MPU6050 6-Axis Accelerometer/Gyroscope

Introduction

The MPU6050 is a high-performance 6-axis (3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope) sensor module used for measuring object motion and orientation. It uses an I2C interface and is commonly used in quadcopter flight controllers, self-balancing vehicles, and similar applications.

Objective

Use Python programming to measure MPU6050 acceleration, angular velocity, and temperature values!

Explanation

Most MPU6050 modules on the market are universal and communicate via the I2C bus. The image below shows an MPU6050 sensor module:

Module Parameters
Supply Voltage	3.3V
Communication	I2C bus (default address: 0x68)
Measurement Dimensions	Acceleration: 3 dimensions Gyroscope: 3 dimensions
Accelerometer Range	±2/±4/±8/±16g
Gyroscope Range	±250/±500/±1000/±2000°/s
Temperature Sensor	Range: -40°C~85°C (accuracy: ±1°C)
Pin Description	VCC: Connect to 3.3V GND: Ground SDA: I2C data pin SCL: I2C clock pin

MPU6050 6-Axis Direction Explanation:

From the description above, we can see that the MPU6050 is a sensor driven via the I2C interface. We can communicate with this module by programming the WalnutPi's I2C interface.

This routine uses the WalnutPi's I2C1 to connect the MPU6050 sensor:

The MPU6050 Object

In CircuitPython, you can directly use a pre-written Python library to obtain MPU6050 sensor data. Details are as follows:

Constructor

mpu = adafruit_mpu6050.MPU6050(i2c, address=0x68)

Constructs an MPU6050 object.

Parameter description:

• i2c Requires constructing an i2c object, refer to: I2C Object Description; not repeated here.
• address Module I2C address. Default: 0x68;

Methods

mpu.acceleration

Returns x, y, z acceleration values, in m/s², data type float.

mpu.gyro

Returns x, y, z angular velocity values, in rad/s, data type float.

mpu.temperature

Returns temperature value, in °C, data type float.

After understanding the MPU6050 sensor principles and object usage, we can organize the programming approach. The flowchart is as follows:

Reference Code

'''
Experiment Name: MPU6050 6-Axis Accelerometer/Gyroscope
Experiment Platform: WalnutPi 1B
'''
import time, board, busio, adafruit_mpu6050

# Construct I2C object, controlled by WalnutPi I2C1
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL1, board.SDA1)

# Construct MPU6050 object
mpu = adafruit_mpu6050.MPU6050(i2c, address=0x68)

while True:
    print("Acceleration: X:%.2f, Y: %.2f, Z: %.2f m/s^2" % (mpu.acceleration))
    print("Gyro X:%.2f, Y: %.2f, Z: %.2f rad/s" % (mpu.gyro))
    print("Temperature: %.2f C" % mpu.temperature)
    print("")
    time.sleep(1)

Result

Connect the MPU6050 sensor to the WalnutPi as shown — SDA1 to module SDA pin, SCL1 to module SCL pin:

Since this code depends on other .py library files, you need to upload the entire example folder to the WalnutPi:

After successful transfer, you need to open and run the .py file from the remote directory (WalnutPi), because running it will import other library files in the folder. Therefore, running this type of code locally on a PC is ineffective.

Use Thonny to remotely run the above Python code on the WalnutPi. For instructions on running Python code on the WalnutPi, please refer to: Running Python Code. After successful execution, the terminal will print acceleration, angular velocity, and temperature information: