BNO055 IMU 9-Axis DOF Hardware & Software Setup

Once initial hardware is in place, it is necessary to gather the libraries to run the software and get connectivity and begin gathering the Arduino unit and the BNO055 IMU Fusion module data. In this setup, various libraries are needed to run the code as it becomes developed in this post and further along among projects.

Project Schematic:

The physical build of the IMU assembly is very simple. Wiring between the IMU module and the Arduino Nano is as illustrated in the schematic below.

BNO055 Module:

The pins on the BNO055 are laterally interspersed by function. Namely, Power, I2C, and Utility. With VIN, 3VO, and Ground as the power input pins, the SDA (serial-data) and SCL (serial clock) are the I2C pins, and finally a mix of addressing, interrupt and mode pins (RST, INT, ADR, & PS0/PS1).

BNO055 Pinout:

Project Review:

The physical movement of the IMU along the various degrees of freedom (DOF), produces vector data as demonstrated in this video. A before and after comparison of the data by a change of position indicates changes in the acceleration and gyroscope to validate positive and negative orientation.

Arduino IDE:

Arduino Libraries:

Arduino Serial Monitor:

Once a suitable serial COM port is selected from the tools menu, access to the Serial monitor is made available to call for its use in the setup code of the program (under void setup()) function as Serial.begin([baudrate]).

Select Suitable COM Port

Select Serial Monitor

View Serial Monitor for Vector Data

Code Example:

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Adafruit_BNO055.h>
#include <utility/imumaths.h> //Within the Adafruit Unified Library

//The myIMU object is self-declared. It can be named any identifier.
Adafruit_BNO055 myIMU = Adafruit_BNO055();

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
myIMU.begin();
delay(1000);

//The in8_t is a very compact data type:
int8_t temp=myIMU.getTemp();

//Instruction to use the onboard BNO055 VCXO, not on the MPU chip itself:
myIMU.setExtCrystalUse(true);
}

void loop()
{
/*Go out to the IMU and return vector data with 3-components into
acc (accelerometer) named variable and store it into the created
object myIMU with the accelerometer parameter (since there are
three-axis x,y,&z). */

imu::Vector<3> acc =myIMU.getVector(Adafruit_BNO055::VECTOR_ACCELEROMETER);

/*Go out to the IMU and return vector data with 3-components into
gyro (gyroscope) named variable and store it into the created
object myIMU with the gyroscope parameter (since there are
three-axis x,y,&z). */

imu::Vector<3> gyro =myIMU.getVector(Adafruit_BNO055::VECTOR_GYROSCOPE);

/*Go out to the IMU and return vector data with 3-components into mag (magnetometer) named variable and store it into the created object myIMU with the magnetometer parameter (since there are three-axis x,y,&z). */

imu::Vector<3> mag =myIMU.getVector(Adafruit_BNO055::VECTOR_MAGNETOMETER);

Serial.print(“Acceleration X-Vector: “);
Serial.println(acc.x());
Serial.print(“Acceleration Y-Vector: “);
Serial.println(acc.y());
Serial.print(“Acceleration Z-Vector: “);
Serial.println(acc.z());
Serial.println(” “);
Serial.print(“Gyroscope X-Vector: “);
Serial.println(gyro.x());
Serial.print(“Gyroscope Y-Vector: “);
Serial.println(gyro.y());
Serial.print(“Gyroscope Z-Vector: “);
Serial.println(gyro.z());
Serial.println(” “);
Serial.print(“Magnetometer X-Vector: “);
Serial.println(mag.x());
Serial.print(“Magnetometer Y-Vector: “);
Serial.println(mag.y());
Serial.print(“Magnetometer Z-Vector: “);
Serial.println(mag.z());
Serial.println(” “);

/* Insert delay to assure you’re not going faster than what the sensor can handle. */
delay(BNO055_SAMPLERATE_DELAY_MS);
}