Sensor Data Collection

Collect sensor data from your device

With MATLAB^® Mobile™, you can collect sensor data from your Android™ device and log the data in MATLAB. Use MATLAB to process this data in various ways, including creating plots.

You can collect data from these sensors:

Acceleration
Angular velocity
Magnetic field
Orientation
Position

In order to collect sensor data, you need to connect to the MathWorks Cloud and create a mobiledev object in MATLAB Mobile. For information, see Get Started with Android Sensors and Set Up and Connect to Android Device. Then, you need to turn on the sensors and log data to MATLAB. You can process the logged data, including creating plots. For an example of acquiring data and plotting it, see Use Logged Sensor Data.

You can also acquire sensor data locally on the Android device, with or without a network connection. This is an alternative method of collecting the sensor data instead of streaming it from the device to your computer running MATLAB. This is especially useful if you want to collect sensor data while your device does not have a network connection. For examples of using this method of acquisition, see Acquire Sensor Data Locally on Mobile Device.

You can also access the camera and acquire images on your Android mobile device from MATLAB Mobile. Set camera properties including resolution, autofocus, and flash. For an example, see Acquire Images from Android Camera. Then, process the acquired images. For an example, see Classify Images from Android Camera Using Pretrained Network.

Functions

`mobiledev`	Create mobiledev object to acquire data from Android sensors
`disp`	Display properties of mobiledev object
`accellog`	Return logged acceleration data from Android sensor
`angvellog`	Return logged angular velocity data from Android sensor
`magfieldlog`	Return logged magnetic field data from Android sensor
`orientlog`	Return logged orientation data from Android sensor
`poslog`	Return logged position data from Android sensor
`discardlogs`	Discard all logged data from Android sensors
`readMobileSensorData`	Import sensor data from file collected by MATLAB Mobile
`camera`	Connection to camera on Android device
`snapshot`	Acquire single image frame from Android device camera

Topics

Setup and Configuration

Set Up Sensors

Review requirements for sensor collection with MATLAB Mobile; how to manage sensor settings

Collect Sensor Data

Start and stop sensor data collection; transfer and load files into MATLAB

Get Started with Android Sensors

Follow these steps to get started sending sensor data.

Set Up and Connect to Android Device

You can use MATLAB on a computer or on the MathWorks Cloud. The following sections outline the connection procedure for each scenario.

Android Sensors Data Acquisition

Acquire Sensor Data Streaming

You communicate with the Android device by creating a mobiledev object. You can then control the sensors and acquire streaming data from them.

Use Properties to Control Android Sensor Acquisition

You can use properties to display current sensor values, enable and disable sensors from MATLAB, turn logging on and off, set sample rate, and show connection and logging status.

Use Logged Sensor Data

You can use the logged sensor data either during or after acquisition for plotting and other analyses. This example shows how to plot orientation data.

Acquire Sensor Data Locally on Mobile Device

You can acquire sensor data locally on the Android device, with or without a network connection.

Android Camera Image Acquisition

Acquire Images from Android Camera

This example shows how to connect to your Android mobile device camera and acquire images from it.

Classify Images from Android Camera Using Pretrained Network

This example shows how to use deep learning to classify images acquired by your Android mobile device camera.

Featured Examples

Acquire and Plot Angular Velocity and Orientation Data from Your Android™ Device

Plot data from multiple sensors on an Android device together in one timeline. Measurements of angular velocity and orientation will be collected from the device and plotted over absolute time. This will allow correlations between data from two sensors to be visualized based on the actual time of measurement.

Open Script

Counting Steps by Capturing Acceleration Data from Your Android™ Device

Collect acceleration data from an Android device and use it to count the number of steps taken.

Open Script

Acquire GPS Data from Your Android™ Device and Plot Your Location and Speed on a Map

Collect position data from an Android device and display it on a map. Latitude and longitude coordinates are used to mark the device's route. Speed information is used to add color to the route. The final result is a visual representation of location and speed for the device's journey.

Open Script