the delta-angle and delta-velocity functionality appears to simply not exist, which excludes this being a faithful clone of either adis16488 or adis16375
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 04:33:21 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 05:09:17 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
oh, i just realized that it has a "product ID" register that clearly says 0x4068 (16488). so it's supposed to be a clone of ADIS16488 then. it's just a very bad one
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 05:17:03 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
this thing doesn't seem to have a magnetometer or a barometer, it's just an accelerometer and a gyroscope. not even very good ones, they're probably on par with what your cellphone has, if not worse
i think some enterprising company (possibly Shenznen Firepower Control Co. Ltd. based on @poppyhaze's research) has realized they can make a lot of money selling ADIS16488-style devices that only barely work at a half of their sticker price from AD
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 05:34:16 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@hennichodernich @poppyhaze that's a rather... optimistic way to describe it
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Henning Paul DC4HP (hennichodernich@radiosocial.de)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 05:34:17 JST Henning Paul DC4HP
@whitequark @poppyhaze So something we call a second source... 😬
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 06:40:43 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
oh... it has a GD32F103 inside. there are even, conveniently, pads with SWD routed to them
firmware dumping time? firmware dumping time.
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Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪 (jpm@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:02:04 JST Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪
@whitequark that explains the SPI controller weirdness…
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:02:04 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jpm :)
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:09:17 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
we have SWD!
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:24:59 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
the source code is not protected (i am reading out valid values), but for some reason my dump memory command is encountering errors; most likely a misunderstanding of ADIv5.2
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:36:19 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
it looks like sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't
very bold of a vendor to call it a "good device" when in fact it seems to be bad
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:36:52 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jpm are you sure they haven't added any
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Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪 (jpm@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:36:53 JST Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪
@whitequark oh wait, I vaguely recall that the GD32F103 fixed some silicon errata from the STM32F103 around debug handling.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:52:49 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
nevermind, it works fully once i attach a logic analyzer. for one reason or the other, adding a few pF of capacitance to the pins is what it needed
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 07:56:31 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
here's a firmware name: WM_KT-EX9-10_2.12_GD103.bin
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:07:52 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
did someone build the firmware with -funroll-loops or what
this is a part the code that copies static mutable data into RAM from Flash. it goes on for kilobytes
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:11:54 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
there's actually a few loops in the middle doing the same memcopy operation. i think the compiler smokes crack
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:17:10 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
although, a horrifying thought is that this is just what the original code looked like
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Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪 (jpm@aus.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:17:36 JST Joel 🔪 May-Kill 🔪
@whitequark lolololol amazing, I guess they’re not using assembly for their init handler
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:17:36 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jpm this firmware is weird
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:19:12 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
OH I GOT IT
i finally tracked down the source of this device, and also the gyroscope vendor
the WM_KT-EX9-10_2.12_GD103.bin in the firmware name most likely refers to the gyro:
https://en.ktjmyq.com/html/2024/MEMS_0526/141.html -
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 08:41:31 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
i'm wrong. the KT-EX9-1 device has a public datasheet and some key values don't match
this could be a custom one-off or something?
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 10:12:30 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@SDRHoernchen it's possible, but I think it's somewhat unlikely
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SDRHoernchen (sdrhoernchen@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 10:12:32 JST SDRHoernchen
@whitequark.. Or just a shady copy of a copy, due to usage? Returns probably happen rarely, and the buyer might be a bit desperate.
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Jaime (phofe@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 15:19:53 JST Jaime
@whitequark I would definitely want my loops to be fun rolled, tbh
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 19:57:31 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jaseg i considered stuff like that
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jaseg (jaseg@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 19:57:32 JST jaseg
@whitequark next version of Glasgow with DAC-controlled varactors on all pins for programmatic application of capacitive fiddle factors
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Timon 🛠 (timonsku@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 20:43:03 JST Timon 🛠
@whitequark going full time freelance has truly opened my eyes when it comes to the state of software in the embedded space. I always assumed that I write mediocre code at best but the bar for "ready to ship" is in fact so much lower than I could have ever imagined
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Timon 🛠 (timonsku@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 20:50:15 JST Timon 🛠
@whitequark One off'ish feels kinda likely. I seen that a few times in the med space despite doing that only briefly. Some sub-assembly was unobtainable so a shoddy "drop-in" that only replicates the features the specific device was using was made as it was easier/cheaper than redesigning the device itself.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 20:50:23 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@timonsku YEP.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 20:51:07 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@timonsku yep, that's my guess; no reason to try and name the firmware to impersonate some other vendor
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:53:46 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx @poppyhaze the alibaba vendors sell these for somewhere between $650-$1000, though the question is open how much the customized unit i'm looking at has been going for; i'm sure there's a negotiated agreement in place
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:53:47 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark @poppyhaze holy crap just had a look a mouser and yikes. tactical grade price indeed.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:55:39 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx the gyros apparently have vacuum inside of them (according to the vendor) which apparently makes them less sensitive to vibration!
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:55:39 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx I kinda want to open one up, I even have my trinocular here...
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:55:41 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark aha, gold plated CLCC gyros?
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:59:22 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx it's still functioning, I have a script that makes it run
I could measure it properly, Allan deviation and the like, but purely from mouthfeel they don't feel like they're all that better. I don't have a good intuition though and I think numbers are the real way to tell
if you want me to collect some data and know to analyze it I can easily do that
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 21:59:23 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark oh, did you try to make one run before teardown? They look quite nice. they're probably better than your average MPU6050.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:06:29 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx so, adis16488 is supposed to have an integrator for the angle
this box does not. it just reads as zeroes
i wonder if this means that it's not very good
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:06:30 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark no, it's quite complex and painful to characterize, there's a lot of noise measurements to be made, but these are statistical and I am unable to wrap my head around an actual meaning. it's just frustrating.
All I know is that when you use a gyro for dead reckoning, you integrate the rate over time twice and if the measurement has any bias, the integrated result will drift quadratically. Moreover, this "zero rate bias" varies with temperature and also if you look at the box sideways.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:10:37 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx that is my conclusion as well
i have the gd103 firmware. i can share it but it's horrifying spaghetti
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:10:38 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark looks like they did the vital minimum for the customer that wanted a cheaper adis16488. it just outputs the rates, and integration is made outside. probably the gd103 just translates spi protocols.
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:12:28 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx it would be mildly interesting to find out what the gyro protocol is. it's something low pin count as the flex cable just about has enough pins for SPI
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:21:09 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx of course
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 22:21:10 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark can you post a relatively better res pic of one gyro? ideally one with a visible part number? :)
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✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 23:28:13 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧
@f4grx huh, what was the query?
also, wtf is that website? ubo lite doesn't let me follow any links that lead to "syndicatedsearch.goog"
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F4GRX Sébastien (f4grx@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 30-Jun-2025 23:28:14 JST F4GRX Sébastien
@whitequark startpage gave this with the 1001-011 search request https://geo-matching.com/products/high-performance-tactical-grade-mems-gyroscope
(I considered the second line a date code and the third line a lot code)
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