IWR1443: CFAR Guard Window Length

Elmer Russchen

Part Number: IWR1443

Hi there,

We are using the IWR1443 radar sensor to do range measurements. We've been experimenting with different parameters for the CFAR configuration and are running into an issue when using a guard window length that is bigger than 7. Any time the guard window length is 7 or lower we are able to take measurements just fine but when we attempt to set this parameter to 8 or higher the sensor's firmware seems to lock up. Are there any constraints to this parameter that we've missed in the documentation? We are using mmWave SDK version 2.1. I've also been able to reproduce this using the mmWave Demo Visualizer 2.1.0 so it seems like it could be an issue with this version of the SDK? The configuration commands are sent and replied to with a "Done" as expected but afterwards no plots can be seen in the Plots tab.

Thank you for the support!

over 2 years ago

0 Brennan Hartigan over 2 years ago

TI__Expert 5534 points

Hi Elmer,

What is your entire cfarCfg?

Regards,

Brennan

0 Elmer Russchen over 2 years ago in reply to Brennan Hartigan

Prodigy 20 points

Hey Brennan,

Thanks for your reply! I've attempted to use several different configurations but examples of configurations that I would like to experiment with but seem to be unable to are:

cfarCfg 0 2 16 8 4 0 1280
cfarCfg 0 2 16 12 4 0 1280
cfarCfg 0 2 32 12 5 0 1280
cfarCfg 0 2 64 32 6 0 1280

where the parameters are:

cfarCfg <procDirection> <mode> <noiseWin> <guardLen> <divShift> <cyclicMode> <thresholdScale>

0 Brennan Hartigan over 2 years ago in reply to Elmer Russchen

TI__Expert 5534 points

Elmer,

Thanks for the info. I will look into this and get back to you as soon as I have an answer.

Regards,

Brennan

0 Elmer Russchen over 2 years ago in reply to Brennan Hartigan

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Brennan,

Do you have an update on this issue for us?

Regards,

Elmer

0 Brennan Hartigan over 2 years ago in reply to Elmer Russchen

TI__Expert 5534 points

Hi Elmer,

I am still looking into this issue and should have an answer by the end of the week.

Regards,

Brennan

0 Elmer Russchen over 2 years ago in reply to Brennan Hartigan

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Brennan,

Sounds good. Thank you very much!

0 Elmer Russchen over 2 years ago

Prodigy 20 points

In case anyone else runs into this issue, it turns out that when using the HWA for CFAR only a 3-bit register is used to specify the guard window length parameter.

0 Brennan Hartigan over 2 years ago in reply to Elmer Russchen

TI__Expert 5534 points

Hi Elmer,

My apologies for the delay, I was going to get back to you this morning.

You are correct that in using the HWA for CFAR, the GFAR_GUARD_INT register has a width of 3 bits. Therefore, any guard window length >7 will cause an error.

I am attaching the Radar Hardware Accelerator User's Guide as a resource for anyone who runs into this issue in the future.

Regards,

Brennan

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IWR1443: CFAR Guard Window Length