What is an IMU ? The IMU is a sensor that detects and measures the orientation of an object in space. It was originally developed for use in aircraft, but has since been used to measure many other things such as your phone's rotation so you can play games like Angry Birds properly. IMUs are typically three-axis or six-axis sensors, but some IMUs come with more than that! IM
Us can measure things like acceleration, rotation speed, temperature and more. IMU measurements are typically made in units called "m/s^(two|three)".
Who mainly uses IMU?
IMU is mainly used in the aerospace industry. IMUs are also found on some mobile devices to determine orientation, or whether you're holding your phone horizontally or vertically while reading a book for example!
How does IMU work? IMUs work by using accelerometers and gyroscopes to make sense of what's going on around them - these two things together provide an accurate model of "how" something is rotating when compared with data from other sensors like GPS . It works much like this: when you rotate your device (or maybe just yourself), it will detect that rotation but will still think that the world outside itself isn't moving at all. The IMU then uses information about how hard it moved/rotated against its current state to figure out how the world is moving around it. IMUs are often very accurate, but they can be thrown off by things like high-speed rotation (e.g when you're spinning your phone), or really fast movement in general - for this reason IMU measurements may not always make sense!
Who uses IMU? IMUs are found on mobile devices and game consoles to provide game developers with an easy way of replicating physical effects in their games so that player actions feel more real. Other than gaming, there aren't too many other applications where people use IMUs yet because most phones don't have a built-in IMU sensor... yet! In the future we might see even more sophisticated sensors used to detect changes in acceleration or rotation speed, which could be used for more accurate IMU measurements.
What is IMU made of? IMUs are typically composed of an accelerometer or gyroscope (or both!), some processing components and a microcontroller that allows the sensor to communicate with your smartphone . The most common IMUs are three-axis sensors, but there are also six axis ones available too! These work by detecting changes in acceleration over time - this means they can detect rotation as well as linear motion. They do this using either one or two sets of electrodes , depending on whether it's a single-axis or dual-axis device. Dual axis devices have two sets of electrodes arranged vertically so you get information about both x and y axes at once, this then makes sure that you can get a more accurate representation of how your phone is being held so it works well with games like " Temple Run ".
What IMU cannot do ? IMU measurements are mostly pretty good, but they aren't perfect! For example if you move the device really fast in a different direction to which you're rotating this will cause problems because there won't be enough information for the sensor to work out what's going on. IMUs have trouble measuring things that happen too quickly.
