Unlock High-Grade IMU Performance Without Expensive Hardware
- Trusted Positioning
- Jul 24
- 6 min read
In a testing lab at a major automotive supplier, a team of engineers wrestled with a frustrating dilemma: their current inertial sensors were affordable but unstable; the high-end ones they trialed offered precision—but at a price that blew past their budget. "What if we could just upgrade the brain, not the body?" one of them asked.
That question is exactly what TDK Trusted Positioning’s sensor fusion software was built to answer. Instead of relying on expensive, high-grade IMUs to achieve accurate orientation and motion tracking, TDK’s software calibrates low-cost MEMS IMUs in real time—dramatically increasing their performance.
From automotive safety systems to augmented reality headsets, calibrated IMUs are becoming the silent engine powering smarter, smoother, and more stable applications. This article explores how TDK’s sensor fusion pipeline works, the industries it’s transforming, and how engineers can leverage it to unlock new value—without touching their hardware.
How TDK Trusted Positioning Software Turns Commodity Sensors into High-Precision Motion Engines for Automotive and AR Applications
Executive Summary
Engineers working on motion-based systems—from ADAS to AR—often face a frustrating choice: sacrifice performance or blow the budget on high-end IMUs. TDK Trusted Positioning offers a third way. This white paper shows how our sensor fusion software turns low-cost IMUs into high-grade performers—empowering applications like driver behavior monitoring and camera stabilization with no hardware change required.
Who Should Read This White Paper
Embedded systems engineers designing motion-aware applications
Product developers in automotive, micromobility, and AR/VR
Sensor integrators balancing performance and BOM cost
R&D teams exploring use cases for inertial data beyond navigation
Contents
Introduction
Challenges of Low-Cost IMUs vs. High-Grade IMUs
TDK’s Software Calibration & Sensor Fusion Pipeline
TRACK, AUTO, and RIDE: Built on a Unified Core
Applications Beyond Positioning
Automotive Driver Behavior Monitoring
Augmented Reality & Camera Stabilization
Cost Benefits: Software vs. Hardware
Conclusion
References
Introduction
Accurate inertial sensing is foundational to modern engineering, from vehicle tracking to immersive digital experiences. But precision comes at a price—unless software innovation rewrites the rules. This paper introduces TDK Trusted Positioning’s approach: use software to continuously calibrate low-cost MEMS IMUs, yielding performance on par with high-grade systems at a fraction of the cost.
Challenges of Low-Cost IMUs vs. High-Grade IMUs
High-grade IMUs offer minimal drift and excellent noise profiles but are costly, bulky, and power-hungry. Low-cost MEMS IMUs are ideal for mass-market applications but suffer from bias drift, noise, and sensitivity to misalignment. Traditional workarounds required expensive hardware; TDK’s solution instead uses software to compensate in real time.
Software Calibration & Sensor Fusion Pipeline
TDK’s software pipeline performs both static and dynamic IMU calibration, correcting for common errors such as bias, scale, and alignment. These corrections are continuously refined through sensor fusion (e.g., INS/GNSS, magnetometers, cameras) using advanced filtering (e.g., Kalman filter, Particle filter).
This approach dramatically improves signal quality from commodity IMUs:
Real-time estimation of sensor bias and scale created by environment affects such as temperature changes
Sensor fusion to prevent long-term error accumulation
Modular support for multi-sensor integration
TRACK, AUTO, and RIDE: A Unified Inertial+ Core
When the TRACK product first launched, it was designed to solve a specific problem: vehicle positioning in GPS-challenged environments. Engineers needed a way to maintain reliable location estimates even in tunnels, urban canyons, or under dense foliage. High-end IMUs were an option—but not a scalable one. So TDK’s engineering team leaned into software.
They built the Inertial+ core, a sensor fusion pipeline that continuously calibrates low-cost IMUs and blends their output with available data sources—like GNSS, wheel speed sensors, or barometer. What began as a custom engine for automotive navigation quickly revealed broader potential.
The same Inertial+ platform was adapted to power RIDE, TDK’s micromobility product for e-bikes and scooters. With a few tweaks to the motion models and calibration timing, the system could detect rider dynamics like swerves, falls, or aggressive braking—all from the same low-cost sensor types.
AUTO took it even further. Designed for autonomous platforms, it uses the same core logic as TRACK and RIDE but fuses even more inputs—imaging radar, cameras, and precise GNSS—to deliver centimeter-level performance. What’s remarkable is that all three of these products—TRACK, RIDE, and AUTO—run on the same calibration and fusion engine, tuned to different motion profiles.
By unifying its architecture around a software-first sensor pipeline, TDK didn’t just solve one problem. It built a foundation that could scale across industries—and support applications far beyond navigation. TRACK (vehicles), RIDE (e-bikes, scooters), and AUTO (autonomous platforms) all run on the same Inertial+ sensor fusion core. Each leverages low-cost IMUs, dynamically calibrated in real-time to output accurate position, orientation, and motion insights.
The same core can output orientation, calibrated acceleration, and movement profiles—enabling broader applications beyond positioning.
Applications Beyond Positioning
When a micromobility company approached TDK Trusted Positioning, their e-scooter fleet was struggling with a common problem: how to measure rider behavior accurately enough to improve safety, reduce liability, and satisfy insurance partners—without upgrading hardware.
The solution? They integrated TDK’s calibrated IMU software directly into their existing fleet. Within weeks, they were detecting sudden braking, erratic swerving, and even tip-overs in real time—all through software, powered by the same sensor fusion engine behind TDK’s RIDE product.
Meanwhile, an AR headset developer faced jittery visuals and poor tracking during user tests. Their low-cost MEMS IMUs were introducing drift, especially during slow or prolonged head movements. After implementing TDK’s sensor fusion pipeline, stability improved dramatically. The headset’s orientation data became crisp and responsive, and users reported a vastly improved immersive experience.
Another application was an automatic parking system using cameras. TDK’s sensor fusion pipeline provided more accurate location in underground parking garages, but more importantly, it calibrated the IMU so that the cameras could autonomously guide the vehicle into and out of an available parking space, without needing a high grade IMU.
These aren’t isolated cases. Across industries, engineers are repurposing MEMS-grade inertial data for broader uses:
Automotive Driver Behavior Monitoring
Detect harsh braking, aggressive turns, and collision events
Feed data into fleet safety dashboards, insurance risk profiles
No added hardware: use the same IMU + software already in TRACK or AUTO
Augmented Reality & Camera Stabilization
Improve orientation accuracy and reduce latency in AR headsets or smartphones
Enable gimbal-like camera stabilization for dash cams via real-time IMU readings
Benefit from software-calibrated gyro signals with minimal drift
INSIGHTS IN ACTION
A Tier-1 automotive supplier used TDK’s calibrated IMU solution to enable driver scoring for a fleet of e-scooters—without replacing a single sensor module.
AR ON A BUDGET
A consumer electronics firm improved AR stability in their prototype headset by integrating calibrated motion data from TDK’s Inertial+ core.
Automotive Driver Behavior Monitoring
Detect harsh braking, aggressive turns, and collision events
Feed data into fleet safety dashboards, insurance risk profiles
No added hardware: use the same IMU + software already in TRACK or AUTO
Augmented Reality & Camera Stabilization
Improve orientation accuracy and reduce latency in AR headsets or smartphones
Enable gimbal-like camera stabilization via real-time IMU readings
Benefit from software-calibrated gyro signals with minimal drift
Cost Benefits: Software vs. Hardware
Reduces BOM costs by avoiding high-end IMUs
Allows centralized updates and scale manufacturing
Makes sensor data useful across functions (e.g., both positioning and AR)
Get the Full Demo
Download our IMU performance comparison sheet or book a walkthrough with our engineering team. See how TDK Trusted Positioning's sensor fusion engine can enhance your system’s performance—without touching your hardware.
TDK Trusted Positioning’s software-first approach to IMU calibration unlocks new functionality across industries—without requiring new hardware. Engineers looking to improve inertial performance for navigation, safety, or immersive UX can now do so using accessible, high-performance software.
As Trusted Positioning’s Managing Director, Chris Goodall, explains,
“We designed this platform to adapt across devices and industries. We’re excited to see our technology powering not just navigation systems—but also the next generation of AR experiences, micromobility safety, and intelligent camera systems.”
Looking ahead, as sensors become even more embedded in our everyday devices, software-calibrated IMUs will be central to delivering meaningful, reliable data—no matter where the journey leads.
References
[1] Grewal, M. S., Weill, L. R., & Andrews, A. P. (2001). Global Positioning Systems, Inertial Navigation, and Integration. Wiley-Interscience.
[2] Titterton, D. H., & Weston, J. L. (2004). Strapdown Inertial Navigation Technology. IET.
[3] Scherzinger, B. M. (2000). Precise Robust Positioning with Inertial/GPS RTK. Proceedings of the National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation.
[4] Carmona, J., et al. (2015). A Driver Behavior Analysis Tool Based on Data Fusion of Low-Cost GPS, IMU and CAN-Bus. Sensors, 15(12), 31658–31678.
[5] Google ARCore Developer Guide: https://developers.google.com/ar
[6] TDK InvenSense – Sensor Software Overview: https://invensense.tdk.com
[7] Furgale, P., Carlevaris-Bianco, N., Schneider, T., & Eustice, R. M. (2013). Continuous-Time Batch Estimation using Temporal Basis Functions. IROS.
[8] Solin, A., & Särkkä, S. (2018). Inertial Odometry on Handheld Smart Devices. ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks (TOSN).
[9] Ali, A., et al. (2016). Adaptive Zero Velocity Detection for Pedestrian Navigation Applications. Sensors, 16(4), 528.
[10] TDK Trusted Positioning Product Briefs: https://www.trustedpositioning.com/products