The device is a miniature, self-contained solid state orientation sensor.
The unit utilizes three magnetometers and three accelerometers to
calculate pitch, roll, and yaw (compass heading) angles relative to the
earth's magnetic and gravitational fields. The three orientation angles
are output in digital RS232 or optional multi-drop RS485. The device can
also be programmed to provide raw accelerometer and magnetometer data in
true physical units. The device is capable of measuring angles from 0 to
360 degrees on the yaw axis, 0 to 360 degrees on the pitch axis, and -70
to +70 degrees on the roll axis. The yaw output is compensated for errors
due to pitch and roll using embedded algorithms. Applications include
fast solid state compassing, robotics, virtual reality, down-hole well
drilling, and body position tracking for biomedical and multimedia
applications.