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title: "Work with Vicon IMUs"
canonical: "https://help.vicon.com/space/Nexus212/11242599/Work%20with%20Vicon%20IMUs"
format: markdown
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If you are using Vicon IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units) with Nexus, first ensure you have set up the IMUs and Nexus as described in [Configure Vicon IMUs](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11244830).
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## Attach IMU sensors to a subject
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## Stream live data from Vicon IMUs
Nexus 2.10 and later enables you to stream live data from your Vicon IMUs so that you can visualize the outputs in real time.
You can use any of the data channels from the IMU:
- HighG accelerometer
- LowG accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- Magnetometer
- Global angle (angle-axis from the onboard 9-axis quaternions)
** To stream live data from Vicon IMUs:**
1. Ensure the required IMUs are connected (see [Connect Vicon IMUs to Nexus](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11244830/Configure+Vicon+IMUs#ConnectIMUs)).
All the available axes automatically stream data:
- LowG accelerometer (16 G) (x, y, z)
- Gyroscope (x, y, z)
- Magnetometer (x, y, z)
- Global Angle (x, y, z)
- HighG accelerometer (200 G) (x, y, z)
The default stream rate is 50 Hz, but can be 30 Hz, 50 Hz or 100 Hz.While the IMUs are connected to Nexus, a real-time preview of data streaming from the IMUs is displayed (when Nexus is in Live mode). This preview data stream is supplied to Nexus at the selected stream rate, regardless of the trial collection rate (225 Hz, 1125 Hz or 1600 Hz).
The preview stream is optimized for low latency data visibility and may therefore have small frame gaps where data does not appear.
2. To change the stream rate, select an IMU on the **System** tab, and in the **General** section of the **Properties**, click in the **Stream Rate** field to change its value.
Note that the stream rate that you specify, together with the number of connected IMUs, affects performance.
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Select the required axes
By default, all axes are enabled.
To select the required output, you choose from a list of presets.
**To select the output axes:**
1. In the **System** tree, select the required IMU.
2. In the **Properties** pane, click the **Output Preset** menu.
3. From the list, select the required option:
In addition to selecting the output from the Output Preset list, you can select or clear the **Enabled** check box in the Properties for the axes, to customize the output.
> ⚠️ **Note**
> ⚠️ If you plan to capture global angles, you must first [calibrate the IMUs](#calibrateIMUs).
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**To deactivate an axis:**
1. On the **System** tab, select the required IMU and expand its node.
2. To deactivate an axis, click on the required axis and in its Properties, clear the **Enabled** check box.
On the System tab, the color of the cleared axis changes from green to orange and the Graph displays null results for that axis.
If **Global Angle** is deactivated, the coordinate system for the relevant sensor is no longer displayed in the 3D Perspective view.
### Use IMU streamed data with the Vicon DataStream SDK
All Vicon IMU data can be passed to the Vicon DataStream.
For example (using C++):
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Download the latest version of the datastream SDK from:
[https://www.vicon.com/software/datastream-sdk/?section=downloads](https://www.vicon.com/software/datastream-sdk/?section=downloads)
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##
Calibrate Vicon IMUs
If you plan to capture global angles, to ensure that the IMU sensor data is stable and to minimize drift, you must calibrate the IMUs.
**To calibrate Vicon IMUs:**
1. Ensure you are streaming global angles (see [Stream live data from Vicon IMUs](#streamLive)).
2. To calibrate an IMU sensor, wave the sensor in a figure-of-eight movement several times for at least 10 seconds, ensuring that it rotates through all three axes during the motion.
3. Put the sensor on a flat surface such as the floor or a table and spin it through two full rotations around the **z** axis.
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:check_mark: **Tip**
To avoid any unwanted influence on the sensor, do not place it in proximity to anything metallic.
4. Wait at least five seconds until the data has stabilized.
If you want to align the global angle outputs from the IMUs to the Vicon world, you can then perform wand alignment and segment alignment, as described in [Align IMU data with the Vicon world](#AlignIMUwithVicon).
## Capture Vicon IMU data
Nexus enables you to capture IMU data so that you can perform offline processing on it.
1. Before capturing data, ensure all required axis channels are enabled and streaming (see [Stream live data from Blue Trident sensors](#streamLive)).
2. To check the axis channels, on the **System** tab, expand a Vicon IMU node.All enabled channels are displayed with a green icon.
In the Graph view, the selected axes for each selected IMU are displayed.
3. To capture IMU data, in the **Capture Tools** pane, enter a trial name and other details and in the **Data Source Setup** section, ensure **Device Data** is selected.
The default sample rate is 225 Hz. However, the rate changes to:
- 1125 Hz, if the **Global Angle** axis is deactivated (see [Select the required axes](#selectAxes))
- 1600 Hz, if only **HighG **accelerometer is enabled
4. Click **Start** to begin capturing and capture your subject's movement in the usual way (see [Capture the required movement](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11243386)).
5. When you've finished capturing, click **Stop**.
The streamed data is saved into the current Session folder and is displayed as an .*x1d* file in **Data Management**.
To use the onboard IMU data, you must transfer it (see [Download Vicon IMU data](#DownloadData)).
6. To view the streamed data, load the X1D.
7. In the **3D Perspective** view, the IMU coordinate system is displayed.
Note that the IMU coordinate system is displayed only if the **Global Angle** axis is enabled (see [Select the required axes](#selectAxes)).
To display the streamed data in a Graph view, in the **System** tree, select the IMUs.
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## Download Vicon IMU data
After you've captured the required data, you can download the recorded data from your Vicon IMUs so that you can load it into Nexus.
> ✅ **Tip**
> ✅ To help you decide whether to transfer recorded data, you can check the preview data by playing it in Offline mode first.
1. To download IMU onboard data to the current Session folder, in the **Communications** pane, click the **IMeasureU** tab.
In the **Transfer** pane, a list of all the IMUs and trials available to transfer is displayed.
For details of the options, see [Transfer pane options](#TransferPaneOptions).
2. To transfer the IMU onboard data, connect the IMU to a USB adapter and using the micro-USB cable, connect it to the PC.
In the Transfer pane, the icons to the left of the IMUs that you plugged in are displayed in orange.
3. In the **Transfer** pane, ensure the required IMU sensor and trials are selected and to start the data transfer, select **Transfer Files**.
The progress status is displayed when the data transfer starts.During data transfer, the sensor is temporarily disconnected from the Bluetooth®. After a trial is transferred, the progress status changes to Transfer Succeeded.
After the transfer operation, for each trial, you can find the following files in the Session folder:
- An .*x1d* containing the preview data (30 Hz, 50 Hz, or 100 Hz)
- An .*imu* file containing the higher quality data (225 Hz, 1125 Hz, or 1600 Hz) from the IMU
4. You can now view and process the IMU data along with the rest of the trial data.
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### Transfer pane options
On the **IMeasureU** tab of the **Communications** pane, in the **Transfer** pane, you can select or remove the required trials and devices for transfer.
This table describes the available options.
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| **Option** | **Description** |
| --- | --- |
| Select All | Selects all the trials for each sensor that is listed in the Transfer pane |
| Select None | De-selects all selected trials that are listed in the Transfer pane. |
| Select Transferred | Selects all trials for each sensor that is listed with **Transferred** progress status |
| Select Untransferred | Selects all trials for each sensor that is listed with **Not Transferred** progress status |
| Select Connected | Selects only IMUs that are connected to Nexus |
| Select Disconnected | Selects only IMUs that are not connected to Nexus |
| Remove Selected Trials | Removes selected trials from the list. Existing data for these trials remains on the device but is not accessible via Nexus. |
| Clear Selected Devices | Removes selected devices from the list. Existing data remains on the device but is not accessible via Nexus. |
| Erase Selected Devices | Erases all data from the selected devices. Successfully cleared trials are removed from the list. |
The connection status of each sensor to the PC (via USB) is indicated by the color of the IMU symbol to the left of the sensor name in the Transfer pane:
- Orange: Connected
- Gray: Disconnected
## Erase data from Vicon IMUs
After you've downloaded data from Vicon IMUs, you can delete the data so that the IMUs are ready for re-use.
**To erase the onboard data:**
1. In the Transfer pane, select the IMU(s) and then click **Erase Selected Devices**.
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2. If you want to erase the onboard data, click **Yes**.When the data has been erased, the connected IMUs remain on the Transfer list, but their trials are removed from the list and a caret (>) is no longer displayed to the left of the sensor name.
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## Align IMU data with the Vicon world
If required, you can align the global angle outputs from IMUs to the Vicon world. This enables global angles from the IMUs to correspond to specific segments within Nexus.
Before you begin, ensure you have calibrated your system in the usual way (see [Calibrate a Vicon system](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11240956)) and that the IMUs have **Global Angle** output selected (see [Select the required axes)](#selectAxes).
To align IMU data with the Vicon world, complete these steps.
- [Attach a Vicon IMU to a Vicon Active wand](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11242599/Work+with+Vicon+IMUs#AttachIMUToWand)
- [Align the IMU and Vicon worlds](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11242599/Work+with+Vicon+IMUs#AlignIMUandViconWorlds)
- [Align Vicon IMUs with segments](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Nexus212/pages/11242599/Work+with+Vicon+IMUs#AlignIMUsWithSegments)
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Attach a Vicon IMU to a Vicon Active wand
The Vicon IMU alignment clip enables you to attach a Vicon IMU to an Active Wand.
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**To attach a Vicon IMU to a wand:**
1. Locate the hole above the wand handle as indicated in the following image.
2. With the IMU figure facing up, attach the clip to the wand.
3. Slide the clip down, so that the clip attachment is inserted securely in the hole.
4. Insert a Vicon IMU into the IMU clip.
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Align the IMU and Vicon worlds
1. In the Nexus **System** tree, with the **Devices** node expanded, select the sensor you inserted into the clip, as described in [Attach a Vicon IMU to a Vicon Active wand](#AttachIMUToWand).
2. In the **Communications** pane, click the **IMeasureU** tab and in the **Alignment** pane, under **World Alignment**, click **Start**.
:check_mark:** Tip: **If the **Start** button is not enabled, make sure:
- You've selected a sensor in the ** System ** tree (see Step 1).
- The sensor has Global Angle output enabled (ie, **Global Angle** is selected - see [Select the required axes](#selectAxes)).
- Your Nexus system includes at least two calibrated cameras.
3. In your capture volume, wave the wand for several seconds.
In the ** Alignment ** pane, Alignment Residual is displayed beneath the Stop button.
4. Under **World Alignment**, click ** Stop**. The IMU world for the selected sensor is aligned to the Vicon world for the L-frame object.
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Align Vicon IMUs with segments
1. In the **System** tree, select the sensor that is now aligned with the Vicon world, and on the **IMeasureU** tab, in the **Alignment** pane, under **Update Alignments**, click **Copy**.
This copies the world alignment values from the aligned IMU to all the others.You can now attach the selected IMU to the required segment. In this example the IMU is associated with a Subject segment.
2. In the **Subjects Resources** pane, select the subject segment (in this case, Forearm) that you want to associate with the IMU.
3. In the **Alignment** pane, under **Segment Alignment**, click **Start**.
The **Start** button changes to display **Align to Segment**.
4. Click **Align to Segment**.
The selected IMU is now aligned with the selected Subject segment (in this case, Forearm).
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5. For each IMU that you want to align to a segment, select the IMU in the System tree and then repeat Steps 2–4 above.
## Export IMU data
You can export data captured using IMUs by running the appropriate pipeline.
**To export IMU data:**
1. If you want to select data from only some devices, in the System Resources pane, ensure the required IMUs are selected.
2. In the Pipeline Tools pane, expand **File Export** and double-click **Export ASCII** to add it to the current pipeline.
3. In the Properties pane, ensure that the settings are as required. In the Devices section, if necessary, change the **Devices for Export** list to specify your selection.
4. Run the **Export ASCII** operation.
To open the exported file in Microsoft® Excel®, on the Data Management tab, click the relevant C icon and then click the filename.
The data is displayed in an Excel spreadsheet.