A high resolution tilt measurement system based on multi-accelerometers

Yinsheng Weng, Shudong Wang, Hongcai Zhang, Hairong Gu, Xueyong Wei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, a wireless tilt measurement system of high resolution is proposed and demonstrated using multiple MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) accelerometers. The measurement system is mainly composed of MEMS accelerometers as sensing unit, a MCU (Micro Controller Unit), wireless transceivers, battery and a PC terminal. Three MEMS accelerometers are purposely located with specific orientations and the system output is determined from the accelerometer that is most sensitive in the tilting range of the object under testing. The raw measured signal collected by the MCU is processed using Kalman Filter (KF) and the analyzed data is transmitted to the PC terminal by a wireless module. The effect of different KF parameters are analyzed using the Allan variance. After eliminating the accelerometers’ installation errors, the measuring resolution of system is found to be 0.02° in the whole range from 0° to 360°. In the step test of tilting back and forth, it is found that the absolute measurement error is less than 0.004° for the step change of 0.05°.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)215-222
Number of pages8
JournalMeasurement
Volume109
Online published24 May 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2017
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51575439 and 51421004), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2014jm2-5054) and National Engineering Laboratory for Highway Maintenance Equipment (2014G1502004).

Research Keywords

  • Accelerometer
  • Allan variance
  • Kalman filter
  • Tilt measurement

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