Advanced Android Development

Sensors

Lesson 3

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 3.2 Motion and
position sensors
Monitor device movement or position in space

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Contents

● Overview of motion and position sensors

● Determining device orientation
● Understanding device rotation
● Using motion sensors
● Using position sensors

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 Overview
Motion and position sensors

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Motion and position sensors

● Motion and position sensors monitor device

movement or position in space respectively
● Both return multi-dimensional arrays of sensor
values for each SensorEvent
○ Example: Accelerometer returns acceleration force data
for 3 coordinate axes (x, y, z) relative to device

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Coordinate systems

● Device coordinate system : Some sensors use

device coordinate system relative to the device
○ Example: Accelerometers

● Earth coordinate system : Other sensors use

Earth coordinate system relative to Earth surface
○ Example: Magnetometer

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Device coordinates (1)
● Relative to physical device
regardless of device position in the
world
● x is horizontal and points right
● y is vertical and points up
● z points toward outside of screen
● Negative z points behind screen
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Device coordinates (2)
● Relative to the device screen when
device is in its default orientation
● Axes are not swapped when
orientation changes by rotation
● App must transform incoming
sensor data to match rotation

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Earth coordinates
● y points to magnetic north along
Earth's surface
● x is 90 degrees from y, pointing
east
● z extends up into space
● Negative z extends down into
ground
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Determining
device
orientation

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Device orientation
● Position of device relative to Earth's
coordinates (y points to magnetic
north)
● Determine by using accelerometer
and geomagnetic field sensor with
methods in SensorManager

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Components of orientation
● Azimuth
○ Angle between device's compass direction and
magnetic north
● Pitch
○ Angle between plane parallel to device's screen
and plane parallel to ground
● Roll
○ Angle between plane perpendicular to device's
screen and plane perpendicular to ground
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SensorManager methods
● getRotationMatrix() generates rotation matrix
from accelerometer and geomagnetic field sensor
○ Translates sensor data from device coordinates to Earth
coordinates
● getOrientation() uses rotation matrix to compute
angles of device's orientation

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Example: Determine orientation
private SensorManager mSensorManager;
...
// Rotation matrix based on current readings.
final float[] rotationMatrix = new float[9];
mSensorManager.getRotationMatrix(rotationMatrix, null,
accelerometerReading,
magnetometerReading);

// Express updated rotation matrix as 3 orientation

angles.
final float[] orientationAngles = new float[3];
mSensorManager.getOrientation(rotationMatrix,
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Understandi
ng device
rotation

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Transform coordinates for
rotation
If app draws views based on sensor data:
● Screen or activity coordinate system rotates with
device
● Sensor coordinate system doesn't rotate
● Need to transform sensor coordinates to activity
coordinates

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Handle device and activity
rotation
1. Query device orientation with
getRotationMatrix()
2. Remap rotation matrix from sensor data to activity
coordinates with remapCoordinateSystem()

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Returned from getRotation()
Integer constants:
● ROTATION_0: Default (portrait for phones)
● ROTATION_90: Sideways (landscape for phones)
● ROTATION_180: Upside-down (if device allows)
● ROTATION_270: Sideways in the opposite direction
● Many devices return ROTATION_90 or ROTATION_270
regardless of clockwise or counterclockwise rotation

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Example: Handle device
rotation (1)
Use getRotation() with remapCoordinateSystem():
float[] rotationMatrix = new float[9];
boolean rotationOK =
SensorManager.getRotationMatrix(rotationMatrix,
null, mAccelerometerData,
mMagnetometerData);
// Remap matrix based on current device/activity
rotation.
float[] rotationMatrixAdjusted = new float[9];
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Example: Handle device
rotation (2)
switch (mDisplay.getRotation()) {
case Surface.ROTATION_0:
rotationMatrixAdjusted = rotationMatrix.clone();
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_90:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(rotationMatrix,
SensorManager.AXIS_Y,
SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X,
rotationMatrixAdjusted);
Break;
// Rotation_180, Rotation_270 ...

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Example: Handle device
rotation (3)
// Rotation_180, Rotation_270
case Surface.ROTATION_180:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(rotationMatrix,
SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_X,
SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y,
rotationMatrixAdjusted);
break;
case Surface.ROTATION_270:
SensorManager.remapCoordinateSystem(rotationMatrix,
SensorManager.AXIS_MINUS_Y,
SensorManager.AXIS_X,
rotationMatrixAdjusted);
break;
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21
Development
 Using
motion
sensors
Monitor device motion such
as tilt, shake, rotation, swing

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Motion sensors
The movement is usually a reflection of :
● Direct user input relative to device/app (steering
car in game, etc.)
● Device motion relative to Earth (device is with you
while you are driving)
○ Motion sensors are used with other sensors to determine
device position relative to Earth

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Accelerometer
● TYPE_ACCELEROMETER measures acceleration along
3 device axes (x, y, z) including gravity
● Acceleration without gravity: use
TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION
● Force of gravity without acceleration: use
TYPE_GRAVITY
● TYPE_GYROSCOPE measures rate of rotation
(radians/second)
● For calculations
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Sensors values
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Accelerometer event data
Event data Description Units
SensorEvent.values[0 Acceleration force along x-axis, m/s2
] including gravity

SensorEvent.values[1 Acceleration force along y-axis, m/s2

] including gravity

SensorEvent.values[2 Acceleration force along z-axis, m/s2

] including gravity

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Gravity event data
Event data Description Units
SensorEvent.values[0 Gravity along x- m/s2
] axis
SensorEvent.values[1 Gravity along y- m/s2
] axis
SensorEvent.values[2 gravity along z- m/s2
] axis

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Rotation-vector sensor
● TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR provides orientation with
respect to Earth coordinated as unit quaternion
● Software sensor that integrates data from
accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope (if
available)
● Efficient and accurate way to determine device
orientation
● For calculations see SensorEvent valuesThis work is licensed under a
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Step counter and step detector
● TYPE_STEP_COUNTER measures user steps since
last reboot
● To preserve battery use JobScheduler to retrieve
current value from step-counter at specific interval
● TYPE_STEP_DETECTOR: hardware sensor that
triggers event for each step
● Example: See the BatchStepSensor sample app
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 Using
position
sensors
Determine device physical
position on Earth

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Geomagnetic (magnetometer)
● TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD measures strength of
magnetic fields around device on each of 3 axes
(x, y, z), including Earth magnetic field
● Units are in microtesla (uT)
● Find device position with respect to external world
(compass)

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Orientation
● TYPE_ORIENTATION deprecated in API 8

● For accurate device orientation (choose one):

○ Use getRotationMatrix() and
getOrientation(), or
○ Use rotation-vector sensor with
TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR
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What's next?

● Concept chapter: 3.2 Motion and position sensors

● Practical:
3.2 Working with sensor-based orientation

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END

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