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Quaternions to Rotation Angles

Determine rotation vector from quaternion

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  • Quaternions to Rotation Angles block

Libraries:
Aerospace Blockset / Utilities / Axes Transformations

Description

The Quaternions to Rotation Angles block converts the four-element quaternion vector (q0, q1, q2, q3), into the rotation described by the three rotation angles (R1, R2, R3). The block generates the conversion by computing elements in the direction cosine matrix (DCM) as a function of the rotation angles. The elements in the DCM are functions of a unit quaternion vector. Aerospace Blockset™ uses quaternions that are defined using the scalar-first convention. This block normalizes all quaternion inputs. The resulting rotation angles represent a series of right-hand intrinsic passive rotations from frame A to frame B. The quaternion represents a right-hand passive transformation from frame A to frame B. For more information on the direction cosine matrix, see Algorithms.

Limitations

  • For the ZYX, ZXY, YXZ, YZX, XYZ, and XZY rotations, the block generates an R2 angle that lies between ±pi/2 radians, and R1 and R3 angles that lie between ±pi radians.

  • For the 'ZYZ', 'ZXZ', 'YXY', 'YZY', 'XYX', and 'XZX' rotations, the block generates an R2 angle that lies between 0 and pi radians, and R1 and R3 angles that lie between ±pi radians. However, in the latter case, when R2 is 0, R3 is set to 0 radians.

Ports

Input

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Quaternion, specified as a 4-by-1 vector.

Data Types: double

Output

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Rotation angles, returned 3-by-1 vector, in radians.

Data Types: double

Parameters

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Output rotation order for the three rotation angles.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: rotationOrder
Type: character vector
Values: ZYX | ZYZ |ZXY | ZXZ | YXZ | YXY | YZX | YZY | XYZ | XYX | XZY | XZX
Default: 'ZYX'

Algorithms

The elements in the DCM are functions of a unit quaternion vector. For example, for the rotation order z-y-x, the DCM is defined as:

DCM=[cosθcosψcosθsinψ−sinθ(sinϕsinθcosψ−cosϕsinψ)(sinϕsinθsinψ+cosϕcosψ)sinϕcosθ(cosϕsinθcosψ+sinϕsinψ)(cosϕsinθsinψ−sinϕcosψ)cosϕcosθ]

The DCM defined by a unit quaternion vector is:

DCM=[(q02+q12−q22−q32)2(q1q2+q0q3)2(q1q3−q0q2)2(q1q2−q0q3)(q02−q12+q22−q32)2(q2q3+q0q1)2(q1q3+q0q2)2(q2q3−q0q1)(q02−q12−q22+q32)]

From the preceding equation, you can derive the following relationships between DCM elements and individual rotation angles for a ZYX rotation order:

ϕ=atan(DCM(2,3),DCM(3,3))=atan(2(q2q3+q0q1),(q02−q12−q22+q32))θ=asin(−DCM(1,3))=asin(−2(q1q3−q0q2))ψ=atan(DCM(1,2),DCM(1,1))=atan(2(q1q2+q0q3),(q02+q12−q22−q32))

where Ψ is R1, Θ is R2, and Φ is R3.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

Introduced in R2007b

See Also

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