A Six-Degree-of-Freedom Acceleration Sensing Method Based on Six Coplanar Single-Axis Accelerometers

In this paper, through relating the six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) acceleration of the motion of a rigid body to the outputs from
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single-axis accelerometers mounted on the rigid body, the feasibility of sensing the six-DOF acceleration by multiple single-axis accelerometers is explored. On this basis, a six-DOF acceleration sensing method, which senses the six-DOF acceleration through accessing and decoupling the outputs from the six coplanar single-axis accelerometers fixed at the midpoints of six end-to-end edges of a cube by ensuring that the sensing axial direction of one of the six single-axis accelerometers is aligned along one of the cube edges and any three edges of the six end-to-end edges are not in one plane, is proposed. The corresponding sensing equation is established, and the sensing characteristics are analyzed according to the established sensing equation. The research results indicate that the proposed six-DOF acceleration sensing method, accompanying with the established sensing equation, can accurately sense and measure the six-DOF acceleration, the sensing error is determined by the sensing error of the angular acceleration, the sensing resolutions can be improved by enlarging the scale of the layout of the six coplanar single-axis accelerometers and/or utilizing six single-axis accelerometers with higher resolution, and the sensing ranges can be improved by decreasing the scale of the layout of the six coplanar single-axis accelerometers and/or utilizing six single-axis accelerometers with larger sensing range.