Question
Is it possible to use ADXRS401 for measuring the vehicle tilt with respect to
the underlying surface?
Answer
The ADxRS parts are not the best part for measuring inclination, and ADxL203
will do this job a lot better because it can measure the acceleration due to
gravity down to dc (the ADxRS can only measure angular velocity, so you need to
integrate this signal to get angular position and it's not an accurate
measurement).
The ADxL203 can detect the absolute inclination with reference to gravity,
whether it is static or moving. However, movement will cause additional
acceleration, which will add to the tilt measurement so this has to be picked
up in software.
The ADxRS gyros are not the best parts for measuring inclination,
accelerometers such as the ADxL203 will do this job a lot better because it
can measure the acceleration due to gravity down to dc, the ADxRS gyros can
only measure angular velocity, so you need to integrate this signal to get
angular position and it's not an accurate measurement.
Accelerometers such as the low g devices: ADXL203, ADXL202 or ADXL311 can give
an output proportional to tilt, on their own they cannot differentiate between
tilt and acceleration, movement will cause additional acceleration, which will
add to the tilt measurement so this has to be picked up in software. A
processor (microcontroller or DSP) would have to be used with the accelerometer
and also an Analog to digital converter as most of our accelerometers simply
output a voltage of so many mV per g.