[XPOSED] VirtualSensor - Emulate a gyroscope from the accelerometer and compass - Xposed Framework Modules

Introduction
VirtualSensor is a module built on Xposed that creates several sensors on devices which do not have them. It does sensor fusion using the values from the accelerometer and the compass which are the two main requirements for this module.
There are currently 5 sensors emulated :
TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR
TYPE_GYROSCOPE
TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR
TYPE_GRAVITY
TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION
Being the most useful sensor for many applications, the gyroscope is the main sensor this project is about.
This module is born as an answer to personal frustration from not being able to use some applications after updating from my older Moto G (i.e. Photo Sphere) and later also as an answer to this thread.
Changelog
Code:
v1.5.1 - 02/08/2017:
This minor version fixes the module for Nougat devices.
See the changelog of v1.5.1 for the more information on what has changed for the major version 1.5.
v1.5 - 02/08/2017:
Finally a new release after (quite) a while. This release should fix the majority of bugs encountered on current and previous versions of Android.
With the precious help of people on Github, the cardboard hook has been (hopefully) improved.
The overall stability and reliability should be better now.
This release will stay marked as beta until relevant and good feedback is received, to please head over to Github if you can and report issues if any (or add to the exising issues to check wether they still exist)
v1.41 - 01/08/2016:
* Fixed the module, previous version broke it because of proguard minify, do not use version v1.4
v1.4 - 31/07/2016: /!\ This version is broken, avoid it /!\
* Added a check for already existing native sensors so that they don't get overridden by the module
* Now checks the values of the accelerometer and magnetic sensor against their accuracy. This means that the output values contain less noise without loosing too much precision
* Added a simple GUI to quickly get informations about the module. This part also calculates the values the gyroscope should return and compares them against the one the module actually returns
* Some hooks are now made on higher-level API (public available functions for apps), which means that specific device code should no longer break them
* Fixed a recurrent exception (ConcurrentModificationException)
v1.32 - 29/07/2016:
* Fix the mRequiredPermssion field no available on SDK < 20
Hotfix #2 for v1.3
v1.31 - 29/07/2016:
* Fixes the issue with SDK <= 18 where mStringType doesn't exist in the Sensor class
Hotfix for v1.3
v1.3 - 29/07/2016:
* Sensors are now added in a proper way. They should no longer accidentally override existing sensors / cause compatibility issues
* All gyroscope axes are fully functional !
* If it didn't work before for you on JellyBean-Lollipop, try now, it might (fixed the check for initialisation of SystemSensorManager)
* Started to work on a new filter system for the gyroscope mainly
v1.21 - 25/07/2016:
Hotfix for v1.2 to avoid crashes on JB devices.
v1.2 - 26/07/2016:
* Fixed compatibility with SDK18-22 (Android JellyBean 4.3 - Android Lolipop 5.1)
* Added a little more log
* Calculation for the gyroscope is now based on the calculated gravity sensor data, which (should) makes it work as intended in any orientation
* The virtual sensors now have a little more information in the created Sensor class, just to make sure this isn't an issue
v1.11 - 25/07/2016:
Hotfix for v1.1, fixes an exception raised in some cases when trying to get the accelerometer's min delay.
v1.1 - 25/07/2016:
* Added support for all SDK versions from SDK16 to SDK23+, this means all android versions starting from Jelly Bean should be supported
* Added a lot of new sensors : TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR, TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR, TYPE_GRAVITY and TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION
* Still no support for Pokémon GO though, working on it
* Some exceptions fixed
* Code refactored a lot
v1.0 - 23/07/2016:
Initial release.
Known issues
Right now, the Z-axis is not emulated as it always returned wrong values (Investigating this right now) Fixed
Some applications use the NDK instead of the SDK to access the sensors, the workaround is to hook them seperately, but that isn't done yet
There is some jitter even though the values are smoothed using a lowpass filter and averaged out
Disclaimer
Code:
Though it is unlikely this could happen given the modifications it does, the responsibility is yours for whatever happens after installing and using this module.
Download
Github : https://github.com/Frazew/VirtualSensor/releases/
Xposed Repository : http://repo.xposed.info/module/fr.frazew.virtualgyroscope
Contributing
There is a Github project for this module so please do not hesitate to contribute to it. I'll be glad to share knowledge and code. Please know that I'm not (yet? ) a professional coder and that errors are quite likely to happen.
XDA:DevDB Information
VirtualSensor, Xposed for all devices (see above for details)
Contributors
Frazew
Source Code: https://github.com/Frazew/VirtualSensor
Xposed Package Name: fr.frazew.virtualgyroscope
Version Information
Status: Testing
Current Stable Version: v1.5.1
Stable Release Date: 2017-08-02
Created 2016-07-23
Last Updated 2017-08-02

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I supposed you tested this with Pokemon GO, as is the reason of so many requests for a virtual gyroscope so I'll suppose is still nor working due my specific device.
Motorola Moto X Play, running CyanogenMod 13.
Thanks for your work!

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Thanks for chance to get normal VR experience
Works great with Lenovo Vibe P1 (this device has a jittering problem with its own pseudo-gyro). Tested with Youtube 360 videos. Works great for watching up/down and rotate. As well as you said z-axis is not working at all, so it's impossible to move point of view to the left/right. Can help you with testing on my device, if you want. I have Lenovo Vibe P1 with Android 6.0, TWRP and Root.
P.S. Is there any way to turn on z-axis for testing, for example by using your project at github. I'm not sure if I will understand there something, I was coding before only at C#, but I can try.

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OliverG96 said:
I supposed you tested this with Pokemon GO, as is the reason of so many requests for a virtual gyroscope so I'll suppose is still nor working due my specific device.
Motorola Moto X Play, running CyanogenMod 13.
Thanks for your work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not test it with Pokémon GO, however I think the hook will have to be made in the app itself. I'll look into it right now
EDIT: Pokémon GO uses the TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR sensor. This sensor requires data from the gyroscope. I'm working right now on emulating it.

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Saratsin said:
Works great with Lenovo Vibe P1 (this device has a jittering problem with its own pseudo-gyro). Tested with Youtube 360 videos. Works great for watching up/down and rotate. As well as you said z-axis is not working at all, so it's impossible to move point of view to the left/right. Can help you with testing on my device, if you want. I have Lenovo Vibe P1 with Android 6.0, TWRP and Root.
P.S. Is there any way to turn on z-axis for testing, for example by using your project at github. I'm not sure if I will understand there something, I was coding before only at C#, but I can try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see that it works ! I could make another build with the Z axis activated but I really need to look a bit more into it. The problem with it is that it seemed to return higher values than the other axes. This generally broke the calibration many apps do and though the z-axis worked, they would then ignore the small variations of the other axes.
In case you want to build it yourself, it's quite easy, just remove the multiplication by zero here : https://github.com/Frazew/VirtualSensor/blob/master/app/src/main/java/fr/frazew/virtualgyroscope/XposedMod.java#L156

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Can't install it on Jelly bean 4.2.2 :/

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first a big THANKS!!!!!
I downloaded sensors tests app.before the module,gyroscope test wasn't there!after the module,voilla!!gyroscope test was there!I openned it and tested side by side with my xperia Z3 tablet.But values was muuuch different...It's ok,we all hope for possible future module updates!again THANK YOU!!!

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Dant3s said:
Can't install it on Jelly bean 4.2.2 :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now the minimum SDK version is KitKat, that's just because the sensor methods are different on Jelly Bean and I haven't worked on it.
Now that there are people who can actually test it on Jelly Bean I'll make an update to add support for it

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Frazew said:
Right now the minimum SDK version is KitKat, that's just because the sensor methods are different on Jelly Bean and I haven't worked on it.
Now that there are people who can actually test it on Jelly Bean I'll make an update to add support for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear that, thanks

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have see this thread : Help module to simulate Gyroscope with Accelerometer and Compass by nicolobos77

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Hey, since we've doubled same purpose module I decided to use yours since its clear that you have much more experience than me and your code is much more elegant. (I never used Xposed before)
I built and ran it on my phone, and noticed exception thrown in logs (made pull request with fix at github), this wasnt big deal, but it seems like even though math is correct, sensor behaves wierd. Output is delayed by ~1 sec. There is also wierd "bounce effect" after rotating at ~20degree/sec and stopping velocity goes to ~-20 degree for a moment and drops back to 0.
Also depending on delay set up by application when registering listener some of apps only seem to get any output other than 0 if I like swing phone very hard. So my guess is that you might have more sensitive sensors in your phone and smoothing methods you applied are overkill for mine. I'll look into it closer later today, or tomorrow and see if changing parameters helps.

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Thanks you for your work. One question, my phone has this, link to the image: imgur.com/a/lD7Sg Accelerometer it's fine but compass and orientation sensor are the same thing?. I cant find an app that can show me if I have compass sensor. Thanks you again and sorry for my bad english :/
And can you make a guide like "How to Install or what do you need in order to" or something like that? Please?

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Maveroik said:
Thanks you for your work. One question, my phone has this, link to the image: imgur.com/a/lD7Sg Accelerometer it's fine but compass and orientation sensor are the same thing?. I cant find an app that can show me if I have compass sensor. Thanks you again and sorry for my bad english :/
And can you make a guide like "How to Install or what do you need in order to" or something like that? Please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Compass means Magnetic Sensor, so yes, you do have one.
Frazew said:
EDIT: Pokémon GO uses the TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR sensor. This sensor requires data from the gyroscope. I'm working right now on emulating it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did some reverse engineering on that matter, Pogo uses whole bunch of sensors: TYPE_GRAVITY, TYPE_GYROSCOPE, TYPE_ACCELEROMETER, TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD, TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR and TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION.
Actually I believe that TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR can be simulated by copying TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR values.

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Mourdraug said:
Hey, since we've doubled same purpose module I decided to use yours since its clear that you have much more experience than me and your code is much more elegant. (I never used Xposed before)
I built and ran it on my phone, and noticed exception thrown in logs (made pull request with fix at github), this wasnt big deal, but it seems like even though math is correct, sensor behaves wierd. Output is delayed by ~1 sec. There is also wierd "bounce effect" after rotating at ~20degree/sec and stopping velocity goes to ~-20 degree for a moment and drops back to 0.
Also depending on delay set up by application when registering listener some of apps only seem to get any output other than 0 if I like swing phone very hard. So my guess is that you might have more sensitive sensors in your phone and smoothing methods you applied are overkill for mine. I'll look into it closer later today, or tomorrow and see if changing parameters helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your, I didn't see this exception when I tested it, but now that you bring it up, it seems obvious.
As for the delay you are talking about, the explanation I have for this is that I filter the output using a mean filter that uses the 10 previous values. This has the advantage of reducing the jitter a lot but it also has the huge disadvantage of adding a lot of delay. I will change this as there are better ways to filter the output than using the mean of the previous values. Like I said, I only tested it with my phone and did not take into account the sensitivity of the sensors. This is actually a good idea and I'll have to change that. Feel free to tweak what you want and make pull requests, that's the best way this module can evolve.

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Mourdraug said:
I did some reverse engineering on that matter, Pogo uses whole bunch of sensors: TYPE_GRAVITY, TYPE_GYROSCOPE, TYPE_ACCELEROMETER, TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD, TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR and TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION.
Actually I believe that TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR can be simulated by copying TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR values.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I reverse engineered it too and saw these sensors too. The thing is: TYPE_GRAVITY is a virtual sensor created from the accelerometer so no need to simulate it. TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD is the compass and TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION is also a virtual sensor created from the accelerometer so no need to simulate it either. I have right now working code to make the TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR work. I didn't see the TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR so I did the math directly from the rotation matrix values. I guess I'll change to use its values since it's already there, thanks for your help
EDIT: Actually the TYPE_GRAVITY is not a virtual sensor. My bad, I'll see what I can do to simulate it.
EDIT2: Actually TYPE_LINEAR_ACCELERATION is not always present either, I'll simulate it too. I should verify a bit more before posting stuff.

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I would donate some cash if you could get the AR function to work in PoGo! That would be awesome!

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wktra said:
I would donate some cash if you could get the AR function to work in PoGo! That would be awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for cash but I'm currently working on it. I implemented a whole new lot of sensors but sadly PoGo doesn't work with them just yet. I'm investigating this and will make an update once it's ready (I play PoGo too so I'd like to see it work too).

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Hi , I just registered to thank you a lot for the effort you're doing.
It doesn's seems to work on my LG G3 S, however thank you a lot and hope someone can help you making it through !
Keep the good work.

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Dont work on youtube or pokemon Go in motorola moto g 2015(xt1541). Also i installed Cpu Z and it show the virtual gyro sensor ... I dont know why dont work on 360 video on youtube.(sorry for bad english)