tilt sensor can measure the tilting in often two axes of a reference plane in two axes. In direct contrast, a full motion would use at to the lowest degree three axes and often additional sensors. One way to measure tilt angle with reference to the earths ground plane, is to use an Accelerometer. Typical applications can be found in the industry and in game controllers.

Nintendo used tilt sensor technology in four games for its Game Boy series of hand-held game strategys. The tilt sensor allows players to control aspects of the game by twisting the game system. Games that use this feature:

Yoshi’s Universal Gravitation (Game Boy Advance)
WarioWare: Twisted! (Game Boy Advance)(not released in Europe)
Koro Koro Puzzle Happy Panechu! (Game Boy Advance)(Japan only)
Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble (Game Boy Color)(not released in Europe)
Tilt sensors can also be found in game controllers such as the Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro and Sony’s PlayStation 3 controller.

However, unlike these other controllers in which the tilt sensor serves as a supplement to normal control methods, it serves as one of the central features of Nintendo’s Wii Remote and nunchuk attachment. Along with accelerometers, the tilt sensors are a primary coil method of control in most Wii games.

It is now being used in many different aspects, instead of just games like motocrossing and flight simulators. It can be used for sportswoman gaming, First Person Shooters, and other odd uses such as in WarioWare: Smooth Moves

Another example is a virtual version of a wooden maze with obstacles in which you have to maneuver a ball by tilting the maze. A homebrew tilt sensor port was made for the Palm (PDA).

 

Car-alarm Motion and Tilt Sensors
­Many­ car thieves aren’t after your entire car; they’re after individual pieces of it. These car strippers can do a lot of their work without ever opening a door or window. And a thief armed with a tow truck can just lift up your car and drag the entire thing away.

There are several good ways for a security system to keep tabs on what’s going on outside the car. Some alarm systems include perimeter scanners, devices that monitor what happens immediately around the car. The most common perimeter scanner is a basic radio detection and ranging system, consisting of a radio transmitter and receiver. The transmitter sends out radio signals and the receiver monitors the signal reflections that come back. Based on this entropy, the radar device can determine the proximity of any surrounding objective. (See How Radar Works for more information.)

To protect against car thieves with tow trucks, some alarm system have “tilt detectors.” The basic design of a tilt detector is a series of mercury switches. A mercury switch is made up of two electrical wires and a ball of mercury positioned inside a contained cylinder.

Mercury is a liquid metal — it flows like water, but it conducts electrical energy like a solid metal. In a mercury switch, one wire (let’s call it wire A) goes all the way across the bottom of the cylinder, while the other wire (wire B) extends only part way from one side. The mercury is always in contact with wire A, but it may break contact with wire B.

When the cylinder tilts one way, the mercury shifts so that it comes into contact with wire B. This closes the circuit running through the mercury switch. When the cylinder tilts the other way, the mercury rolls away from the second wire, opening the circuit.

In some designs, only the tip of wire B is exposed, and the mercury must be in contact with the tip in order to close a switch. Tilting the mercury switch either way will open the circuit.

 

Car alarm tilt sensors typically have an array of mercury switches positioned at varying angles. Some of them are in the closed position when you’re parked at any particular slant, and some of them are in the open position. If a thief changes the angle of your car (by lifting it with a tow truck or hiking it up with a jack, for example), some of the closed switches open and some of the open switches close. If any of the switches are thrown, the central brain knows that someone is lifting the car.

In different situations, all of these alarm systems might cover the same ground. For example, if someone is towing your car away, the mercury switches, the shock sensor and the radar sensor will all register that there is a problem. But different combinations of alarm triggers may indicate different events. “Intelligent” alarm system have brains that react differently depending on the combination of information they receive from the sensors.

In the next section, we’ll look at some of the alarm responses the brain might trigger under different circumstances.

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