Using 3DoF magnetometer for position information

[walkingcrane]

Our application would like to track the attitude of an object - yaw, pitch, and roll - at 500Hz update rate. The object is not moving very fast, but accuracy is important; for example, it would move through a 30 degree arc in about 1 second, and we would like an accuracy of ~0.1 deg or better. For those of you with experience with these devices - does this sound possible with a 3DoF magnetometer such as the LIS2MDL?

BTW - This is obviously a problem much more suited to an IMU, but for various IP reasons we are not allowed to go that route.

[Miroslav BATEK]

The maximum output data rate of LIS2MDL is 100Hz so it is not possible to have required update rate 500Hz.

If I understood it well you want to track orientation of your device in 3D space by using only magnetometer with 0.1 deg accuracy. If my understanding is correct, this is not feasible.

[walkingcrane]

Thanks Miroslav. Assuming we could live with the 100Hz update rate, what kind of accuracy is possible with this device? Are there other ST parts I should be looking at with more suitable specs for this application?

[Miroslav BATEK]

It is difficult to estimate the accuracy. The magnetometer faces various disturbances caused by permanent magnets, high current, iron, ... so I doubt it will work for long time. I don't know what is your application and how exactly you want to use the magnetometer, but usually magnetometer is used together with accelerometer and gyroscope for orientation tracking, but even this solution won't have accuracy 0.1 deg. If your project is confidential maybe you can discuss it with ST application engineer or marketing to find the best solution.