User manual
 DocumentMT0100P.N
©XsensTechnologiesB.V. MTiandMTxUserManualandTechnicalDocumentation
11
TrueNorthvs.MagneticNorth
AsdefinedabovetheoutputcoordinatesystemoftheMTi/MTxiswithrespecttolocalMagneticNorth.The
deviationbetweenMagneticNorthandTrueNorth(knownasthemagneticdeclination)variesdependingon
your location on earth and can be roughly obtained from various models of the earth’s magnetic field as a
functionoflatitudeandlongitude.TheMTi/MTxcanacceptasettingofthedeclinationvalue.Thisisdoneby
settingthe“declination”intheMTManager,SDKorbydirectcommunicationwiththesensor.Theoutputwill
thenbeoffsetbythedeclinationandthusreferencedto“local”truenorth.
4.1.3  North‐East‐Downoptionalaerospaceco‐ordinatesystemdefinitions
It is possible  to change the default local tangent plane Euclidean coordinate system to a North‐East‐Down
(NED)conventioncoordinatesystem.Thisisoftenusedinaerospaceapplications.ChangingtotheNEDsetting
willalso changethebody‐fixed sensorcoordinatesystem toa Zdowncoordinatesystem asindicatedin the
figurebelow.
Figure4:MTinaNEDconventioncoordinatesystemFigure4:MTinaNEDconventioncoordinatesystem
Local 
Magnetic 
North 
Local 
vertical 
x
NED
y
NED
S
NED 
MTi and MTx co-ordinate system 
Z down 
G
NED
Local tangent plane 
Z down (North East Down) 
X
NED
Z
NED
Y
NED
All co-ordinate systems are right handed. 
z
NED










