BFF Motion Driver v3 - Short User Guide


Previous    Contents     Next

 

19. x-IMU Inertial Measurement Unit Interface App

In V3.411+ of the Generic motion software an interface App for the x-IMU inertial measurement unit has been added.

The App can be found in the x_IMU_Sender folder in the main Generic Motion Driver zip. To run the App double click on the .exe in the App folder, or set up a shortcut that points to the exe - DO NOT remove the App from the other files in the App's folder.

The x-IMU_Sender App reads acceleration and orientation data from the x-IMU via its virtual COM port (USB) connection.

It processes the data and then exports it via UDP to the Generic 6 DOF Motion Driver.

The x-IMU_Sender App therefore runs on the same PC/Laptop as the x-IMU is connected to.

The Generic Motion Driver can also run on the same PC, or on a networked PC.

The x-IMU_Sender App reads data from the following x-IMU data packets:

CAL_BATTERY_AND_THERMOMETER_DATA
CAL_INERTIAL_AND_MAGNETIC_DATA
QUATERNION_DATA

So please ensure that these packets are available in the x-IMU output stream. 

Settings:

Configuration settings for the App are made in the X-IMU_Sender.ini file in the Apps folder. Open it with a text editor (eg NotePad) and set the x-IMU COM port and baud.

The COM port must be in the range COM1 to 9.

Baud is usually 115200 but may be different if you have configured the x-IMU differently.

UDP settings are the UDP Port and IP address of both the sender PC and the PC on which the motion software is running. If both are on the same PC a loop-back IP address can be used (eg 127.0.0.1).

Note: The target PC receiving Port must also be set correctly in the Generic Motion Software's .bff config file. See Section 14 for details.

The rate at which the sender app samples the x-IMU data can be controlled by the [Loop] Delay parameter in the ini file. Reducing the Delay value will increase the loop speed of the app. Note however the loop speed of the motion software is also significant, so setting a high sample rate for the Sender App will not have much end effect if the motion software is looping more slowly.

Tuning:

A default 6dof-Default-Generic-IMU.bff configuration file is provided in the motion software zip. However you will need to adjust the motion cue settings to suit the motion of the vehicle/device the x-IMU is mounted on; the acceleration and angle ranges will depend on the nature of the motion.

 

Previous    Contents     Next

FLIGHT SIM HOME
 
Copyright © 2010-16 BFF Design Ltd All Rights Reserved.