Method and apparatus for determining attitude of an object

A method, comprising:

• determining an attitude of an electromechanical object with a microprocessor, the determining including:
• receiving with the microprocessor a gravity acceleration signal from an accelerometer positioned on the object and a geomagnetic field signal from a magnetometer positioned on the object, the gravity acceleration signal and the geomagnetic field signal changing with the attitude of the object accordingly;
• determining with the microprocessor a gravity field representation in an object coordinate system according to the gravity acceleration signal, and determining with the microprocessor a geomagnetic field representation in the object coordinate system according to the geomagnetic field signal;
• calculating with the microprocessor a conversion parameter of a conversion coordinate system according to the gravity field representation and the geomagnetic field representation in the object coordinate system, the conversion coordinate system being between the object coordinate system and a terrestrial coordinate system;
• and
• determining the attitude of the object according to the conversion parameter of the conversion coordinate system;
• displaying a representation of the object on a display based on the conversion parameter of the conversion coordinate system, the display being coupled to the microprocessor.