Rugged IMU targets construction, agriculture, and autonomous equipment

Aceinna Inc. has expanded its Gen 3 inertial measurement unit (IMU) architecture with the introduction of the OpenIMU335RI rugged IMU with CAN and RS232 interfaces. The open-source IMU adds a rugged sealed standalone product to the previous Gen 3 IMU383ZA and OpenIMU330BI devices.

 The OpenIMU335RI provides 3D acceleration, 3D rate, and optional 3D magnetic field sensing for machine guidance and control applications in construction, agriculture, and autonomous equipment. Housed in a rugged, sealed over-molded plastic housing, the IMU claims best-in-class performance, including 1.3 degrees per hour bias instability (BI) and 0.1 degrees per root hour Angle Random Walk, making it suited for 3 dimensional machine guidance (3DMG), 3 dimensional machine control (3DMC), and other applications requiring high performance inertial measurements.

The OpenIMU335RI, along with other Gen 3 products, are triple redundant, consisting of three independent 3-axis accelerometers and 3-axis gyros. The redundancy in the Gen 3 products provides increased performance in key acceleration and rate sensor characteristics, and increased reliability and equipment uptime in the field, said Aceinna.

A key feature of the IMU is a proprietary algorithm that detects a failing sensor and automatically eliminates it from the solution, allowing equipment to continue normal operation using the remaining sensors. It is specified to work from an unregulated 9 V – 32 V supply and is fully qualified for use in 12-V and 24-V vehicle systems. It provides 0.1° accuracy over temperature and angle. A 3D magnetic field sensor is available as an option for applications requiring 9-DOF IMUs.

The OpenIMU335RI is packaged in a rugged sealed housing with an Ampseal 16, 6-position connector. It includes CAN J1939 and RS232 interfaces for network connectivity. The miniature housing is completely sealed, which prevents any possible water ingress and is durable under tough environmental conditions, according to the company. In addition, with the same size and electrical interface as the OpenIMU300RI and MTLT305D sensors, it provides an upgrade path without a redesign.

The OpenIMU335RI uses an ARM M4 CPU with a floating point unit. The module runs the OpenIMU open-source stack that includes an optimized full-state Kalman Filter for attitude and GPS-aided position-velocity-time (PVT) measurement.

For developers, the open-source environment allows for algorithm optimization for specific vehicle or application dynamics and custom messaging. A free development tool-chain based on Microsoft VS Code supports PC, MAC, and Ubuntu. Data logging and visualization are supported with Aceinna’s free web-based GUI, Navigation Studio. The OpenIMU335RI can be purchased directly from Aceinna or its network of global distribution partners.