5
Document MT0605P.2018.E
© Xsens Technologies B.V.
MTi User Manual
3 Introduction
This manual gives an overview of the 5
th
generation products and its usage. For previous generations,
refer to User Manual revision I (20 December 2016). Refer to section 3.2.5 to identify the generation of
your MTi. The MTi product portfolio from Xsens currently has 11 family members ranging in functionality
from inertial measurement units (IMU’s) to a fully integrated GNSS/INS solution. All products contain a
3D inertial sensor assembly (ISA: gyroscopes and accelerometers) and 3D magnetometers, with
optionally a barometer and GNSS receiver.
The MTi product range is divided in three series, the MTi 1-series, the MTi 10-series and the MTi 100-
series. The MTi 10-series is Xsens’ entry level model with robust accuracy and a limited range of IO
options. The 100-series is a new class of MEMS IMU’s, orientation and position sensor modules offering
unprecedented accuracies and a wide array of IO interfaces. The MTi 1-series is a low-cost module for
SMD assembly. Refer to [MTI_1] for more information on the MTi 1-series.
All MTi’s have a powerful multi-processor core. It processes IMU, magnetometer and barometer signals
with extremely low latencies, and gives several outputs: calibrated 3D linear acceleration, rate of turn
(gyroscope data), (earth) magnetic field and atmospheric pressure (100-series only) data along with
sensor fusion estimates of roll, pitch and yaw. The MTi-G-710 GNSS/INS also offers 3D position and
3D velocity. Over 50 various output formats can be retrieved directly from the MTi. Refer to [LLCP] for
more information on the available outputs per device.
This documentation describes the use, basic communication interfaces and specifications of all the 7
MTi’s in the MTi 10-series and MTi 100-series. Where they differ is clearly indicated. All products are
designed to be interchangeable from a mechanical and software interface point of view.
3.1 MTi 10-series
The MTi 10-series is the basic product range of the MTi product portfolio,
offering inertial and orientation data at an affordable price. The MTi 10-
series consists of 3 products that have various integration levels.
The MTi-10 series can easily be recognized by the silver base plate.
There are no visual differences among the MTi-10 IMU, MTi-20 VRU and
MTi-30 AHRS devices, other than their label marking
3.1.1 MTi-30 AHRS
The MTi-30 AHRS is a full gyro-enhanced Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS). It give
various outputs: drift-free roll, pitch and true/magnetic North referenced yaw, plus sensor
measurements: 3D acceleration, 3D rate of turn and 3D earth-magnetic field data. All products of the
MTi 10-series can also give processed data output from the strapdown integration algorithm (orientation
and velocity increments
∆
q and
∆
v).
3.1.2 MTi-20 VRU
The MTi-20 VRU is a 3D vertical reference unit (VRU), which means that it gives the same data as the
MTi-30, except for the referenced yaw. The yaw is unreferenced, though still superior to just gyroscope
integration, when using the gyro bias estimation techniques available.
3.1.3 MTi-10 IMU
The MTi-10 IMU is a 3D inertial measurement unit (IMU) that gives 3D acceleration, 3D rate of turn and
3D earth-magnetic field data, so it does not process data to orientation. The MTi-10-IMU can be set to
a data output generated by the strapdown integration algorithm (orientation increments
∆
q and velocity
increments
∆
v).
Figure 1: MTi 10-series
