AWR6843ISK: All inclusive radar system for chest movement monitoring

Hi Lillian,

I have broken up my response in a few sections to address your questions. Also please see the following Vital Signs lab for more information of a chest monitoring application.

https://dev.ti.com/tirex/explore/node?node=ADTLXelX36I6iOJjRnxYYA__VLyFKFf__LATES

1.) Picking the correct mmWave EVM

If your application is for automotive use then you can stick with using the AWR6843 however if your application is for industrial use, we have the IWR6843 EVM that should be used instead.

Additionally please see the following e2e post which goes into detail about some of the different IWR6843 EVM options and based on your application you can pick the best one. https://e2e.ti.com/support/sensors-group/sensors/f/sensors-forum/934622/iwr6843-difference-between-iwr6843isk-ods-and-iwr6843aopevm

2.) Additional hardware required MMWAVE IC Boost carrier board and Documentation

In order to use the DCA1000EVM with the xWR6843EVM, you will need the MMWAVE IC Boost carrier board as well.

https://www.ti.com/tool/MMWAVEICBOOST

Please also see the following documentation related to raw data capture.

5700.mmWave_sensor_raw_data_capture_using_DCA1000_xwr6843.pdf

3.) Extracting rawADC Data Wirelessly Considerations

In terms of the wireless aspect, considering the size of data and update rates needed for the ADC data, it is preferred to be sent over high speed interfaces such as LVDS. Transmitting wirelessly is going to have very strict data limitations and a very low frame rate. You would have to check if the wireless device of choice can accept the data over such high speed interface. 

4.) Alternative Data Considerations

As referenced in the Vital Signs lab, the visualizer GUI already provides a bunch of useful information and data that can also be saved to a computer. You may want to look at the processed data that can more easily be sent wirelessly from the mmWave Radar EVM and you can parse the processed data to then extract the specific values. You can see the following file for an understanding of the data structure of the processed data and you also refer back to the Vital Signs lab.

<MMWAVE_SDK_INSTALL_PATH>\packages\ti\demo\xwr68xx\mmw\docs\doxygen\html\index.html

Thanks,

Alex Chan

Hi Alexander,

Thanks for your response. From going through the documents and links, my understanding is that the below is what the system block diagram would look like? As regards the wireless connectivity, could recommend either a compatible module that can send the raw data wirelessly to the PC or a module that can be attached to the system where we can do our processing then send our processed data wirelessly?

Hi Lillian,

Yes the overall block diagram looks correct.

Here are a few suggestions regarding the transfer of raw adc data. 

1. I am not sure on the space requirements or how permanent of a solution you need but you could have your system (EVM + DCA1000EVM) connected to a remote computer which can then send information to a secondary computer or cloud storage which can simplify the design. 

2. Another option is if you are only looking for a subsect of the adc raw data, I was talking with another engineer on my team and he has created an image that can transmit raw ADC over uart at a slower speed. In this case you would not need the DCA1000EVM and could connect the radar EVM to a Wifi Launchpad EVM for wireless transmission to a computer. If you want a large amount of data at a high chirp/frame rate or all of the data then you will still need the DCA1000EVM which currently we have not looked into wirelessly transmitting that much data through a WiFi Launchpad EVM. 

Thanks,

Alex Chan

Hi Alexander,

Thanks for your reply. I think we will need to study how much data we will require and then revisit the wireless option. Unfortunately it seems the 
MMWAVEICBOOST and DCA1000EVM are out of stock at the moment. Would you have any idea how long we would have to wait for new stock?

Appreciate the support.

Lillian

Thank you.