Determination of the angle of the device inclination relative to the horizon using a measuring system based on the MPU6050 microelectromechanical sensor

Abstract

At present time microelectromechanical systems have become widely used. Accelerometers and gyroscopes are prominent examples of a microelectromechanical system. In this article we consider the possibility of using a measuring system based on the microelectromechanical sensor module MPU6050 for determination the angle of device inclination relative to the horizon. This module can be used for the digital protractors, in various devices to stabilize the position, to determine the speed of inclination, etc. The main advantage of the microelectromechanical sensor MPU6050 over all others sensors are its low cost and wide possibilities of parameters measurement, as well as the possibility to obtain digital data output. The MPU6050 allows to measure acceleration and rotation speed, however the ability of direct measurement of the inclination angle is not provided. To measure the inclination angle a "side effect" is used, which changes the value of the acceleration of free fall when changing the inclination angle relative to the horizon. The main problem related to application of this module is a strong noise in output values. This limits the ability of using of this sensor for accurate measurements and measurements at high movement speeds. But using of mathematical processing of measurement results makes it possible to obtain static values with an accuracy of 0.05 degrees, which allows using the MPU6050 sensor analogously to other sensors designed for measurement of the inclination angle. The processing technique given by the authors allows to significantly reduce the digital noise that occurs when the sensor is in a static position. The reduction of digital noise is achieved due to the fact that the microelectromechanical sensor MPU6050 allows to measure the angular velocity, consequently the inclination angle relative to the horizon cannot be changed at static position of the sensor, i.e. when the angular velocity around the axis is equal to zero. Conversely, when the angular velocity is not equal to zero, the inclination angle of the sensor changes. Moreover, the greater the value of the angular velocity leads to the faster change the of inclination angle values, this phenomenon is taken into account in the mathematical model of inclination angle calculation.