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SparkFun VR IMU Breakout - BNO080 (Qwiic)
Virtual reality is in, but you shouldn’t have to drop hundreds of dollars to gain access to the technology behind it. Luckily, that’s where the SparkFun VR IMU Breakout comes in. At its heart is Bosch’s BNO080, a combination triple-axis accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer SiP, packaged with a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+. The BNO080 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) produces accurate rotation vector headings, excellently suited for VR and other heading applications, with a static rotation error of two degrees or less. The VR IMU is exactly what we’ve been waiting for: All the sensor data is combined and drift-corrected into meaningful, accurate IMU information. It’s perfect for any project that needs to sense orientation or motion. This IMU breakout board has also been equipped with two I2C Qwiic connectors, in order to make interfacing with the tiny, QFN package a bit easier. It’s part of SparkFun’s Qwiic connect system, so you won’t have to do any soldering to figure out how things are oriented. However, we still have broken out 0.1"-spaced pins in case you prefer to use a breadboard.
The BNO080 was designed to be implemented in Android-based cellular phones to handle all the computations necessary for virtual reality goggles using only your phone. The sensor is quite powerful, and with power comes a complex interface. Thanks to the solder jumpers on the board, you will be able to select between two different I2C addresses, but if I2C is not your first communication choice, the sensor is capable of communicating over SPI and UART as well! We’ve also written an I2C-based library that provides the rotation vector (the reading most folks want from an IMU) as well as acceleration, gyro and magnetometer readings, step counting, activity classifier (such as riding a bike) and calibration.
The SparkFun Qwiic connect system is an ecosystem of I2C sensors, actuators, shields and cables that make prototyping faster and less prone to error. All Qwiic-enabled boards use a common 1mm pitch, 4-pin JST connector. This reduces the amount of required PCB space, and polarized connections mean you can’t hook it up wrong.
Note: This is the same “High Precision” VR IMU that SparkX produced, not the original version that preceded it without the on-board 32kHz crystal.
- Operating Voltage: 1.65V - 3.6V
- I2C (Default): Up to 400kHz
- SPI: Up to 3MHz
- UART: 3Mbps
- Rotation Vector
- Dynamic Error: 3.5°
- Static Error: 2.0°
- Gaming Rotation Vector
- Dynamic Error: 2.5°
- Static Error: 1.5°
- Heading Drift: 0.5° / min
- Geomagnetic Rotation Vector
- Dynamic Rotation Error: 4.5°
- Static Rotation Error: 3.0°
- Gravity Angle Error: 1.5°
- Linear Acceleration Accuracy: 0.35m/s2
- Accelerometer Accuracy: 0.3m/s2
- Gyroscope Accuracy: 3.1° / sec
- Magnetometer Accuracy: 1.4µT
- 2x Qwiic Connection Ports
SparkFun VR IMU Breakout - BNO080 (Qwiic) Product Help and Resources
Qwiic VR IMU (BNO080) Hookup Guide
April 30, 2018
Figure out how things are oriented with the robust 9 degrees of freedom (DOF) BNO080 IMU. Maybe even make your own virtual reality (VR) applications if you're feeling savvy.
Core Skill: Programming
If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.
Skill Level: Competent - The toolchain for programming is a bit more complex and will examples may not be explicitly provided for you. You will be required to have a fundamental knowledge of programming and be required to provide your own code. You may need to modify existing libraries or code to work with your specific hardware. Sensor and hardware interfaces will be SPI or I2C.
See all skill levels
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Rookie - You may be required to know a bit more about the component, such as orientation, or how to hook it up, in addition to power requirements. You will need to understand polarized components.
See all skill levels
Cool device!
If you want to use the Euler angles this is a good reference: https://www.vectornav.com/docs/default-source/documentation/vn-100-documentation/AN002.pdf
<b>Or…</b> // Get the euler angles struct Euler{ float yaw; float pitch; float roll; };
struct Quant{ float i; float j; float k; float real; };
Quant myQuant; Euler eul;
// Return the Euler angle structure from a Quanterion structure Euler getAngles(Quant q){
Euler ret_val;
float x; float y;
/ YAW **********/ x = 2 * ((q.i * q.j) + (q.real * q.k)); y = square(q.real) - square(q.k) - square(q.j) + square(q.i); ret_val.yaw = degrees(atan2(y, x));
/ PITCH ********/ ret_val.pitch = degrees(asin(-2 * (q.i * q.k - q.j * q.real)));
/ ROLL *********/ x = 2 * ((q.j * q.k) + (q.i * q.real)); y = square(q.real) + square(q.k) - square(q.j) - square(q.i); ret_val.roll = degrees(atan2(y , x));
return ret_val;
}
I would love to see a version of this with a corresponding bluetooth module for quick communication from a PC or mobile device!