This document describes how to communicate with Xsens' range of miniature MEMS based inertial Motion Trackers; MTi 1-series, MTi 10-series, MTi 100-series (including MTi-G-710 GNSS/INS), MTi 600-series and Xsens Sirius Series. These Motion Trackers (or MTs) all use a common binary communication protocol called the 'XBus Protocol'. Knowledge of this protocol is important if you wish to directly communicate with an MT on a low-level basis using the I2C, SPI, UART, RS232, RS485, RS422 or USB interfaces. The MT communication protocol based message enables the user to change the configuration of the industrial motion trackers and retrieve the output data. For I2C and SPI interfaces, refer to MTi 1-series Datasheet for more information on the MTSSP protocol.
Note: not all products support the same functionality. There are 16 different products described in this document. The description of each message ID contains a table showing the supported products:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 710 | 610 | 620 | 630 | 670 | 680 | A/S-IMU | A/S-VRU | A/S-AHRS |
The numbers in this table correspond to the following products:
1: MTi-1 IMU
2: MTi-2 VRU/AHT & MTi-320 AHT
3: MTi-3 AHRS
7: MTi-7 GNSS/INS
8: MTi-8 RTK GNSS/INS
10: MTi-10 IMU
20: MTi-20 VRU/AHT
30: MTi-30 AHRS
100: MTi-100 IMU
200: MTi-200 VRU/AHT
300: MTi-300 AHRS
710: MTi-G-710 GNSS/INS
610: MTi-610 IMU
620: MTi-620 VRU/AHT
630: MTi-630 & MTi-630R AHRS
670: MTi-670 & MTi-670G GNSS/INS
680: MTi-680 & MTi-680G RTK GNSS/INS
A/S-IMU: Xsens Sirius IMU & Xsens Avior IMU
A/S-VRU: Xsens Sirius VRU & Xsens Avior VRU
A/S-AHRS: Xsens Sirius AHRS & Xsens Avior AHRS
An empty field indicates that the corresponding product does not support the message.
The configuration settings are all user-settable using the communication protocol. Examples are output frequency, input and output synchronization, baud rate and output configuration. The different output modes enable the user to change the output data to the one that is preferred.
Configuration changes are executed in the so-called 'Config State'. In this state, the MT accepts messages that set the output mode or other settings. Once the preferred configuration is set, the user can set the MT into the 'Measurement State'. In the Measurement State, the MT starts outputting the data based on the applied configuration settings. The MT states are discussed in States.
The messages used in Config and Measurement state are described in Messages. In this section, the generic message format is explained and all messages are described and grouped by functionality.
MT low level communication protocol example lists some examples of how to use the MT binary data communication protocol. Additional information about the MT such as a list of factory default values and table of maximum sample frequencies can be found in Miscellaneous. The last section gives a message reference overview of the MT messages with short descriptions. See Message Reference Listing.