Phone Direction Detection

Question

I know that for a gyroscope, you can detect pitch, roll, and yaw, but how does a phone (or other machine) know what direction the phone is facing (north, east, south, west)?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 01 '15 at 20:59

The majority of smartphones include a compass sensor; a sensor which responds to Magnetic North.

Through this the phone can tell exactly which direction you're facing, and can use this data, combined with the accelerometer & gyroscope, to help GPS applications with location 'fixing'.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 01 '15 at 20:55

0

It has a compass built in, in addition to the GPS/accelerometer/gyroscope chips.

For an example, I think the iPhone 6 uses the AK8963

answered Aug 01 '15 at 20:55

Sean

109

Phone Direction Detection

2 Answers2