9. Make a compass

compass

This module gives you access to the built-in electronic compass (mpu). The compass should be calibrated before use, otherwise the reading may be wrong.

note:The alignment compass causes the program to pause until the alignment is complete. Calibration consists of a small game, by rotating the board in the air to complete the circle calibration.

Function of compass

• compass.calibrate()

Perform this function to start the calibration process, you will receive a has a guiding significance to the information, then we need to rotate the board and in the air to draw a handstand '8' or circle, (this movement can refer to your mobile phone, mobile phone function of compass will have a calibration steps before use), the calibration process will take about 1 minute of time, you can't perform other procedures during calibration

Notice message

• compass.is_calibrated ()

Returns True if compass calibration is successful, or False otherwise

• compass.get_x ()

Returns a reading of the strength of the magnetic field on the X-axis, which is a positive or negative integer, depending on the direction of the magnetic field.

• compass.get_y ()

Returns a reading of the magnetic field intensity on the Y-axis, which is a positive or negative integer, depending on the direction of the magnetic field.

• compass.get_z ()

Returns a reading of the z-axis magnetic field intensity, which is a positive or negative integer, depending on the direction of the magnetic field

• compass.heading()

The compass heading calculated from the above readings is an integer between 0 and 360, representing a clockwise Angle of 0 at 12 o 'clock

• compass.get_field_strength()

Returns the size of the magnetic field around the device, which is an integer.

sample code

"""
  compass.py
   Creates a compass.
   The user will need to calibrate the compass first. The compass uses the
   built-in clock images to display the position of the needle.
"""
from microbit import *
# Start calibrating
compass.calibrate()
# Try to keep the needle pointed in (roughly) the correct direction
while True:
   sleep(100)
   needle = ((15 - compass.heading()) // 30) % 12
   display.show(Image.ALL_CLOCKS[needle])

In this sample code the first step is to calibrate the electronic compass (mpu). After the calibration, we can see that we have a compass on the led panel. No matter how we turn the board, it always points to the south. Right