FREEWARE Fuxgate/Ether Compass:
I developed this software to display the output
of a Fluxgate Compass Connected to your Computer's Serial
Port. Confirmed to work well with SX2 or Basic
Stamp coupled with the Hitachi HM55B Magnetic Field
Sensor. This simple fluxgate compass is a device
that employs two small coils of wire around a core of
non-linear magnetic material, to directly sense the direction
of the horizontal component of the earth's Magnetic Field.So
where does the "Ether" part come in to play? Well, I use this
as a remote direction component for sensors mounted
remotely. I can use servos on the remote sensor gear to turn
re-orient the sensor.
Download Older installer Here (Pre-Vista)
Download Updated Installer Supporting Windows Vista Here
Here are pictures of the System and how its
configured. For Prototyping your fluxgate compass and its
associated software application I like to use the Basic Stamp
(any Version 2 Microprocessor Should Work Fine).
The compass module (Mounted on the Center or the White
Breadboard) is a dual-axis
magnetic field sensor. The sensing device on the Compass Module is a
Hitachi HM55B chip. An onboard regulator and resistor protection make
the 3 volt HM55B chip compatible with 5 volt BASIC Stamp
microcontroller supply and signal levels. The fluxgate provides a
directional reference that's stable over the long term, and the gyro
adds accurate short-term corrections for acceleration and
heeling effects.
To avoid inaccuracies created by the
vertical component of the earths magnetic field, the compass
must be kept as flat as possible.
System
Requirements
• Minimum 64 MB of RAM/800 MHZ
processor or greater
•
Minimumb 10 MB of available hard-disk space
• Designed
for Windows NT/2000/XP but has been lightly tested to operate on
updated versions of Windows 95/98
NOTE:
One user experienced problems after installing on Windows ME.
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