Micro:bit and BMM150 digital geomagnetic sensor example using the Arduino IDE

In this article we look at a digital geomagnetic sensor – this time its the BMM150. We will connect this to a micro:bit and use the Arduino IDE for development

BMM150 is a low power and low noise 3-axis digital geomagnetic sensor to be used in compass applications. The 12-pin wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) with a footprint of 1.56 x 1.56 mm² and 0.60 mm height provides highest design flexibility to the developer of mobile devices. Applications like virtual reality or gaming on mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablet PCs or portable media players require 9-axis inertial sensing including magnetic heading information. Due to the stable performance over a large temperature range, the BMM150 is also especially suited for supporting drones in accurate heading.

BMM150 can be used with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) consisting of a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope like Bosch Sensortec’s BMI055.

 

Features

Parameter Technical data
Package CSWLP- (12 pin)
1.56×1.56×0.6 mm³
0.4 mm diagonal ball pitch
Temperature range -40°C … +85°C
Digital interfaces I²C and SPI
(2 interrupt pins)
Resolution 0.3μT
Supply voltage VDD: 1.62V to 3.6V
VDDIO: 1.2V to 3.6V
Zero-B offset ±50μT
Non-linearity <1% FS
Magnetic range typ. ±1300μT (x,y-axis)
±2500μT (z-axis)
Average current consumption 170 μA (low power preset)
500 μA (normal mode)
Interrupts New data, magnetic threshold high / low

Parts Required

I use an expansion board which slots into the micro:bit, I find this easier to connect wires to a sensor. Here is a picture of an expansion board.

Name Link
Microbit Micro Bit Development Board, Microbit, NRF51822 Master Card, Phython Graphic Programming
BMM150 BMM150 Geomagnetic Sensor Breakout Board
Connecting wire Free shipping Dupont line 120pcs 20cm male to male + male to female and female to female jumper wire
GPIO Expansion Board GPIO Expansion Board For micro:bit

Schematic/Connection

 

microbit and bmm150 bb
microbit and bmm150 bb

 

Code Example

This uses the library from https://github.com/Seeed-Studio/Grove_3_Axis_Compass_V2.0_BMM150

[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <Wire.h>
// libraries
#include “bmm150.h”
#include “bmm150_defs.h”

BMM150 bmm = BMM150();

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);

if(bmm.initialize() == BMM150_E_ID_NOT_CONFORM) {
Serial.println(“Chip ID can not read!”);
while(1);
} else {
Serial.println(“Initialize done!”);
}

}

void loop()
{
bmm150_mag_data value;
bmm.read_mag_data();

value.x = bmm.raw_mag_data.raw_datax;
value.y = bmm.raw_mag_data.raw_datay;
value.z = bmm.raw_mag_data.raw_dataz;

float xyHeading = atan2(value.x, value.y);
float zxHeading = atan2(value.z, value.x);
float heading = xyHeading;

if(heading < 0)
heading += 2*PI;
if(heading > 2*PI)
heading -= 2*PI;
float headingDegrees = heading * 180/M_PI;
float xyHeadingDegrees = xyHeading * 180 / M_PI;
float zxHeadingDegrees = zxHeading * 180 / M_PI;

Serial.print(“Heading: “);
Serial.println(headingDegrees);

delay(100);
}

[/codesyntax]

Output

Open the serial monitor and you should see something like this

Heading: 3.60
Heading: 11.57
Heading: 22.33
Heading: 30.79
Heading: 45.00
Heading: 68.20
Heading: 152.02
Heading: 183.25
Heading: 192.01
Heading: 192.46
Heading: 202.32

 

Links

https://ae-bst.resource.bosch.com/media/_tech/media/datasheets/BST-BMM150-DS001.pdf

https://github.com/BoschSensortec/BMM150-Sensor-API

 

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