Magnetometer Overview

• C++
• Python
• C#

SensorsData sensors_data;
SensorsData::MagnetometerData magnetometer_data;

// Grab new frames and retrieve sensors data
while(zed.grab() == SUCCESS) {
  zed.getSensorsData(sensors_data, TIME_REFERENCE::IMAGE); // Retrieve only frame synchronized data

  // Extract magnetometer data
  magnetometer_data = sensors_data.magnetometer;

  // Retrieve uncalibrated magnetic field
  float3 magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.magnetic_field_uncalibrated;

  // Retrieve calibrated magnetic field
  float3 magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.magnetic_field_calibrated;
}

sensors_data = sl.SensorsData()
magnetometer_data = sl.SensorsData.MagnetometerData()

# Grab new frames and retrieve sensors data
while zed.grab() == sl.ERROR_CODE.SUCCESS :
  zed.get_sensors_data(sensors_data, sl.TIME_REFERENCE.IMAGE) # Retrieve only frame synchronized data

  # Extract magnetometer data
  magnetometer_data = sensors_data.get_magnetometer_data()

  # Retrieve uncalibrated magnetic field
  magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.get_magnetic_field_uncalibrated();  
  
  # Retrieve calibrated magnetic field
  magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.get_magnetic_field_calibrated();

SensorsData sensors_data = new SensorsData();
MagnetometerData magnetometer_data = new MagnetometerData();

RuntimeParameters runtimeParameters = new RuntimeParameters();
// Grab new frames and retrieve sensors data
while(zed.Grab(ref runtimeParameters) == ERROR_CODE.SUCCESS) {
  zed.GetSensorsData(sensors_data, TIME_REFERENCE.IMAGE); // Retrieve only frame synchronized data

  // Extract magnetometer data
  magnetometer_data = sensors_data.magnetometer;

  // Retrieve uncalibrated magnetic field
  float3 magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.magnetic_field_uncalibrated;

  // Retrieve calibrated magnetic field
  float3 magnetic_field = magnetometer_data.magnetic_field_calibrated;
}

Note: the values in magnetic_field_calibrated are different from the values in magnetic_field_uncalibrated only if the magnetometer sensor has been calibrated following the procedure illustrated below.

Code Example

For code example, check out the Getting Sensor Data tutorial.

Magnetometer Calibration

Differently, from all the other sensors the magnetometer cannot be factory calibrated. The Earth magnetic field is very weak, about 35-65 µT, so the measures of the magnetometer sensor are highly affected by the environment where the camera is placed. Metal cases, power cables, robot motors, speakers, and all the ferromagnetic objects, are a very strong source of magnetic disturbance that strongly influence what the magnetometer measures.

For this reason, if you plan to use this useful sensor, you must calibrate it after that the camera is fixed in the final place where it will be used. An accurate calibration procedure requires that the camera will be rotated in the space to acquire magnetic field information from all the possible directions.

Once the magnetometer sensor is calibrated it can be used as a (3D) compass to determine the direction of the magnetic North (heading or yaw).

There are two kinds of calibration to be performed:

• Hard iron calibration
• Soft iron calibration

The hard iron calibration procedure generates the offset parameters used to compensate for the effects of all the active magnetic materials placed near the sensors. The soft iron calibration procedure generates the rescaling factor parameters used to compensate for the effects of the metal object placed near the sensor, which does not necessarily generate a magnetic field itself. It guarantees that the magnetic field along the three main axes is uniform, and normally it is almost the case.

Note: calibrating the sensor once does not guarantee a permanent good calibration. The procedure must be replicated in time to compensate for the variations of the local magnetic fields.

To perform a triaxis magnetometer calibration you can use the ZED Sensor Viewer application. Select the Magnetometer sensor and click on Calibrate Magnetometer.

Calibration process

Start the calibration pressing the button START CALIBRATION.

Note: you can clear all the acquired data restarting the calibration process in each moment by pressing the CLEAR DATA button.

1. Initialize the plane XY

Perform a series of roll rotations. The scope of this phase is to “draw” a complete red circonference fitting the red ellipsoid in the background:

2. Initialize the plane YZ

Perform a series of pitch rotations. The scope of this phase is to “draw” a complete green circonference fitting the green ellipsoid in the background:

3. Initialize the plane XZ

Perform a series of yaw rotations. The scope of this phase is to “draw” a complete blue circonference fitting the blue ellipsoid in the background:

4. Perform a full calibration

Perform a series of mixed rotations trying to orient the camera in all the possible roll, pitch, and yaw combinations. The scope of this phase is to fill as much area inside the three ellipsoids as possible for the three planes XY, YZ and XZ:

5. Stop the calibration and verify the result

When the three ellipsoids are filled, the calibration process can be stopped by pressing the button STOP CALIBRATION.

You can check the reliability of the calibration verifying that the calibrated values for the three planes are perfectly overlapped in the Calibrated data chart, and they fit (with some outliers) the unitary ellipsoid displayed in the background:

On the left side of the interface, you can find two compasses. The red compass shows the heading of the camera calculated using the uncalibrated magnetic field values, the blue compass shows the heading of the camera calculated using the calibrated magnetic field values. Place the camera horizontally and rotate it around the vertical axis. If the calibration is well down the blue compass must display the correct camera orientation with respect to the North Magnetic Pole. You can use a “real” compass to compare the values.

Note: the North Magnetic Pole does not correspond to the geographical magnetic pole and its location changes according to the latitude of the camera. Do not use a digital compass to compare the results if its readings are fixed using the GPS coordinate (e.g. compass applications for smartphones compensate the North Magnetic Pole using GPS and can show different values).

6. Save the calibration parameters

Store the calibration parameters in the non volatile memory of the camera by pressing the button STORE CALIBRATION.

You can reset the magnetometer calibration to the default values in every moment by pressing the RESET CALIBRATION button.

Note: the reset process is not reversible and it will erase the current calibration.

7. Close the dialog

You can now close the calibration dialog to go back to the main Sensor Viewer. Select again the Magnetometer sensor and verify that on top of the plot you can read Magnetometer [Calibrated].