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Original question:

AWR1642BOOST-ODS: Issue Getting Obstacle Detection Demo GUI Working

AWR1642BOOST-ODS: Obstacle Detection Demo Communication Issue When Running bin Image

Denis Nakazawa
Prodigy 100 points
Part Number: AWR1642BOOST-ODS
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH, , AWR1642

Hello,

I'm currently working with an AWR1642ODS evaluation board and am in the process of understanding how the obstacle detection demo works. 

I've run the obstacle detection demo previously using the pre-built binaries and I would now like to try running it using the manually built DSS and MSS projects. However, when I go to flash the bin image (created from building the DSS and MSS projects) using Uniflash, I get several warnings that indicate a communication issue between the evaluation board and the computer. 

The ODS visualizer starts up fine and allows me to select the UART and DATA COMs and connect to the board. When I load up the chirp config file in the chirp_configs in the lab directory, each command hangs up, throws a warning, and times out as follows:

Starting ODS 3D Visualizer....
Opening configuration file C:\ti\mmwave_automotive_toolbox_3_6_0\labs\lab0004_obstacle_detection\chirp_configs\ods_default_config.cfg ...

tlSize =

     8


P =

  struct with fields:

               channelCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 dataPath: [1x1 struct]
               profileCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 frameCfg: [1x1 struct]
               guiMonitor: [1x1 struct]
                  cfarCfg: [1x1 struct]
                   dbScan: [1x1 struct]
    dspFftScaleComp2D_lin: 0.5000
    dspFftScaleComp2D_log: -6.0206


P =

  struct with fields:

               channelCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 dataPath: [1x1 struct]
               profileCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 frameCfg: [1x1 struct]
               guiMonitor: [1x1 struct]
                  cfarCfg: [1x1 struct]
                   dbScan: [1x1 struct]
    dspFftScaleComp2D_lin: 0.5000
    dspFftScaleComp2D_log: -6.0206


P =

  struct with fields:

               channelCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 dataPath: [1x1 struct]
               profileCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 frameCfg: [1x1 struct]
               guiMonitor: [1x1 struct]
                  cfarCfg: [1x1 struct]
                   dbScan: [1x1 struct]
    dspFftScaleComp2D_lin: 0.5000
    dspFftScaleComp2D_log: -6.0206
    dspFftScaleComp1D_lin: 1.3913
    dspFftScaleComp1D_log: 2.8684


P =

  struct with fields:

               channelCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 dataPath: [1x1 struct]
               profileCfg: [1x1 struct]
                 frameCfg: [1x1 struct]
               guiMonitor: [1x1 struct]
                  cfarCfg: [1x1 struct]
                   dbScan: [1x1 struct]
    dspFftScaleComp2D_lin: 0.5000
    dspFftScaleComp2D_log: -6.0206
    dspFftScaleComp1D_lin: 1.3913
    dspFftScaleComp1D_log: 2.8684

Sending configuration from C:\ti\mmwave_automotive_toolbox_3_6_0\labs\lab0004_obstacle_detection\chirp_configs\ods_default_config.cfg file to IWR16xx ...
sensorStop
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
flushCfg
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
dfeDataOutputMode 1
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
channelCfg 15 3 0
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
adcCfg 2 1
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
adcbufCfg -1 0 0 1 1
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
profileCfg 0 77 7 7 58.0 0 0 67.978 1 256 5020 0 0 36
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
chirpCfg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
chirpCfg 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
frameCfg 0 1 32 0 100 1 0
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
lowPower 0 1
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
guiMonitor 1 1 0 0
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
cfarCfg 1 4 12 4 2 8 2 350 30 2 0 5 20
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
dbscanCfg 4 4 13 20 3 256
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..
sensorStart
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unexpected Warning: A timeout occurred before the Terminator was reached.
Warning: Unsuccessful read: The specified amount of data was not returned within the Timeout period..

I've also noticed that when I try to connect to the UART COM port using PuTTY (instead of the GUI), I do not get the heading that shows the demo is running and the terminal will not allow me to type in anything.

I would try and tinker with the source code to find out where the communication is going awry, but unfortunately, I don't feel I'm yet experienced enough to undertake such a change. 

Would anybody be able to suggest what may be going on? Thank you all in advance for your time and help!

  • 0
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    Hi,

    It seems that there is a flashing issue.

    Are you able to flash the pre-built binary provided in the demo package

    Thank you

    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Cesar
    Prodigy 100 points

    Hi Cesar,

    Yes, I am able to flash the pre-built binary provided in the demo package and the detected objects are shown on the GUI when I use the pre-built binary. 

    Thank you. 

    - Denis

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    What version of the SDK are you using?

    Thank you

    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Cesar
    Prodigy 100 points

    Hi Cesar, 

    I am using the SDK noted in the ODS demo User's Guide, which is Version 2.0.0.4. 

    Thank you.

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    What about the automotive toolbox version?

    Thank you

    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Cesar
    Prodigy 100 points

    It's 3.6.0.

    Thank you. 

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    Hi,

    I will be able to get back to you by mid next week

    thank you

    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Cesar
    Prodigy 100 points

    Hi Cesar, 

    Thank you. 

    I also wanted to add an update as I am now unable to run the demos through the GUI or terminal even with the pre-built binaries. The board can be flashed no problem using Uniflash and the configuration port is able to connect, but the data port does not connect even after an extended amount of time. I happened to have a spare AWR1642BOOST-ODS board and was able to get the demos working seamlessly on that board. 

    Do you have any idea what may be causing the data UART channel to fail? 

    Thank you. 

    - Denis

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    Hi,

    Based on your experiments it seems that it is a hw issue for the specific board.

    We did not have reports of UART failing.

    Could you try the board with a different demo to check if the UART still does not work?

    You could try for example the mmWave SDK OOB demo

    thank you
    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Cesar
    Prodigy 100 points

    Hi Cesar, 

    I believe you are right. I'm not exactly sure what happened but this began to occur after I tied the RS232 Tx and Rx UART pins from the external headers on the AWR1642BOOST-ODS board to an external MCU. The external MCU is driven by 3.3 V and my understanding from reading the AWR1642 datasheet is that the UART output is 3.3 V out of the AWR1642. 

    The demo does work on another AWR1642BOOST-ODS unit that I have, so it is certainly a hardware failure on the other unit. I did not connect the external MCU to the new unit when running the demo.

    Would you be able to suggest a possible reason why tying the UART signals to an external MCU rated at the same VIO voltage would cause such an issue? 

    Thank you!

    - Denis 

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Guru*** 147844 points

    I will assign this thread to the hw team so that they can review the last question

    thank you

    Cesar

  • 0 in reply to Denis Nakazawa
    TI__Mastermind 29735 points

    Hello,

    When you say you are unable to run the pre-built demos, are you using the on-board XDS110 in this case or are you still trying to use the external MCU. If the MCU is operating at 3.3V, it should not have caused any permanent damage to the board. Do the COM ports still show up in the device manager as expected?

    Can you share details about which MCU or a schematic of the MCU board and which pins you connected to?

    Regards,

    Adrian

  • 0 in reply to aozer
    Prodigy 100 points

    Hi Adrian, 

    I started off by running the prebuilt demo and seeing how it works, which worked fine for me.

    However, the problem arose when I connected the same board to an external MCU by connecting the RS232-Rx, RS232-Tx, and MSS LOGGER pins on the J6 and J5 headers. I didn't know at the time that these pins on the headers aren't connected to the AWR1642's pins (so obviously I didn't get any UART signals on the external MCU), but after I disconnected these headers and tried running the pre-built demo on the EVM again by itself, the Visualizer Demo could not connect to the DATA COM port and when I used a serial terminal program (PuTTY), I couldn't write the configuration commands to the board over UART as I could before. 

    Both COM ports (for config and data) still show up fine in my device manager, but it doesn't seem like I can actually interface with them. 

    The external MCU I am using is a SAM R34 Xplained Pro evaluation board. I connected the UART signals to PA16 and PB02 and wrote a short program that multiplexes these pins to UART functionality. I verified that the UART on the SAM R34 works fine by having it send itself messages over UART. The datasheet for the SAM R34 states that its operating voltage is 3.3 V. 

    I've power-cycled the AWR1642BOOST-ODS hoping that this was a temporary issue, but the COM port functionality has not yet returned when running the pre-built demo.

    Thank you in advance!

    - Denis