Evaluation of MEMS sensors accuracy for bicycle tracking and positioning

Abstract

Cycling is an increasingly popular mode of travel in cities owing to the great advantages that it offers in terms of space consumption, health and environmental sustainability. However, cycling is still also perceived as relatively unsafe, and therefore it has yet to be adopted as a real alternative to the private car. Rising accident numbers, unfortunately, confirm this perception as reality, with a particular source of hazard (and a significant proportion of collisions) appearing to originate from the interaction of cyclists with Heavy Vehicles (HVs). For this purpose, the Cyclist 360° Alert system is currently being developed as a novel technological solution aimed at preventing cyclist-HV collisions. As an integral part of Cyclist 360° Alert, this paper focuses on measurements of steering angles using low-cost MEMS sensors based on a motorized two-axis rotational platform. The paper evaluates the accuracy for Tri-axis MEMS inertial sensors and validates the accuracy of the sensors' angles by utilizing an absolute encoder as the reference signal.