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I have an ESP8266 and an accelerometer (MPU6050.)

When I place the accelerometer with ESP8266 in my gadget, is it capable sensor to draw the path of gadget travel (means to get the co-ordinates) when the gadget travels in a small area(some meters or kilometers )?

and also there any other sensors that place with in my gadget, for measuring the co ordinate in x,y,and z when device moves with distance?

The final graph drawn from these coordinate gives the path that device traveled.

Is it capable of doing with Accelerometer (eg:MPU6050)?

enter image description here

datasheet mpu6050

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    \$\begingroup\$ Avoid asking "Is it possible.." questions, not everything that's possible is a good and practical idea. In theory you can indeed use an accelerometer and calculate your position from a starting point. But what if the value you read out has a small error, what if the acceleration is too small to detect? These will result in an error on your calculated position, an error that accumulates (increases over time and distance). In practice navigation based on acceleration has very limited applications (like devices that can only assume certain fixed positions). \$\endgroup\$
    – Bimpelrekkie
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 6:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ In practice, you also need an odometer and a compass to get good results. \$\endgroup\$
    – CL.
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 8:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ What you are describing is called "dead reckoning", and it suffers from the basic limitation that tiny errors in the sensor values accumulate because of the integration you have to do, soon making the total error so large that the results are essentially meaningless. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dave Tweed
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 12:56

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Yes, this kind of system is called an Inertial Navigation System.

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/what-is-inertial-navigation-for-adasadvanced-driver-assistance-systems-murata-accelerometers

The measurement that an INS generates is relative to their last known position, so even after an inertial navigation system has been turned on for several minutes, it cannot specify where it is, but it can ascertain that it hasn’t moved. If the INS knows where it started, it can easily work out where it is, based on its own measurements. That is how spaceships and aircraft successfully navigate using an INS – because they know where they started from.

These systems have been used on aircraft for decades as they do not rely on GPS. They are self contained & reliable methods to navigate, especially through challenging weather systems.

AFAIK there is no Arduino library to create an INS, but it is trivial to create a basic tracker for "distance moved" in X, Y and Z axis.

Hint: area under the curve

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  • \$\begingroup\$ is it capable in accelerometer( MPU6050 ) \$\endgroup\$
    – Shavan We
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 8:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ "it is trivial to create a basic tracker for "distance moved" in X, Y and Z axis" How can i implemented in MPU6050? \$\endgroup\$
    – Shavan We
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 8:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hint: area under the curve \$\endgroup\$
    – MIL-SPEC
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 9:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sir, Which library(Arduino) that i want to follow? \$\endgroup\$
    – Shavan We
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 9:35
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    \$\begingroup\$ AFAIK there is no Arduino library to create an INS, but it is trivial to create a basic tracker for "distance moved" in X, Y and Z axis. \$\endgroup\$
    – MIL-SPEC
    Commented Sep 26, 2019 at 10:12

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