Accelerometer giving random values when device is at rest - android

When I run my code, the values returned by the accelerometer seem to be random and even if I pick up the device and rotate it around, there doesn't seem to be any dramatic change in values or so obvious indication that the device has changed from a rest position to a moving position. I copied the code from Google's site. Basically I am trying to see if the device has moved at all from a rest position. Solution should work on Android 2.2 and above if possible:
sensorManager = (SensorManager) getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
sensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
sensorManager.registerListener(this, sensor, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_FASTEST);
float[] gravity = new float[3];
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event)
{
try
{
final float alpha = 0.8f;
float[] linear_acceleration = new float[3];
// Isolate the force of gravity with the low-pass filter.
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
// Remove the gravity contribution with the high-pass filter.
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}

When you are coping solution from documentation do it with understanding.
gravity have to be a field of the class since you need store state of low-pass filter.
gravity holds average values of accelerometer, fast changes are your linear acceleration.

Have you tried Sensor.TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION? This sensor
returns acceleration force excluding gravity and you don't need to
calculate it
Sensors are too sensitives and there is a lot of noise. It is almost impossible to get 0,0,0 values. You need to exclude small values.

Related

Using the phone's accelerometer and microphone to measure vibration

I am making an Android app that will measure the vibration when the phone is put on the floor. How do I use the accelerometer (for 0-50Hz) and microphone (for 50-500Hz) to measure the vibration? I am new to Android development but this is a project given to me. I know that there are a lot of apps related to this in the appstore but I have no idea how it is made. I searched for tutorials but I only found a tutorial concerning shake gestures.
First implement a listener for Accelerometer:
class SENSOR_EVENT_LISTENER implements SensorEventListener {
float[] accelerometer_data = new float[3];
float[] gravity = new float[3];
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
switch (event.sensor.getType()) {
case Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER:
final float alpha = 0.8f;
// Isolate the force of gravity with the low-pass filter.
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
accelerometer_data[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
accelerometer_data[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
accelerometer_data[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
break;
default:
return;
}
}
#Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int accuracy) {
}
}
Then register your receiver:
final SensorManager sensor_manager = (SensorManager) m_context.getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
listener = new SENSOR_EVENT_LISTENER();
final List<Sensor> sensors = sensor_manager.getSensorList(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
if(sensors.size() > 0) {
sensor = sensor_manager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
sensor_manager.registerListener(listener, sensor, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_FASTEST);
}
Check values before vibration and during the vibration. You will see there's a remarkable change in the values during the vibration.
I'm not sure about microphone but listening accelerometer alone will be enough for you to measure vibration. I can update my code if you need help with microphone.
Hope this helps.
using the phone's microphone, you can stimulate the phone's vibration system. There is a watt of sound. The vibration also vibrates at a low volume.

android - detect downward acceleration, specifically an elevator

I want to be able to detect a situation where the phone has an acceleration towards the ground (probably means that the Gravity sensor has to be used here also).
I have read a lot about this topic in the Android docs, about High and Low pass filters and other posts, and right now what I have is a code sample that gets the acceleration in the X, Y and Z axis after stripping the gravity:
if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER) {
final float alpha = (float) 0.8;
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
}
So, the linear_acceleration is supposedly the acceleration in the X, Y, Z axis without the gravity.
This is all nice, but the problem obviously is that is depends on how the user holds the phone, for example, in the elevator - if he holds it flat, parallel to the ground - the Z axis will change, if he holds it up straight - the Y axis will change , etc.
So, for example, if the user holds the phone diagonally, the acceleration will be "divided" between the different axes, and some sort of math work, considering where the gravity direction is, will be needed to calculate the actual acceleration in that direction.
Correct me if I am wrong?
Is there a reliable way to detect the downward (towards the earth) acceleration? maybe using other sensors like Gyroscope?
BTW - about the TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION type, I read this answer, saying that its actually not very accurate.
Use some basic physics. Acceleration is a vector. The magnitude of a vector v is always equal to (v.v)^.5, or the square root of the dot product. Or in simpler terms (x^2+y^2+z^2)^.5. That will tell you the amount of acceleration, but not if its towards or away from the earth.
If you need to know if its going towards or away from earth- you can combine that with data from SensorManager.getOrientation. You may need to do that before they enter the elevator though- the orientation code uses gravity as one of its inputs, so it may be screwed up if you try to use it in an elevator. You'd need to test it out.
If you need to break it down to acceleration in terms of earth x, y, and z axes- simple geometry. Take the angle from the orientation result, and use trig properties to convert axes. If you don't know the formulas you need to read up on trig a bit or you'll get them wrong even if I tell them to you.
I also wanted to just be able to measure vertical movement. This is how I did it and it worked for me. First time posting on this site and I have no idea how to format correctly.
Use two different android Sensors: Type_linear_Acceleration and Type_Gravity
Linear acceleration will give you acceleration in the X, Y and Z axis of the phone, and Gravity will do the same, but just for gravity. You know that the sum of the gravity values should = 9.8, but this will be split between X, Y and Z coordinates depending on the phone orientation.
I wont go into the math of it too much, but the following will give you vertical acceleration without gravity. If you want to understand it a bit more run through some values as if the phone was held vertically, then horizontally, it works even if the phone is oblique.
vertical acceleration = (LinearAccelX * GravityX / 9.8)+ (LinearAccelY * GravityY / 9.8)+ (LinearAccelZ * GravityZ / 9.8).
See code below (irrelevant parts removed):
{public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements SensorEventListener {
SensorManager sm;
Sensor linearaccelerometer;
Sensor gravity;
double Yaccel;
double Xaccel;
double Zaccel;
double gravityY;
double gravityX;
double gravityZ;
double verticalAccel;
sm = (SensorManager) getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);
linearaccelerometer = sm.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION);
gravity = sm.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY);
sm.registerListener(this, linearaccelerometer, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_NORMAL);
sm.registerListener(this, gravity, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_NORMAL);
}
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
Sensor sensor = event.sensor;
if (sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION) {
Xaccel = (double) event.values[0];
Yaccel = (double) event.values[1];
Zaccel = (double) event.values[2];
}
if (sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY) {
gravityX = (double) event.values[0];
gravityY = (double) event.values[1];
gravityZ = (double) event.values[2];
}
verticalAccel = (Xaccel * gravityX / 9.8) + (Yaccel * gravityY / 9.8) + (Zaccel *gravityZ /9.8);
}

Linear acceleration direction to track upward and downward movement of phone

I am trying to track the movement of the device only on the vertical direction, i.e. upward and downward movement. This should be irrespective of the orientation of the device. Things that i already know or have tried are these
Linear acceleration is given by sensor TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION and the axes is the phone axes and hence tracking any particular axes does not make a difference.
I tried applying transpose or inverse of rotation vector( inverse or transpose for the rotation vector are same) and then tried tracking the z direction of the linear acceleration vector. Does not seem to help.
I am trying to do a dot product with gravity values (TYPE_GRAVITY) to get the direction of the acceleration but it seems to be error prone. Even when i move my device swiftly up, it says going down.
I will outline this method here
dotProduct = vectorA[0]*vectorB[0]+vectorA[1]*vectorB[1] + vectorA[2]*vectorB[2];
cosineVal = dotProduct/(|vectorA|*|vectorB|)
if(cosineVal > 0 ) down else Up.
What is the flaw with the method ? Please help, I have been stuck on this for some time now.
As I see it, in the 3rd method you trying to find the cos of angle between two vectors (gravity vector and acceleration vector). And the idea is if the angle is close to 180 degrees you have up movement, if angle is close to 0 degrees you have down movement. Cosine is function that has positive value when angle is from -90 to 90 degrees. So when your cosineVal value is positive it means phone is going down and even if cosineVal closer to 1 movement is straight down. So it is true vice versa. When cosine is negative ( from 90 degrees to 270) you have up movement.
Probably you can get vectors from Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER from https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/SensorEvent.html#values there you have gravity vector and acceleration vector.
I made a code snippet below you can try.
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements SensorEventListener {
private float[] gravity = new float[3];
private float[] linear_acceleration = new float[3];
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
SensorManager mSensorManager = (SensorManager) getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);
Sensor mAccelerometer = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
mSensorManager.registerListener(this, mAccelerometer, SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_NORMAL);
}
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
// alpha is calculated as t / (t + dT)
// with t, the low-pass filter's time-constant
// and dT, the event delivery rate
final float alpha = 0.8f;
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
float scalarProduct = gravity[0] * linear_acceleration[0] +
gravity[1] * linear_acceleration[1] +
gravity[2] * linear_acceleration[2];
float gravityVectorLength = (float) Math.sqrt(gravity[0] * gravity[0] +
gravity[1] * gravity[1] + gravity[2] * gravity[2]);
float lianearAccVectorLength = (float) Math.sqrt(linear_acceleration[0] * linear_acceleration[0] +
linear_acceleration[1] * linear_acceleration[1] + linear_acceleration[2] * linear_acceleration[2]);
float cosVectorAngle = scalarProduct / (gravityVectorLength * lianearAccVectorLength);
TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv);
if (lianearAccVectorLength > 2) {//increase to detect only bigger accelerations, decrease to make detection more sensitive but noisy
if (cosVectorAngle > 0.5) {
tv.setText("Down");
} else if (cosVectorAngle < -0.5) {
tv.setText("Up");
}
}
}
#Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int i) {
}
}

Android accelerometer difficulties

I'm a beginner in Android game Development, and I developing a small Game.
I am facing some difficulties with the Motion Sensor: Accelerometer.
this game is in Landscape mode.
I want if my phone tilts in right, my character also goes right. ( same thing for left )
And when I stop tilting Character in the game should stop moving.
But i don't understand really good the operation of the accelerometer,
here is my code:
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
synchronized (this) {
long penchement = (long) (event.values[1]- 0.5);
if(penchement>0){
if(penchement>lastUpdate)
lastUpdate=penchement;
if(penchement>0.2){
booldroite=true; // boolean for going right
boolgauche=false; // boolean for going left
}
if(lastUpdate-penchement<0.2)
booldroite=false;
}
else{
if(penchement<lastUpdate)
lastUpdate=penchement;
if(penchement<-0.2){
boolgauche=true;
booldroite=false;
}
if(lastUpdate+penchement>-0.2)
boolgauche=false;
}
}
So my code works (a bit), but my character's moves aren't smooth at all. Sometimes my phone tilts but my Characters doesn't move...
Thank you very much in advance if you can help me.
Sensor readings are noisy by nature, that's the reason for the flickering movement of your character.
You will need to implement some kind of low pass filter after the readings. There's a basic low pass filter example in SensorEvent.
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
// alpha is calculated as t / (t + dT)
// with t, the low-pass filter's time-constant
// and dT, the event delivery rate
final float alpha = 0.8;
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
}
You might want to use the values in gravity[] to find out the 'tilt' of the phone. Also, play around with the value of final float alpha: Values near 1.0 will improve the smoothness, while smaller values near 0.0 will obtain noisier readings, but have a faster response.
Bonne chance!

get the acceleration without gravity

I'm new to android development. I want to get actual acceleration of the phone.I found a code to get acceleration.but it gives acceleration with gravity. Please any one help me to find a way to get actual acceleration without gravity.
Here's the code i found,,Please help me with this code. thank you
package com.SensorTest;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.hardware.Sensor;
import android.hardware.SensorEvent;
import android.hardware.SensorEventListener;
import android.hardware.SensorManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;
public class SensorTestActivity extends Activity implements SensorEventListener {
SensorManager sensorManager = null;
//for accelerometer values
TextView outputX;
TextView outputY;
TextView outputZ;
//for orientation values
TextView outputX2;
TextView outputY2;
TextView outputZ2;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
sensorManager = (SensorManager) getSystemService(SENSOR_SERVICE);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
//just some textviews, for data output
outputX = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView01);
outputY = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView02);
outputZ = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView03);
outputX2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView04);
outputY2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView05);
outputZ2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView06);
}
#Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor arg0, int arg1) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
synchronized (this) {
switch (event.sensor.getType()){
case Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER:
outputX.setText("acclaration x:"+Float.toString(event.values[0]));
outputY.setText("acclaration y:"+Float.toString(event.values[1]));
outputZ.setText("acclaration z:"+Float.toString(event.values[2]));
break;
case Sensor.TYPE_ORIENTATION:
outputX2.setText("orientation x:"+Float.toString(event.values[0]));
outputY2.setText("orientation y:"+Float.toString(event.values[1]));
outputZ2.setText("orientation z:"+Float.toString(event.values[2]));
break;
}
}
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
sensorManager.registerListener(this, sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER), sensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_GAME);
sensorManager.registerListener(this, sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ORIENTATION), sensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_GAME);
}
}
It is not possible to get the acceleration directly without gravity.
You can use a high-pass filter, like on the Android Reference Page, in the Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER section:
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
// alpha is calculated as t / (t + dT)
// with t, the low-pass filter's time-constant
// and dT, the event delivery rate
final float alpha = 0.8;
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
}
Duplicate question: android remove gravity from accelerometer readings
The answer is using Sensor.TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION (API >= 9 about 99% of all android devices).
The answer is here:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/SensorEvent.html#values
Quote:
In particular, the force of gravity is always influencing the measured acceleration:
Ad = -g - ∑F / mass
For this reason, when the device is sitting on a table (and obviously not accelerating), the accelerometer reads a magnitude of g = 9.81 m/s^2
Similarly, when the device is in free-fall and therefore dangerously accelerating towards to ground at 9.81 m/s^2, its accelerometer reads a magnitude of 0 m/s^2.
It should be apparent that in order to measure the real acceleration of the device, the contribution of the force of gravity must be eliminated. This can be achieved by applying a high-pass filter. Conversely, a low-pass filter can be used to isolate the force of gravity.
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event)
{
// alpha is calculated as t / (t + dT)
// with t, the low-pass filter's time-constant
// and dT, the event delivery rate
final float alpha = 0.8;
gravity[0] = alpha * gravity[0] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[0];
gravity[1] = alpha * gravity[1] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[1];
gravity[2] = alpha * gravity[2] + (1 - alpha) * event.values[2];
linear_acceleration[0] = event.values[0] - gravity[0];
linear_acceleration[1] = event.values[1] - gravity[1];
linear_acceleration[2] = event.values[2] - gravity[2];
}
Why not to subtract the gravity values directly from the observed acceleration using Android sensor. I think it is easier way. If any specific reason is there behind the use of high pass filter, please let me know with some link to supporting document or technical paper.
Thanks
Rajiv

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