An iPad's gyroscope measures its orientation and movement.
The Apple iPad includes several sensors that are used to determine the tablet's position and rate of movement. These include its GPS sensor and an accelerometer. All iPads except for the original model also include a gyroscope for precise measurement of iPad movements.
Specifications
3-axis gyroscope
Sensor Fusion software
What Does It Do?
The gyroscope is familiar to many people as a toy top for children that consists of a central spinning disc with two surrounding rings. The inner ring is free-floating and can adjust its orientation. The outer ring is mounted or gravity-balanced on one point in a free-standing gyroscope. The spinning disc maintains the same orientation due to centripetal force while the outer rings move separately, allowing measurement of the orientation of the gyroscope through the movement of its rings.
What Makes It Unique?
The gyroscope was invented and improved over the course of the 19th century and has been well understood for a long time. Two breakthroughs are responsible for its inclusion in handheld devices: its miniaturization onto a microprocessor chip, and the use of Sensor Fusion software, which combines its measurements with those of accelerometer and GPS chips.
Sensor Fusion
Sensor Fusion software combines information from multiple sensors to provide a fast and accurate reading of a tablet's orientation in space. An accelerometer can do this by itself to a limited extent, but an accelerometer plus a gyroscope combine for much faster and more accurate results. This is useful in many gaming and other iPad apps. For example, with the aid of the sensors and Sensor Fusion software, a user can "steer" an onscreen object instantly by rotating or tilting the iPad.
GPS Enhancement
Sensor Fusion and gyroscopic measurements can also aid GPS measurements when GPS satellite signals are weak or intermittent. A GPS reading provides a measurement of position within a few meters, but subsequent accelerometer and gyroscope measurements can provide an estimate of a new position in between GPS readings. For example, a recorded acceleration of 30 MPH plus a gyroscopic slope of 10 degrees can accurately locate an automobile on a specific section of road near its previous GPS coordinates.
Who Is It Best For?
Gyroscopic improvements to accelerometer and GPS measurements provide a wide range of improvements to many apps, including users of mapping, gaming and social networking apps.
Tags: Sensor Fusion, Fusion software, Sensor Fusion software, measurements provide, spinning disc
