Accelerometer - Usage Tutorials

Usage Tutorials

Common interfaces for commercially available accelerometers include analog interfaces, pulsewidth interfaces, and synchronous serial interfaces (SPI, I2C, etc.). Following are examples of each:

Analog interface accelerometers:

Analog Devices ADXL3xx, a series of 3-axis accelerometers with analog output. The ADXL3xx series comes in a range of sensitivities. This example shows how to interface the ADXL3XX to an Arduino microcontroller module.

Freescale MMA7260Q, a 3-axis accelerometer with analog output capable of measuring up to +/- 1.5g. This example shows how to interface the Memsic 2125 to an PIC microcontroller.

Freescale MMA7341L, a 3-axis accelerometer with analog output that has adjustable sensitivity (±3 g or ±11 g), and a 0g-detect digital output that signals when the board is in free-fall (±3 g sensitivity setting only). This product page has use instructions that show general use with a microcontroller.

Hitachi H48C, a 3-axis accelerometer with analog output capable of measuring +/-3g. This example shows how to interface th eH48C to an Arduino microcontroller.

This tutorial uses a LIS331AL 3 axis analog output accelerometer with a LPR550AL dual-axis pitch and roll to create a 5 degree-of-freedom (DOF) Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) board :

Pulsewidth interface accelerometers:

Memsic2125, a 2-axis accelerometer with pulsewidth output capable of measuring up to +/- 2g. This example shows how to interface the Memsic 2125 to an Arduino microcontroller module. This other example shows how to interface the Memsic 2125 to a Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller module.

Analog Devices ADXL202, a combined pulsewidth output and analog output accelerometer capable of measuring up to +/- 2g. This example shows how to interface the ADXL202 to an Arduino microcontroller and a PIC microcontroller.

I2C (serial) interface accelerometer:

Analog Devices ADXL345, a 3-axis accelerometer capable of measuring up to +/- 16g. This accelerometer can also report peaks on each axis, in order to measure taps, drops, etc. This example shows how to interface an ADXL345 to an Arduino microcontroller. This example shows how to interface the ADXL345 to a Netduino microcontroller.

For guides on how to decide between the different interfaces and pros and cons of each, see the Accelerometer and Gyro buying guide.