Mobile Computing
Dr. Ayman Alhelbawy , 18th April 2023
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Mobile Sensing (2)
Sensor: Gyroscope
• Gyro sensors are devices that sense angular
velocity
• Angular velocity is the change in rotational
angle per unit of time. Angular velocity is
generally expressed in deg/s (degrees per
second)
• Could you give some applications that needs
Gyroscope sensor?
Sensor: Gyroscope
• Measures the rate of rotation (angular speed) around an axis
• Speed is expressed in rad/s on 3 axis
• When the device is not rotating, the sensor values will be zeros
• It gives us 3 values
• Pitch value (rotation around X axis)
• Roll value (rotation around Y axis)
• Yaw value (rotation around Z axis)
• Unfortunately, gyroscope is error prone over time.
• As time goes, gyroscope introduces drift in result
• By sensor fusion (combining accelerometer and gyroscope), results can
be corrected and path of movement of device can be obtained correctly
Accelerometer vs. Gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Senses linear movement: not good for rotations,
good for tilt detection
• Does not know difference between gravity and
linear movement
• Gyroscope
• Measures all types of rotations
• Not movement
• A+G = both rotation and movement tracking possible
Sensor: Proximity
• A proximity sensor can detect the presence of nearby objects without
physical contact
• It often emits an electromagnetic ield (e.g., infrared) and looks for
changes in the ield or return signal
• It is usually used by mobile device to determine how far a person’s head
is from the face of a handset
• E.g., a user is making a phone call
• The measured results could be different based on different devices
• Most proximity sensors return the absolute distance in centimeters
(cm)
• Some return only a lag that represents near or far
• Some return either 0.0 or the maximum value only
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Sensor: Light
• It gives a reading of the light level detected by the light sensor of
the device
• Located at front of mobile device near to front facing camera
• The units are in LX units (illuminance, or luminous lux per unit
area)
• The device uses the data to adjust the display’s brightness
automatically
• When ambient light is plentiful, the screen’s brightness is
pumped up and when it is dark, the display is dimmed down
• High-end phones use an advanced light sensor that can measure
white, red, green, and blue light independently to ine tune image
representation
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Sensor: Thermometer
• Used to measure Ambient temperature outside of the device
• There’s thermometer in almost every mobile device and
some handsets might have more than one of them.
• However, they are used to monitor the temperature inside
the device and its battery to detect overheating
• A temperature sensor detects a change in a physical
parameter such as resistance or output voltage that
corresponds to a temperature change
• Contact (direct physical contact) vs. non-contact (radiant
energy of a heat source)
Sensor: Pressure
• Some higher-end mobile devices have a built-in
pressure sensor (barometer) which can
measure atmospheric pressure
• The data is used to determine how high the
device is above sea level, which in turn can help
improve GPS accuracy
Sensor: Pressure
• Traditional
Barometer :
• P = pgh
• p: density of
luid
• Is it practical? Barometer
• Piezo-resistive and Piezoelectric is used instead
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Sensor: Sound
• A microphone is an acoustic to electric transducer that
converts sound into an electrical signal.
• Microphones capture sound waves with a thin, lexible
diaphragm. The vibrations of this element are then
converted by various methods into an electrical signal
that is an analog of the original sound.
• Most microphones in use today use electromagnetic
generation (dynamic microphones), capacitance change
(condenser microphones) or piezo-electric generation
to produce the signal from mechanical vibration.
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Thank You
Questions?????
