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Mobile Phone Sensors

The document discusses different sensors found in modern mobile phones including accelerometers, gyroscopes, digital compasses, and barometers. Accelerometers detect orientation while gyroscopes track rotation. Digital compasses provide orientation relative to Earth's magnetic field. Barometers help GPS chips get faster altitude data.

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pearlheartilu
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28 views1 page

Mobile Phone Sensors

The document discusses different sensors found in modern mobile phones including accelerometers, gyroscopes, digital compasses, and barometers. Accelerometers detect orientation while gyroscopes track rotation. Digital compasses provide orientation relative to Earth's magnetic field. Barometers help GPS chips get faster altitude data.

Uploaded by

pearlheartilu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sensors

Modern mobile phones come with a variety of sensors that automate or easy many of our daily tasks. This
field takes into account the presence of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, and a barometer.
Accelerometer and gyroscope
Accelerometers in mobile phones are used to detect the orientation of the phone. The gyroscope, or gyro
for short, adds an additional dimension to the information supplied by the accelerometer by tracking
rotation or twist.
An accelerometer measures linear acceleration of movement, while a gyro on the other hand measures
the angular rotational velocity. Both sensors measure rate of change; they just measure the rate of
change for different things.
In practice, that means that an accelerometer will measure the directional movement of a device but will
not be able to resolve its lateral orientation or tilt during that movement accurately unless a gyro is there
to fill in that info.
With an accelerometer you can either get a really "noisy" info output that is responsive, or you can get a
"clean" output that's sluggish. But when you combine the 3-axis accelerometer with a 3-axis gyro, you get
an output that is both clean and responsive in the same time."
Digital compass
The digital compass that's usually based on a sensor called magnetometer provides mobile phones with a
simple orientation in relation to the Earth's magnetic field. As a result, your phone always knows which
way is North so it can auto rotate your digital maps depending on your physical orientation.
Barometer
And finally, you may see a device sporting a barometer in its specs sheet. Contrary to what you may
suggest, it has nothing to do with weather. Instead, the barometer is there to help the GPS chip inside the
device get a faster lock by instantly delivering altitude data.

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