6 Degrees of Freedom IMU Digital Combo Board

This is a simple breakout for the ADXL345 accelerometer and the ITG-3200 MEMS gyro. This board provides 6 degrees of freedom. The sensors communicate over I2C and one INT output pin from each sensor is broken out.

During many applications, users use one sensor to back up the other. For example, the accelerometer is good at determining absolute angle, but not so good at this when the robot is moving. Also, the gyroscope is good at determining angular rate of change, but not good at finding an absolute angle.

It's a perfect fit for those looking for the Dual Use Gyro and Accelerometer Sensor Board that has been used in the past.

This IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is a system comprised of an accelerometer and a gyroscope working in tandem to compensate for the pitfalls of each other. Correctly setup, the gyro is able to kick in where an accelerometer leaves off, and vise versa. A gyro is great at measuring rotation, but has no understanding of orientation. And an accelerometer is good at determining orientation, but has no ability to keep track during movement and rotation. But just sticking these together wont give you a clean orientation, we need some hardcore math that will be able to take both the readings, along with previous readings, and make a really good estimate of what is going on.

Checkout a full tutorial of this board being used with an Arduino.

Features:

• ADXL345 accelerometer
• ITG-3200 gyro
• 3.3V input
• I2C interface

Mounting: Clearance holes for an M3 or 4-40 screw are present on the board. We recommend plastic screws for electrically isolating the board from a metal mounting plate. Also, it may be wise to use a shock-absorbing pad or grommet to isolate signals to the board.