Convert Quaternion representing rotation from one coordinate system to another

Question

I am getting a quaternion from sensor data that is in the coordinate system Y=up, X=right, and Z= backwards.Mine is X=forward, Y=right, Z=up.

So OX=Y, OY=Z and OZ=-X.

I have a function that can convert quaternions into 4by4 matrices, but no idea where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Quaternions in the form of [X, Y, Z, W] are equivalent to axis-angle rotations where W is dependent only on the angle of rotation (but not the axis) and X, Y, Z are the axis of rotation multiplied by sin(Angle/2). Since X, Y, Z have this property, you can just swap and negate them as you would to convert a 3D coordinate between. To convert from your sensor's coordinate system to yours, you can simply do this:

MyQuat.X = -SensorQuat.Z
MyQuat.Y = SensorQuat.X
MyQuat.Z = SensorQuat.Y
MyQuat.W = SensorQuat.W

Answer 2

Assume you have two coordinate systems F1 and F2. For simplicity, assume both have same origin. Now let,

qo_f1 = orientation of frame F1 as seen from frame F2
qo_f2  = orientation of frame F2 is as seen from F1
q_f1 = some quaternion in F1 frame
q_f2 = q_f1 as seen from F2

Then,

q_f2 = qo_f2 * q_f1 * qo_f2.inverse()

Explanation

To rotate anything by quaternion q you just do q*p*q.inverse(). If p is a vector then you first convert it to "fake" quaternion by setting w=0 and x,y,z same as vector. If p is quaternion then you are good to go.