1
$\begingroup$

I'm following a robotics course on coursera which talks about aerial robotics and more specifically quadrotors.

I'm trying to understand the logic behind the relationship between the angular velocity expressed in the Inertial frame and the rates of change of the euler angles expressed in the body-fixed frame which are collected using an IMU sensor.

Basically in the course, the answer is given as shown below, but unfortunatly, nothing is explained.

enter image description here

I decided to look arround in the internet in order to understand the origin behind this inbetween matrix which converts one angular velocity to another and came up with very convenients explanations in these articles:

Wilselby Article Chrobotics Article

After understanding the idea behind this transformation matrix, which is the fact that each angular need to be reversed to a specific intermediate reference frame, which also depends on which convention we consider (Z-Y-X convention, Z-X-Y convention, ...) which is makes sense since changing the convention would mean that a specific euler angle would have a different reference frame to be reversed to afterwards.

In my course, the convention used is the Z-X-Y convention. I decided then to prove and compute the provided matrix in the course's picture with the help of Matlab. Below is the matrix i got from my Matlab program:

angularRotation =

[  cos(theta), 0, cos(phi)*sin(theta)]
[           0, 1,           -sin(phi)]
[ -sin(theta), 0, cos(phi)*cos(theta)]

You can see that the result is exactly the same as shown in the picture, except some components are in a incorrect sign.

Below is my Matlab program:

syms psi theta phi real

yaw = [cos(psi), -sin(psi), 0; sin(psi), cos(psi), 0; 0, 0, 1]
pitch = [1 0 0; 0 cos(phi) -sin(phi); 0 sin(phi) cos(phi)]
roll = [cos(theta) 0 sin(theta); 0 1 0; -sin(theta) 0 cos(theta)]

angularRotation_1 = roll * pitch * [0 0 1]' * [0 0 1]
angularRotation_2 = roll * [1 0 0]' * [1 0 0]
angularRotation_3 = [0 1 0]' * [0 1 0]

angularRotation = angularRotation_1 + angularRotation_2 + angularRotation_3

In any case the full Matlab log is needed, here it is:

yaw =

[ cos(psi), -sin(psi), 0]
[ sin(psi),  cos(psi), 0]
[        0,         0, 1]


pitch =

[ 1,        0,         0]
[ 0, cos(phi), -sin(phi)]
[ 0, sin(phi),  cos(phi)]


roll =

[  cos(theta), 0, sin(theta)]
[           0, 1,          0]
[ -sin(theta), 0, cos(theta)]


angularRotation_1 =

[ 0, 0, cos(phi)*sin(theta)]
[ 0, 0,           -sin(phi)]
[ 0, 0, cos(phi)*cos(theta)]


angularRotation_2 =

[  cos(theta), 0, 0]
[           0, 0, 0]
[ -sin(theta), 0, 0]


angularRotation_3 =

 0     0     0
 0     1     0
 0     0     0


angularRotation =

[  cos(theta), 0, cos(phi)*sin(theta)]
[           0, 1,           -sin(phi)]
[ -sin(theta), 0, cos(phi)*cos(theta)]

Thanks in advance.

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

1
$\begingroup$

My initial response would be that your angular variables are being measured in the opposite direction from the matrix in the slide you shared. In other words, theta should actually be negative theta, phi should actually be negative phi, and psi should be negative psi. If you perform this conversion, then you have the same matrix as the slide.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You must be right, there must be a difference between the direction in which i rotate the rigid body and i which it's being rotated in the course, that's the only explanation i can find also. $\endgroup$
    – Mssm
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 14:16

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.