EVM430-FR6043: Cannot get any ADC Capture Whatsoever

In its default configuration, the measurement you are trying to perform will not work with the USS Design Center and 6043 EVM. It is setup to be a dual transducer system with a transmitter and receiver so it can measure the delta time of flight between the two. To measure with a single transducer, the demo code will need to be modified at the minimum, and hardware changes may also be required. I may be wrong, but I don't believe the water library works down to 175 kHz as that's more a frequency typical to gas flow measurements.

This MSP Academy page is a good intro to what the basic system is trying to do, but it also links to many helpful documents in the "Recommended Resources" section. One document, TIDM-02005, describes how to setup the EVM for water measurements by bypassing the AFE/front-end amplifier.

Hi,

I want to check if your project is a water meter or a gas meter. Because our solution for those two meters are pretty different on both the hardware and software. 

If it is a gas meter solution, than you should not place your transducer into water. If this is a water meter, than we would suggest to use 1MHz/2MHz transducer. Here is an application note for using the EVM430-FR6043 for water meter application. It requires hardware modification on the EVM board. The way you connected is wrong for a water meter.  https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/tidues5a/tidues5a.pdf

And I noticed that you only have one transducer. Is this a feature for your application?

Best regards,

Cash Hao

Hi,

I just wanted to clarify that this is a level sensing application, but rather than using a time of flight measurement, we are trying to analyze the reflected waveform to see if there is liquid on the other side of the wall of the container.  Sorry if I have caused any confusion.

HI,

Okay. So in your application, the ultrasonic signal has to pass through the container's plastic wall, then reflect back on the other side of the container and pass through the wall again to be received by the transducer. It is generally impossible to achieve it. The ultrasonic signal will reduce lots of energy to pass through materials. It is almost impossible to receive that signal in your application. 

Here is a method to achieve a level sensing application with ultrasonic solution.  https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slaa951a/slaa951a.pdf

Best regards,

Cash Hao

Hello Adam,

First off, good talking with you last week during our meeting together.  You have an exciting application you are working on.

That being said, the comments mentioned earlier are valid.  With only 1 single transducer, as Seth said, it will be difficult to implement.  And as Cash added, the slaa951a app note might be worthy to review.

Lastly, I will add that our mmWave radar sensor can also be used to measure liquid levels with high precision.  Feel free to review this sample project available at TI on dev.ti.com for further details:  Level Sensing (ti.com)

Please let us know how we may be able to help further.

Regards,

Chris

HI Adam, excellent, thanks for doing that (obtaining another board) as well as giving this another try.  Definitely keep us posted, thanks.

-Chris