Grove - 3 axis Accelerometer

Introduction

The "Grove - 3 axis Accelerometer" is a 3 axis accelerometer that is accessible via a digital I2C interface.
This accelerometer module is based on MMA7660FC chip and it can be used for sensor data changes, product orientation, and gesture detection through an interrupt pin (INT).
It is a very low power, low profile capacitive MEMS sensor.


An accelerometer is a device that will measure the static acceleration and the dynamic acceleration.

  • Static acceleration force is generated by a gravitational pull. When measuring static acceleration with a capacitive accelerometer, the measurements would portray the angle of tilt at which the device is being held or suspended in relation to the Earth's gravitational pull.
  • Dynamic acceleration force is generated by vibrations from movement. Measuring vibrations allows a capacitive accelerometer to determine in which direction the device is moving and at what speed.


Required Components


Product Specifications

  • Digital Output (I2C)
  • 3 axis motion/orientation sensing
  • Acceleration Range: ±1.5g (1g = 9.8m/s^2)
  • Sensitivity: 21.33 counts/g
  • Working voltage: 3V - 5V
  • Resolution: 6bit


How it works

There are many different kind of accelerometer, for example piezoelectric and capacitive accelerometers.
In our case this accelerometer is capacitive.
The sensor can be modeled as a movable beam that moves between two mechanically fixed beams (Figure below) and there is a certain capacitance between them.
If an accelerative force moves one of the structures, the capacitance will change.
In the end some circuits will convert the capacity into voltage.

/media/uploads/edodm85/acc_cap.jpg


Pin Description

/media/uploads/edodm85/devide.jpg


Connectivity

HC05 pinMbed pin
1 - SCLP27 - SCL
2 - SDAP28 - SDA
3 - VccVout - 3.3V
4 - GNDGND

NOTE: The I2C bus is already connected to pull-up resistor.


Register Summary

/media/uploads/edodm85/reg2.jpg

NOTE: The device must be placed in Standby Mode to change the value of the registers.


Test Code

Import program

00001 /* Author: Edoardo De Marchi 
00002  * Name: Test Code for MMA7660FC
00003  */
00004 #include "mbed.h"
00005 #include "MMA7660FC.h"
00006 
00007 #define ADDR_MMA7660 0x98                   // I2C SLAVE ADDR MMA7660FC
00008 
00009 MMA7660FC Acc(p28, p27, ADDR_MMA7660);      //sda, scl, Addr
00010 Serial pc(USBTX, USBRX);
00011 
00012 
00013 float G_VALUE[64] = {0, 0.047, 0.094, 0.141, 0.188, 0.234, 0.281, 0.328, 0.375, 0.422, 0.469, 0.516, 0.563, 0.609, 0.656, 0.703, 0.750, 0.797, 0.844, 0.891, 0.938, 0.984, 1.031, 1.078, 1.125, 1.172, 1.219, 1.266, 1.313, 1.359, 1.406, 1.453, -1.500, -1.453, -1.406, -1.359, -1.313, -1.266, -1.219, -1.172, -1.125, -1.078, -1.031, -0.984, -0.938, -0.891, -0.844, -0.797, -0.750, -0.703, -0.656, -0.609, -0.563, -0.516, -0.469, -0.422, -0.375, -0.328, -0.281, -0.234, -0.188, -0.141, -0.094, -0.047};
00014 
00015 
00016 
00017 int main() 
00018 {
00019 
00020     Acc.init();                                                     // Initialization
00021     pc.printf("Value reg 0x06: %#x\n", Acc.read_reg(0x06));         // Test the correct value of the register 0x06
00022     pc.printf("Value reg 0x08: %#x\n", Acc.read_reg(0x08));         // Test the correct value of the register 0x08
00023     pc.printf("Value reg 0x07: %#x\n\r", Acc.read_reg(0x07));       // Test the correct value of the register 0x07
00024            
00025     while(1)
00026     {   
00027         float x=0, y=0, z=0;
00028         
00029         Acc.read_Tilt(&x, &y, &z);                                  // Read the acceleration                    
00030         pc.printf("Tilt x: %2.2f degree \n", x);                    // Print the tilt orientation of the X axis
00031         pc.printf("Tilt y: %2.2f degree \n", y);                    // Print the tilt orientation of the Y axis
00032         pc.printf("Tilt z: %2.2f degree \n", z);                    // Print the tilt orientation of the Z axis
00033 
00034         wait_ms(100);
00035 
00036         pc.printf("x: %1.3f g \n", G_VALUE[Acc.read_x()]);          // Print the X axis acceleration
00037         pc.printf("y: %1.3f g \n", G_VALUE[Acc.read_y()]);          // Print the Y axis acceleration
00038         pc.printf("z: %1.3f g \n", G_VALUE[Acc.read_z()]);          // Print the Z axis acceleration
00039         pc.printf("\n");
00040         wait(5);
00041           
00042     }
00043 }
00044 


The g values or tilt values are converted using the "MM7660FC ACQUISITION CODE TABLE" that you can find it on page 28 of the MMA7660FC datasheet.


Library

Import library

Public Member Functions

MMA7660FC (PinName sda, PinName scl, int addr)
Creates an MMA7660FC object connected to the specified I2C object.
~MMA7660FC ()
Destroys an MMA7660FC object.
void init ()
Initialization of device MMA7660FC (required)
void read_Tilt (float *x, float *y, float *z)
Read the Tilt Angle using Three Axis.
int read_x ()
Reads the x register of the MMA7660FC .
int read_y ()
Reads the y register of the MMA7660FC .
int read_z ()
Reads the z register of the MMA7660FC .
char const * read_Side ()
Reads the Front or Back position of the device.
char const * read_Orientation ()
Reads the Orientation of the device.
char read_reg (char addr)
Reads from specified MMA7660FC register.
void write_reg (char addr, char data)
Writes to specified MMA7660FC register.
int check ()
Checks if the address exist on an I2C bus.


The initialization is needed because it sets the "Mode" register to "Active Mode" which is required for read the data of the x,y,z axis.


Output

/media/uploads/edodm85/read_g4.jpg

The image below show the data sent from I2C bus (clock = yellow signal, data = purple signal).

/media/uploads/edodm85/d016.jpeg



THANKS: thanks mbed and seeedstudio for the module


2 comments on Grove - 3 axis Accelerometer:

23 Jul 2012

Thank you for your post. However you haven't post how to calculate the angle from the outputs. Please give me more details about that. THANKS

24 Jul 2012

Thanks farouk baya. I obtained the three angles X,Y,Z from the table "MMA7660FC ACQUISITION CODE TABLE" on page 28 of MMA7660FC datasheet that converts the 6bit output into angle.

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