmission with PC, and a Li-Polymer battery for power supply. The motherboard is provided with a 32-bit microcontroller and 3-axis miniaturized MEMS accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer to estimate the sensor orientation based on an extended Kalman filter algorithm. In our previous research of WB-4 IMU performance evaluation, the factory calibration parameters of the magnetometer were used for the sensor fusion, which resulted in a higher error on the yaw angle in respect to roll and pitch. This study presents a magnetic calibration method for overcoming that limitation. The experimental results showed that the wireless WB-4 IMU could achieve better orientation performance in all the directions after the implementation of the magnetic calibration method. The yaw angle accuracy was significantly improved from previous error 5.46 degree to 1.77 degree.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2012 - Conference Digest
Pages2219-2224
Number of pages6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012 Dec 1
Event2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2012 - Guangzhou, China
Duration: 2012 Dec 112012 Dec 14

Publication series

Name2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2012 - Conference Digest

Conference

Conference2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2012
Country/TerritoryChina
CityGuangzhou
Period12/12/1112/12/14

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Biotechnology

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