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Gazebo IMU Sensor

Simulation / Gazebo / sensors

The Gazebo IMU sensor simulates an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), providing virtual measurements of:

  • Angular velocity rad/s (gyroscope)
  • Linear acceleration m/s2 (accelerometer)
  • Orientation (quaternion)

Coordinate system

Gazebo use ENU and body (FLU) coordinate (REP-103)

Field Frame Note
Orientation ENU (Global) Quaternion
angular velocity FLU (Body) rad/s
linear acceleration FLU (Body) rad/s2

FLU

Express in body frame

Axis Direction
X Forward
Y Left
Z Up

message

imu protobuf message struct

usage

  • Add imu plugin in to world scope
  • Add Sensor to link
imu plugin
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<plugin
    filename="gz-sim-imu-system"
    name="gz::sim::systems::Imu">
</plugin>
imu sensor
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<link>
    ...
    <sensor name="imu" type="imu">
        <always_on>1</always_on>
        <update_rate>50</update_rate>
        <visualize>true</visualize>
        <topic>imu</topic>
    </sensor>
</link>
sensor with noise
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<sensor name="imu" type="imu">
    <always_on>1</always_on>
    <update_rate>50</update_rate>
    <visualize>true</visualize>
    <topic>imu</topic>
    <enable_metrics>true</enable_metrics>

    <imu>
        <angular_velocity>
            <x>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>2e-4</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.0000075</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.0000008</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </x>
            <y>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>2e-4</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.0000075</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.0000008</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </y>
            <z>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>2e-4</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.0000075</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.0000008</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </z>
        </angular_velocity>
        <linear_acceleration>
            <x>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>1.7e-2</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.1</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.001</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </x>
            <y>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>1.7e-2</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.1</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.001</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </y>
            <z>
                <noise type="gaussian">
                    <mean>0.0</mean>
                    <stddev>1.7e-2</stddev>
                    <bias_mean>0.1</bias_mean>
                    <bias_stddev>0.001</bias_stddev>
                </noise>
            </z>
        </linear_acceleration>
    </imu>
</sensor>

imu sensor

imu sensor

world with imu 
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