Talk:Inertial navigation peripheral

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Comments

It's very nice to see this project. Couple of quick thoughts:

  • 3-axis compass and 3-axis accelerometer chips are just a couple of dollars in bulk.
  • 3-axis gyroscope chips are still a bit more expensive (say $20 in bulk). Though perhaps that's changed.
  • Combo chips can make for a smaller package.
  • Camera optical-flow might be an alternative to the gyro. Though the computes may be a problem on an XO, and there are issues (eg, occluding student, featureless background).
  • One might punt gyros and...
    • just do stationary attitude determination. Eg, hold up XO to the sky, and overlay star chart; point it down at the ground, and see through the Earth.
    • focus on Wii-ish UI input, rather than navigation.
    • just do applications where you can prevent tilt, or at least prevent rotation around one axis (and then use a second accelerometer, plugged into the opposite side of the XO).
  • Mac's, with their 3-axis accelerometers and webcams, might be useful as a development platform.
  • Both accelerometer and compass have been wish listed for XO-2. I've no idea if that's flying. Perhaps your project will nudge the issue.

MitchellNCharity 00:00, 18 October 2008 (UTC)