Usb or bluetooth accelerometer

[Riel D Burrows]

Hi everyone,

I am new to electronics. I know just enough to understand how things can work together and a limited understanding of circuit boards and how things work. I can remove and replace parts on boards but i need help. I have a project that has been bugging me for years, yes years... I searched not really knowing how to find what I am looking for.

I am looking to be able to add a orientation module to monitors. I know its an accelerometer be it 3,6 or 12 axis. I know you can find usb and bluetooth modules but i don't know how to make them work with a monitor. I suspect bluetooth would be a better option as is wireless. But again how do make this work with the screen rotaion. Do i need special software to get it to work? Do i need a special module?

I don't have enough back ground sorry and i know some will say don't bother or go learn for myself. I have been trying to teach myself slowly about some electronics but with work and kids its time to ask for help or my idea will never take off.

So any ideas?

I am looking for both android and pc. Ya i know thats a tall order.

Thank you in advance

 

[Dr_Doggy]

HI!
Assuming you want to DIY, you would need to start with the accelerator, from there you can use a microchip to decode it from acc data and encode it to serial data to send it down the bluetooth pipe(there are other protocols available but thats prolly easiest, from there you will need software on PC side to receive the data, decode , and decide what it is goin to do with that information.

A quick search for bluetooth acc returns lots of gadgets for sale that take care of the hardware side of what you want, then from there its software.

What kind of rotation are you thinking?
just basic portrate/landscape orientation or per degree?

.. depending on the complexity of requirements you may be able to use prebuilt functions in programming or may need to diy it, what is this for , a game, or more of a background worker?

 

[Reloadron]

Actually what you are asking is really not all that tall of an order. I'll give you a few thoughts. Think of an accelerometer as a sensor, after all that is what it is. A very basic accelerometer may have a single axis, the more complex we add more axis. Think of an axis as a channel. Let's use an accelerometer as an example:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION The ADXL335 is a small, thin, low power, complete 3-axis accelerometer with signal conditioned voltage outputs.
Data sheets will be your new best friend. The three axis outputs are X-out, Y-out and Z-out. What the sensor or transducer is really doing is converting a mechanical form of energy to a voltage. That is what is going on. This accelerometer could be mounted on a board just like this one. SparkFun Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL335.

The output signals are analog voltages that are proportional to acceleration. The accelerometer can measure the static acceleration of gravity in tilt-sensing applications as well as dynamic acceleration resulting from motion, shock, or vibration.

With all similar devices what we get is a range in engineering units, be it G Force, Pressure (PSI), Temperature Degrees C or F, any engineering unit results in a proportional voltage out. Now we need to do something with that voltage. We need to measure it and convert it back to engineering units. There are literally dozens of ways to go about this. You mention USB and a PC? OK, maybe a module similar to these? Modules like this are marketed by a dozen companies, many include basic starter software or instructions to write your own. I only use the link to the Dataq modules because I have used them in the past. As to how accurate you end up with? Modules like this use an Analog to Digital conversion. You may want to read up on that. The higher the bit count the better the resolution but the higher the cost.

Rather than a module like this you can just as easily use for example an Arduino module.

You can have USB, or any number of communication types. Think of all of it as building blocks.

Ron

 

[Riel D Burrows]

HI!
Assuming you want to DIY, you would need to start with the accelerator, from there you can use a microchip to decode it from acc data and encode it to serial data to send it down the bluetooth pipe(there are other protocols available but thats prolly easiest, from there you will need software on PC side to receive the data, decode , and decide what it is goin to do with that information.

A quick search for bluetooth acc returns lots of gadgets for sale that take care of the hardware side of what you want, then from there its software.

What kind of rotation are you thinking?
just basic portrate/landscape orientation or per degree?

.. depending on the complexity of requirements you may be able to use prebuilt functions in programming or may need to diy it, what is this for , a game, or more of a background worker?

Hi there and thank you for your quick reply.

The hardware side i have a decent grasp and i understand there are many different ways one could go about it. Arduino seems to be the easiest (progaming asside) them direct progaming of sensors to the os of choice.
Another board pointed me to instructables. I have searched there but seemed to have missed the 2 i got pointed to. I have ordered a few books circuits for beginners, and two different arduino books, one is for arduino circuits and one is the programming side. Seems arduino maybe the easiest route to do what i need for my project. Also ordered a beginners sets for arduino and a bigger bread board beginners kit. Will start with some projects to learn and then go to what i need.

I just need screen rotation for now. Portrait to landscape. The rest of the sensors would be another time. What i really need is to find someone to help me on this project. Cause in the end i will need 3d printing etc. Lol. Thank you for your quick reply.

Well its really just to rotate a screen. I want to basicly have a second screen and be able to rotate it independently of the source i know that would also rotate the screen on the source as well but thats fine. I know to have a second independently rotating screen like say a pc is for android is very unlikely i would have to write basicly all new os to have be able to do that is my guess

 

[Riel D Burrows]

Actually what you are asking is really not all that tall of an order. I'll give you a few thoughts. Think of an accelerometer as a sensor, after all that is what it is. A very basic accelerometer may have a single axis, the more complex we add more axis. Think of an axis as a channel. Let's use an accelerometer as an example:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION The ADXL335 is a small, thin, low power, complete 3-axis accelerometer with signal conditioned voltage outputs.
Data sheets will be your new best friend. The three axis outputs are X-out, Y-out and Z-out. What the sensor or transducer is really doing is converting a mechanical form of energy to a voltage. That is what is going on. This accelerometer could be mounted on a board just like this one. SparkFun Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL335.

With all similar devices what we get is a range in engineering units, be it G Force, Pressure (PSI), Temperature Degrees C or F, any engineering unit results in a proportional voltage out. Now we need to do something with that voltage. We need to measure it and convert it back to engineering units. There are literally dozens of ways to go about this. You mention USB and a PC? OK, maybe a module similar to these? Modules like this are marketed by a dozen companies, many include basic starter software or instructions to write your own. I only use the link to the Dataq modules because I have used them in the past. As to how accurate you end up with? Modules like this use an Analog to Digital conversion. You may want to read up on that. The higher the bit count the better the resolution but the higher the cost.

Rather than a module like this you can just as easily use for example an Arduino module.

You can have USB, or any number of communication types. Think of all of it as building blocks.

Ron

I have looked at the spark just before reading your post. (Discovered when google searching sometimes easier to look at images then go to the site) My biggest issue is the programming side I have zero knowledge. I know i can learn but time is always against me. Kids, family and work am never home and when i am family and kids (I'm a supervisor repairing bridges across an entire province) live in canada.
I have ordered some books and a beginners arduino kit.

Thank you for your help. I may need to make a friend to help me with this project.

When i was younger when petiums first came out, i had an ibm aptiva (horrible pc) they decided to make a sound card and modem combo card. I had to teach myself how to write script to make the damn modem side of the card to work (wanted to play war craft on dialup lol)

Thank you for your help.

 

[Reloadron]

Sparkfun is just one example of the vendors out there. I have used them in the past and no complaints at all.

Programming, be it for an Arduino or any of the little modules I linked to really isn't all that bad. There are literally thousands of code samples out there for Arduino and the other modules I linked to come with basic charting software. Something worth noting at this point. The little Dataq Starter Kits I linked to I like because they include customization software run off a PC and the software allows you to record. The record feature is nice as the files are saved to your PC. Arduino also allows recording and there are piggy back boards which sort of stack on Arduino allowing the use of memory cards. I have a few Arduino boards and have played around with data acquisition using Arduino but not much and a large computer crash cost me much of what I had saved in Arduino.

I will help you wherever I can. I am a retired electrical engineering type who retired at 63 back in 2013. While I stay with electronics as a minor hobby I do not remain very "state of the art" as I did when putting beanies and weenies on the table. I love the shooting sports and as winter settles in I drift back to my electronic forums. Too cold for the high power rifle range I love and indoor ranges just don't offer the distance. On the bright side we have some guys who are really good with u-controllers in this forum as well as electronic knowledge in general.

As you figure out exactly where you want to go with this there should be plenty of help.

Ron

 

[Riel D Burrows]

Hi thank you for the reply. Wife and are just getting our pal certificates (possession and acquisition licence) here in canada. Not alot of time to shoot but saturdays and odd holidays then retirement in 24 years lol.

I am idea person i know how to put the hardware I just designed a pass through for the lg g5 to get around there module bs. LG made the bottom module theirs and no one else can make one of there own. But if you put make a pass through that allows a connection outside of the phone via say the case. .. You get around the module. Had a company want it. No big money to me for that but was so tired of having the ideas and never getting them anywhere. They were so excited by my drawings when they got them.

I just have no idea how to market and develop the products myself. Lol

 

[Reloadron]

You will look back surprised at how quickly 24 years blows past.

Enjoy shooting!

Ron