Ether Compass

I developed this software to display the output of a Fluxgate Compass Connected to your Computer`s Serial Port. Confirmed to work well with SX2 or Basic Stamp coupled with the Hitachi HM55B Magnetic Field Sensor. This simple fluxgate compass is a device that employs two small coils of wire around a core of non-linear magnetic material, to directly sense the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth`s Magnetic Field.So where does the "Ether" part come in to play? Well, I use this as a remote direction component for sensors mounted remotely. I can use servos on the remote sensor gear to turn re-orient the sensor. Here are pictures of the System and how its configured. For Prototyping your fluxgate compass and its associated software application I like to use the Basic Stamp (any Version 2 Microprocessor Should Work Fine). The compass module (Mounted on the Center or the White Breadboard) is a dual-axis magnetic field sensor. The sensing device on the Compass Module is a Hitachi HM55B chip. An onboard regulator and resistor Protection make the 3 Volt HM55B chip compatible with 5 volt BASIC Stamp microcontroller supply and signal levels. The fluxgate provides a directional reference that`s stable over the long term, and the gyro adds accurate short-term corrections for acceleration and heeling effects. To avoid inaccuracies created by the vertical component of the earths magnetic field, the compass must be kept as flat as possible.