Tag Archives: Tilt Compensated Compass

Removing Digital Compass Glitches and Wrap Around Issues

In this video lesson we continue to improve our Arduino IMU project incorporating the GY-87 9-axis sensor module. In last weeks lesson, we had added tilt compensation to the project, so the IMU reports accurate Heading values, even if the sensor is tilted. This creates a tilt compensated digital compass. We are now getting ready to begin building graphical displays on the SSD1306 OLED display. In order to do that, we must clean up a few things on the project. First, our compass presently reports headings between +/- 180 degrees. For standard compasses, North is a heading of 0 degrees, and rotating clockwise reports increasing number, up to 359. Then the compass returns to North, as it has been rotated all the way around. The other issue we clean up in todays lesson is associated with the so called wrap around glitch. That is, if we move only two degrees, from 1 degree to 359 degrees, it is a very small physical change, but the complimentary filter sees it as a large change, and it filters that change. The practical implication of this is that the needle on the compass will take the long way around the dial when making this transition, and it creates a very awkward glitch in the display. We will show you how to solve the wrap around glitch.

This is the schematic we have been using for  this project:

MPU6050
Schematic for connecting the GY-87 module to the Arduino

This is the code we developed in today’s lesson. Understand, you must calibrate your sensor module, as we taught in THIS LESSON. Then you need to put those calibration values into the code below for it  to work accurately for your sensor module.