Possible duplicate : Android getOrientation Azimuth gets polluted when phone is tilted
I am new to android development and I try to get the user facing.
After searching on the web I am pretty sure I need to use remapCoordinateSystem, android documentation say it is good to use for an augmented reality app.
I try to use some existing code to be sure that is a good way.
(Finally I want to create an augmented reality application)
The following code should return the user facing in degree :
Code :
Sensor sensor = event.sensor;
if (sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER) {
gravity = event.values.clone();
}else if (sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD) {
geomagnetic = event.values.clone();
}
if (gravity != null && geomagnetic != null){
_rM = SensorManager.getRotationMatrix (R, null, gravity, geomagnetic);
if(_rM){
int mScreenRotation = activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getRotation(); // get user orientation mode
switch (mScreenRotation) { // Handle device rotation (landscape, portrait)
case Surface.ROTATION_0:
axisX = SensorManager.AXIS_X;
axisY = SensorManager.AXIS_Y;
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_90:
axisX = SensorManager.AXIS_Y;
axisY = SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X;
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_180: // not handled by my phone so I can't test
axisX = SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X;
axisY = SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y;
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_270:
axisX = SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y;
axisY = SensorManager.AXIS_X;
break;
default:
break;
}
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem (R, axisX, axisY, outR);
SensorManager.getOrientation (outR, gO);
}
}
userFacing = (float) Math.toDegrees(gO[0]); // Radian to degree
if(userFacing<0) { userFacing+=360; } // -180;180 to 0;360
return userFacing;
Actually I am able to get an accurate compass when the phone is facing down, but when I try to move the phone (as a user would do), the results are very inaccurate : when i tilt the device, direction can move of 40°...
I saw this link : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17979238/android-getorientation-azimuth-gets-polluted-when-phone-is-tilted
But if i stay tilted, the results are inaccurate again (it's an average, so it's normal!)
And i need the compass working anytime...
I think I will use TYPE_GYROSCOPE, but not all devices have a gyroscope nowadays so i need another solution for all the other devices !
Hope you can understand my problem, and sorry for my bad english! (I'm French)
Solution
Ok so after adapting the application on iOS, I decided to check if the android methods were as good as I though. A month ago, I posted a solution and it was really wrong. I made a huge mistake on remapCoordinateSystem : I used AXIS_X and AXIS_Y to get my matrice and I tried to correct my values with different values. As #HoanNguyen suggested, we just have to use AXIS_X and AXIS_Zand android handle the rest.
So here is the final code. Lot more shorter and easier:
if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER) {
gravity = lowPass(event.values.clone(), gravity);
}
else if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD) {
geomagnetic = lowPass(event.values.clone(), geomagnetic);
}
if (geomagnetic != null && gravity != null) {
if (SensorManager.getRotationMatrix (R_in, null, gravity, geomagnetic)) {
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem (R_in, SensorManager.AXIS_X, SensorManager.AXIS_Z, R_out);
SensorManager.getOrientation (R_out, gO);
}
}
And to get magnetic north, you just have to use gO[0] like heading = gO[0]; (Caution, the returned values are in radians)
Hope it could here someone!
Both your code and the solution you found are wrong if by "phone facing" you means the opposite direction of the device z-coordinate. For augmented reality, you just call
remapCoordinateSystem(inR, AXIS_X, AXIS_Z, outR);
independent of the device orientation. Then the azimuth in the call to getOrientation() gives the direction of the phone facing with respect to Magnetic North.
These 2 calls amount to projection of the device z-coordinate to the XY plane of the world coordinates and then calculate the direction of the resulting vector.
I am designing an app that needs to check the device's orientation (Azimuth, Pitch and Roll). I use the following code to achieve this:
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER)
gravityMatrix = event.values.clone();// Fill gravityMatrix with accelerometer values
else if(event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD)
geomagneticMatrix = event.values.clone();// Fill geomagneticMatrix with magnetic-field sensor values
if(gravityMatrix != null && geomagneticMatrix != null){
RMatrix = new float[16];
IMatrix = new float[16];
SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(RMatrix, IMatrix, gravityMatrix, geomagneticMatrix);// Retrieve RMatrix, necessary for the getOrientation method
SensorManager.getOrientation(RMatrix, orientation);// Get the current orientation of the device
}
}
Now I am able to get azimuth, pitch and roll values from the 'orientation' float[]. Everything goes fine for the azimuth and roll values (it returns the correct angle), however when I print the pitch value (orientation[1]), I always retrieve an angle between PI/2 and -PI/2. I don't understand why? I am unable to retrieve an angle greater than PI/2 or less than -PI/2. As soon as I have an angle of +- PI/2 and I keep on rotating my device (Samsung Galaxy S2) the angle suddenly decreases after it reached the PI/2 value.
Can anyone explain me why the pitch-angle is behaving so uncommon?
Thanks in advance!
Pitch is calculated as pitch = (float) Math.asin(-RMatrix[7]); The range of the arcsin function is [-PI/2, PI/2], so asin can only take value in between -PI/2 and PI/2.
I wish to get my phone's current orientation by the following method:
Get the initial orientation (azimuth) first via the getRotationMatrix() and getOrientation().
Add the integration of gyroscope reading over time to it to get the current orientation.
Phone Orientation:
The phone's x-y plane is fixed parallel with the ground plane. i.e., is in a "texting-while-walking" orientation.
"getOrientation()" Returnings:
Android API allows me to easily get the orientation, i.e., azimuth, pitch, roll, from getOrientation().
Please note that this method always returns its value within the range: [0, -PI] and [o, PI].
My Problem:
Since the integration of the gyroscope reading, denoted by dR, may be quite big, so when I do CurrentOrientation += dR, the CurrentOrientation may exceed the [0, -PI] and [o, PI] ranges.
What manipulations are needed so that I can ALWAYS get the current orientation within the the [0, -PI] and [o, PI] ranges?
I have tried the following in Python, but I highly doubt its correctness.
rotation = scipy.integrate.trapz(gyroSeries, timeSeries) # integration
if (headingDirection - rotation) < -np.pi:
headingDirection += 2 * np.pi
elif (headingDirection - rotation) > np.pi:
headingDirection -= 2 * np.pi
# Complementary Filter
headingDirection = ALPHA * (headingDirection - rotation) + (1 - ALPHA) * np.mean(azimuth[np.array(stepNo.tolist()) == i])
if headingDirection < -np.pi:
headingDirection += 2 * np.pi
elif headingDirection > np.pi:
headingDirection -= 2 * np.pi
Remarks
This is NOT that simple, because it involves the following trouble-makers:
The orientation sensor reading goes from 0 to -PI, and then DIRECTLY JUMPS to +PI and gradually gets back to 0 via +PI/2.
The integration of the gyrocope reading also leads to some trouble. Should I add dR to the orientation or subtract dR.
Do please refer to the Android Documentations first, before giving a confirmed answer.
Estimated answers will not help.
The orientation sensor actually derives its readings from the real magnetometer and the accelerometer.
I guess maybe this is the source of the confusion. Where is this stated in the documentation? More importantly, does the documentation somewhere explicitly state that the gyro readings are ignored? As far as I know the method described in this video is implemented:
Sensor Fusion on Android Devices: A Revolution in Motion Processing
This method uses the gyros and integrates their readings. This pretty much renders the rest of the question moot; nevertheless I will try to answer it.
The orientation sensor is already integrating the gyro readings for you, that is how you get the orientation. I don't understand why you are doing it yourself.
You are not doing the integration of the gyro readings properly, it is more complicated than CurrentOrientation += dR (which is incorrect). If you need to integrate the gyro readings (I don't see why, the SensorManager is already doing it for you) please read Direction Cosine Matrix IMU: Theory how to do it properly (Equation 17).
Don't try integrating with Euler angles (aka azimuth, pitch, roll), nothing good will come out.
Please use either quaternions or rotation matrices in your computations instead of Euler angles. If you work with rotation matrices, you can always convert them to Euler angles, see
Computing Euler angles from a rotation matrix by Gregory G. Slabaugh
(The same is true for quaternions.) There are (in the non-degenrate case) two ways to represent a rotation, that is, you will get two Euler angles. Pick the one that is in the range you need. (In case of gimbal lock, there are infinitely many Euler angles, see the PDF above). Just promise you won't start using Euler angles again in your computations after the rotation matrix to Euler angles conversion.
It is unclear what you are doing with the complementary filter. You can implement a pretty damn good sensor fusion based on the Direction Cosine Matrix IMU: Theory manuscript, which is basically a tutorial. It's not trivial to do it but I don't think you will find a better, more understandable tutorial than this manuscript.
One thing that I had to discover myself when I implemented sensor fusion based on this manuscript was that the so-called integral windup can occur. I took care of it by bounding the TotalCorrection (page 27). You will understand what I am talking about if you implement this sensor fusion.
UPDATE: Here I answer your questions that you posted in comments after accepting the answer.
I think the compass gives me my current orientation by using gravity and magnetic field, right? Is gyroscope used in the compass?
Yes, if the phone is more or less stationary for at least half a second, you can get a good orientation estimate by using gravity and the compass only. Here is how to do it: Can anyone tell me whether gravity sensor is as a tilt sensor to improve heading accuracy?
No, the gyroscopes are not used in the compass.
Could you please kindly explain why the integration done by me is wrong? I understand that if my phone's pitch points up, euler angle fails. But any other things wrong with my integration?
There are two unrelated things: (i) the integration should be done differently, (ii) Euler angles are trouble because of the Gimbal lock. I repeat, these two are unrelated.
As for the integration: here is a simple example how you can actually see what is wrong with your integration. Let x and y be the axes of the horizontal plane in the room. Get a phone in your hands. Rotate the phone around the x axis (of the room) by 45 degrees, then around the y axis (of the room) by 45 degrees. Then, repeat these steps from the beginning but now rotate around the y axis first, and then around the x axis. The phone ends up in a totally different orientation. If you do the integration according to CurrentOrientation += dR you will see no difference! Please read the above linked Direction Cosine Matrix IMU: Theory manuscript if you want to do the integration properly.
As for the Euler angles: they screw up the stability of the application and it is enough for me not to use them for arbitrary rotations in 3D.
I still don't understand why you are trying to do it yourself, why you don't want to use the orientation estimate provided by the platform. Chances are, you cannot do better than that.
I think you should avoid the depreciated "Orientation Sensor", and use sensor fusion methods like getRotationVector, getRotationMatrix that already implement fusion algorithms specially of Invensense, which already use gyroscope data.
If you want a simple sensor fusion algorithm called a balance filter
(refer http://www.filedump.net/dumped/filter1285099462.pdf) can be used. Approach is as in
http://postimg.org/image/9cu9dwn8z/
This integrates the gyroscope to get angle, then high-pass filters the result to remove
drift, and adds it to the smoothed accelerometer and compass results. The integrated, high-pass-fil-tered gyro data and the accelerometer/compass data are added in such a way that the two parts add
to one, so that the output is an accurate estimate in units that make sense.
For the balance filter, the time constant may be tweaked to tune the response. The shorter the time
constant, the better the response but the more acceleration noise will be allowed to pass through.
To see how this works, imagine you have the newest gyro data point (in rad/s) stored in gyro, the
newest angle measurement from the accelerometer is stored in angle_acc, and dtis the time from
the last gyro data until now. Then your new angle would be calculated using
angle = b * (angle + gyro*dt) + (1 - b) *(angle_acc);
You may start by trying b = 0.98 for instance. You will also probably want to use a fast gyroscope measurement time dt so the gyro doesn’t drift more than a couple of degrees before the next measurement is taken. The balance filter is useful and simple to implement, but is not the ideal sensor fusion approach.
Invensense’s approach involves some clever algorithms and probably some form of Kalman filter.
Source: Professional Android Sensor Programming, Adam Stroud.
If the azimuth value is inaccurate due to magnetic interference, there is nothing that you can do to eliminate it as far as I know. To get a stable reading of the azimuth you need to filter the accelerometer values if TYPE_GRAVITY is not available. If TYPE_GRAVITY is not available, then I am pretty sure that the device does not have a gyro, so the only filter that you can use is low pass filter. The following code is an implementation of a stable compass using TYPE_GRAVITY and TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD.
public class Compass implements SensorEventListener
{
public static final float TWENTY_FIVE_DEGREE_IN_RADIAN = 0.436332313f;
public static final float ONE_FIFTY_FIVE_DEGREE_IN_RADIAN = 2.7052603f;
private SensorManager mSensorManager;
private float[] mGravity;
private float[] mMagnetic;
// If the device is flat mOrientation[0] = azimuth, mOrientation[1] = pitch
// and mOrientation[2] = roll, otherwise mOrientation[0] is equal to Float.NAN
private float[] mOrientation = new float[3];
private LinkedList<Float> mCompassHist = new LinkedList<Float>();
private float[] mCompassHistSum = new float[]{0.0f, 0.0f};
private int mHistoryMaxLength;
public Compass(Context context)
{
mSensorManager = (SensorManager) context.getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE);
// Adjust the history length to fit your need, the faster the sensor rate
// the larger value is needed for stable result.
mHistoryMaxLength = 20;
}
public void registerListener(int sensorRate)
{
Sensor magneticSensor = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD);
if (magneticSensor != null)
{
mSensorManager.registerListener(this, magneticSensor, sensorRate);
}
Sensor gravitySensor = mSensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY);
if (gravitySensor != null)
{
mSensorManager.registerListener(this, gravitySensor, sensorRate);
}
}
public void unregisterListener()
{
mSensorManager.unregisterListener(this);
}
#Override
public void onAccuracyChanged(Sensor sensor, int accuracy)
{
}
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event)
{
if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_GRAVITY)
{
mGravity = event.values.clone();
}
else if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD)
{
mMagnetic = event.values.clone();
}
if (!(mGravity == null || mMagnetic == null))
{
mOrientation = getOrientation();
}
}
private void getOrientation()
{
float[] rotMatrix = new float[9];
if (SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(rotMatrix, null,
mGravity, mMagnetic))
{
float inclination = (float) Math.acos(rotMatrix[8]);
// device is flat
if (inclination < TWENTY_FIVE_DEGREE_IN_RADIAN
|| inclination > ONE_FIFTY_FIVE_DEGREE_IN_RADIAN)
{
float[] orientation = sensorManager.getOrientation(rotMatrix, mOrientation);
mCompassHist.add(orientation[0]);
mOrientation[0] = averageAngle();
}
else
{
mOrientation[0] = Float.NAN;
clearCompassHist();
}
}
}
private void clearCompassHist()
{
mCompassHistSum[0] = 0;
mCompassHistSum[1] = 0;
mCompassHist.clear();
}
public float averageAngle()
{
int totalTerms = mCompassHist.size();
if (totalTerms > mHistoryMaxLength)
{
float firstTerm = mCompassHist.removeFirst();
mCompassHistSum[0] -= Math.sin(firstTerm);
mCompassHistSum[1] -= Math.cos(firstTerm);
totalTerms -= 1;
}
float lastTerm = mCompassHist.getLast();
mCompassHistSum[0] += Math.sin(lastTerm);
mCompassHistSum[1] += Math.cos(lastTerm);
float angle = (float) Math.atan2(mCompassHistSum[0] / totalTerms, mCompassHistSum[1] / totalTerms);
return angle;
}
}
In your activity instantiate a Compass object say in onCreate, registerListener in onResume and unregisterListener in onPause
private Compass mCompass;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
mCompass = new Compass(this);
}
#Override
protected void onPause()
{
super.onPause();
mCompass.unregisterListener();
}
#Override
protected void onResume()
{
super.onResume();
mCompass.registerListener(SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_NORMAL);
}
Its better to let android's implementation of Orientation detection handle it. Now, yes values you get are from -PI to PI, and you can convert them to degrees (0-360).Some Relevant parts:
Saving data to be processed:
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent sensorEvent) {
switch (sensorEvent.sensor.getType()) {
case Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER:
mAccValues[0] = sensorEvent.values[0];
mAccValues[1] = sensorEvent.values[1];
mAccValues[2] = sensorEvent.values[2];
break;
case Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD:
mMagValues[0] = sensorEvent.values[0];
mMagValues[1] = sensorEvent.values[1];
mMagValues[2] = sensorEvent.values[2];
break;
}
}
Calculating roll, pitch and yaw (azimuth).mR and mI are arrys to hold rotation and inclination matrices, mO is a temporary array. The array mResults has the values in degrees, at the end:
private void updateData() {
SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(mR, mI, mAccValues, mMagValues);
/**
* arg 2: what world(according to app) axis , device's x axis aligns with
* arg 3: what world(according to app) axis , device's y axis aligns with
* world x = app's x = app's east
* world y = app's y = app's north
* device x = device's left side = device's east
* device y = device's top side = device's north
*/
switch (mDispRotation) {
case Surface.ROTATION_90:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(mR, SensorManager.AXIS_Y, SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X, mR2);
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_270:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(mR, SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y, SensorManager.AXIS_X, mR2);
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_180:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(mR, SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X, SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y, mR2);
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_0:
default:
mR2 = mR;
}
SensorManager.getOrientation(mR2, mO);
//--upside down when abs roll > 90--
if (Math.abs(mO[2]) > PI_BY_TWO) {
//--fix, azimuth always to true north, even when device upside down, realistic --
mO[0] = -mO[0];
//--fix, roll never upside down, even when device upside down, unrealistic --
//mO[2] = mO[2] > 0 ? PI - mO[2] : - (PI - Math.abs(mO[2]));
//--fix, pitch comes from opposite , when device goes upside down, realistic --
mO[1] = -mO[1];
}
CircleUtils.convertRadToDegrees(mO, mOut);
CircleUtils.normalize(mOut);
//--write--
mResults[0] = mOut[0];
mResults[1] = mOut[1];
mResults[2] = mOut[2];
}
I'm currently experimenting with some sensors of Android phones. For testing, I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S. As it does not have a gyroscope, I'm using accelerometer and sensor for magnetic field.
What I basically want to do, is to get a certain angle, when moving the device. I try to explain: consider you are holding the phone in landscape mode in front of your face and then you turn yourself by 90 degrees to the right.
I use the following code to get the current rotation matrix:
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER) {
mGravity = event.values.clone();
}
if (event.sensor.getType() == Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD) {
mGeomagnetic = event.values.clone();
}
if (mGravity != null && mGeomagnetic != null) {
float R[] = new float[9];
float I[] = new float[9];
boolean success = SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(R, I, mGravity,
mGeomagnetic);
}
}
This works well and then I use SensorManager.getAngleChange(angleChange, R, lastR); to achieve the angle change.
I then get (roughly) 65° in angleChange[1] if I turn myself as described above and do not tilt the phone or change anything else...
But if I also tilt the phone by 90° when turning myself (so that display is looking to the ceiling afterwards) I get (roughly) 90° in angleChange[1].
I'm very confused now, why such a rotation affects the value in angleChange[1] and on the other hand why it is needed to get the expected 90°.
What I want to achieve is to get the angle when moving the phone as described above (not in 90° degree steps but this sort of orientation change) no matter which other orientation changes (along the two other axes) are made.
Is there any possibility for this?
i made my own application in Android that use compass and accelerometer sensors to display the degrees of rotation and inclination of my device. I initialized all the listener and objects i needed (i followed some tutorials), and now i can catch the degrees as i wished. The problem is that the measures that sensors return aren't accurate. I mean even if i try to round the values of degrees i catch from the sensor, they oscillate between -/+ 7 (or 8) degrees every fraction of a second, even if i stay in a grass field away from any disturbing source. What i want to have is a accurate measure of the degrees, something like a method to round the values i recieve from the sensors.
float[] mags = null;
float[] accels = null;
float[] R = new float[matrix_size];
float[] outR = new float[matrix_size];
float[] I = new float[matrix_size];
float[] values = null;
private void startSensor() {
sensorMan.registerListener(this, sensorMan.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD), SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_UI);
sensorMan.registerListener(this, sensorMan.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER), SensorManager.SENSOR_DELAY_UI);
}
#Override
public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
if (event.accuracy == SensorManager.SENSOR_STATUS_UNRELIABLE) {
return;
}
switch (event.sensor.getType()) {
case Sensor.TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD:
mags = event.values.clone();
break;
case Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER:
accels = event.values.clone();
break;
}
if (mags != null && accels != null) {
SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(R, I, accels, mags);
// Correct if screen is in Landscape
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(R, SensorManager.AXIS_X,
SensorManager.AXIS_Z, outR);
SensorManager.getOrientation(outR, values);
azimuth = (float) Math.round((Math.toDegrees(values[0]))*7)/7;
azimuth = ( azimuth + 360)%360;
//here is inclination. The problem is just the same with compass
//inclination=-Math.round((float) (values[1]*(360/(2*Math.PI))));
//other code to update my view
//in azimuth i have the degree value. It changes continuously
//even if i aim still the same direction
}
}
See my answer here: Smoothing data from a sensor
I run this filter on both the accelerometer and magetometer event values before passing them to SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(). I think this algorithm has the advantage of not having to keep a large array of historic values, just the prior low-pass output array.
The algorithm was derived from this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-pass_filter#Algorithmic_implementation
What you're seeing is the real thing- the orientation sensors on most phones are only good enough to give you a rough compass heading.
If you want to smooth the displayed value out so it gives you something that's doesn't appear to change randomly I recommend implementing a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average or other smoothing filter in Java on that orientation result.
For the highest performance you could write the filter using the NDK and use the Boost Accumulators library: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_46_1/doc/html/accumulators.html
I did this using a Kalman filter from here:
Greg Czerniak's Website
I'm sending data to a udp port and smoothing it on the PC using python.
But I guess you can find a Kalman filter implementation for java/android out there.