gyroscope Archives — Bikernet Blog

Motorcycle Vibrations Can Damage iPhone cameras as per Apple

by Kim Lyons from https://www.theverge.com by Edward Moyer from https://www.cnet.com From Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803 Motorcycle vibrations can degrade iPhone camera performance, Apple says High amplitude vibrations can cause problems for the cameras’ gyroscopes A new post on Apple’s Support forum https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803 says exposing iPhones to high-amplitude vibrations, “specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines” could degrade the devices’ camera system. The company recommends against mounting an iPhone on a motorcycle, as the vibrations may be transmitted via the bike’s handlebars and chassis. Here’s the technical explanation from Apple: If you accidentally move a camera when you take a picture, the resulting image can be blurry. To prevent this, some iPhone models have optical image stabilization (OIS).1 OIS lets you take sharp photos even if you accidentally move the camera. With OIS, a gyroscope senses that the camera moved. To reduce image motion, and the resulting blur, the lens moves according to the angle of the gyroscope. Additionally, some iPhone models have closed-loop autofocus (AF).2 Closed-loop AF resists the effects of gravity and vibration to preserve sharp focus in stills, videos, and panoramas. With closed-loop AF, on-board magnetic sensors measure gravity and vibration effects and determine the lens position so that the compensating motion can be set accurately. The OIS and closed-loop AF systems in iPhone are designed for durability. However, as is the case with many consumer electronics that include systems like OIS, long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos. It is recommended to avoid exposing your iPhone to extended high-amplitude vibrations. The iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and all iPhones since the iPhone 7 have both optical image stabilization and closed-loop autofocus (as noted by MacRumors, the first outlet to […]

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Harley-Davidson’s gyroscope patent app would help new riders not drop their bikes

by Kyle Hyatt from https://www.cnet.com The system would fit inside a top case and be easily removable from the motorcycle. So, the thing is about motorcycles is that even the light ones are real damned heavy and that means that keeping one upright — particularly as a new rider — can not only be tough, it’s also intimidating. Harley-Davidson — makers of definitely-not-lightweight motorcycles — believes that it has a solution to this and it’s kind of ingenious. According to Cycle World, Harley filed a patent application for a type of gyroscope that would work at very low speeds to keep the bike upright and make the bike a little easier to sling up when dropped. The best part is that this whole gyroscope deal is designed to fit inside Harley’s already-existing top case, so you don’t need to build it into the motorcycle — something that would drive up cost and complexity — and which also means you can remove it once you feel more comfortable with your motorcycle. Like all gyroscopes, this one works by using an electric motor to spin a heavy weight around really fast (like between 10,000 and 20,000 rpm), and that motion imparts a stabilizing effect on the motorcycle at low speeds. The gyro would shut off at speeds over three miles per hour because as you begin moving faster, the motorcycle’s wheels start to offer their own gyroscopic stabilizing effect. Also cool is that this wouldn’t necessarily be limited to one bike. As long as you had a power source and a way for the unit to detect vehicle speed, it would work. Now, precisely what something like this would retail for is hard to say, but if it’s coming from Harley, we expect that it wouldn’t be especially cheap, if it ever