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TDC1000-C2000EVM: Evaluation board will not generate start pulse, including other weird issues.

Liam Kasper
Prodigy 10 points
Part Number: TDC1000-C2000EVM
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TUSS4470, TDC1000, TUSS4440

I am experiencing some sudden weird issues working with the TDC1000-C2000EVM. The main thing that is causing me problems is that the evaluation board would only generate the proper start pulse when a config file was loaded, then it would continue to read the time of flight for a brief period of time before freezing up. I have an oscilloscope connected across Tx to ground so that I can see exactly what the ultrasonic transducer is reading and I thought that the trigger on the scope was getting messed up but I realized it was actually because the board stopped sending Tx pulses altogether. My solution for this was to disconnect the board in the GUI, unplug it from my computer, close the program, plug it back in, and then reopen the program. When I did this it would start working as expected for a short period of time again and then freeze up. Over time it just stopped generating any transmit signal and obviously isn't receiving anything from the transducer as well. I was not sure if this was driver related so I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers, attempted to interface with the board through another computer, and tried multiple other transducers with no luck. It seems that there is still a connection when it is plugged into the computer as the registers can be edited and read with no problems. The other weird issue that I am experiencing related to that is when I attempt to test the link LED within the GUI, when the GUI shows that the link LED is on the board shows that its off, and when the GUI shows that the link LED should be off the board turns it on. I have recently started experiencing this since I have started having problems with the board generating the transmit signal. If anyone has experienced this before or has any ideas of what may be causing this please let me know!

P.S. I am attempting to use the evaluation board to measure liquid levels in a monostatic configuration and I have seen in many previous forums that the TUSS4440/TUSS4470 EVM may be a better evaluation board for this purpose but I am attempting to make do with the TDC1000 since I have already ordered it and am looking for a proof of concept before anything else is purchased. 

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 23045 points

    Hello Liam,

    Thanks for posting to the sensing forum! Thanks for the detailed information, it seems like may have had a user come across a similar issue in the past but we didnt get much confirmation to see if we were able to solve their problem: e2e.ti.com/.../tdc1000-c2000evm-gui-board-freeze-after-some-time-or-after-some-settings-changes

    It seems like there was a problem with their config file on our end but we were never able to replicate the freezing issue. Perhaps try uploading the config file at the end of the linked thread to see if you can observe a TX signal being transmitted from your device.

    As far as the link LED, in the GUI have you tried clicking the reset C2000 option to reset the C2000 MCU on the board? Perhaps there is some issue with the C2000 board that is mounted on the EVM and this could be why the device isn't responding as it is supposed to. I had the same issue after a couple of reads with the LED, and essentially resetting the C2000 board would always enable the LED so whenever I would set it to "turn on" but it would have the opposite behavior, you can correct the behavior by setting it on and resetting the C2000 board.

    TDC1000-C2000EVM is an older piece of hardware and the device is a bit more finicky so it is not as simple to use, sorry you are having some trouble with this one. The TUSS44x0 devices are definitely much easier to work with. A quick question about your liquid level measurements, are these going to be performed through air coupled or water coupled through a tank?

    Best,

    Isaac

  • 0 in reply to Isaac Lara
    Prodigy 10 points

    Thanks for all the information you were able to provide! For the liquid level measurements I am attempting water coupling through a container, may test in the future using air coupling though. I took a look at the forum link that you included and it definitely seems to be the same problem that I am having, I have been messing around with the config file linked at the end of the forum and when that one is loaded it seems to transmit for a couple cycles and stop again. When I load my own config file after the one from the forum it works for a few cycles again and then stops. The solution you gave for the LED and C2000 worked right away but it obviously isn't related to the problems with the TDC1000. If anyone has some insight to whether this is a hardware or a software issue that would be helpful. I might as well start looking into the TUSS44x0 devices so that if this problem doesn't seem to have a resolution I can get to ordering the necessary EVM.

  • 0 in reply to Liam Kasper
    TI__Mastermind 23045 points

    Hey Liam,

    Thanks for sharing some information. Do you know the container material you will be trying to sense through? Typically, plastic works the best because it is easier for the ultrasonic energy can couple easily through the plastic and travel inside the tank. With metal we recommend soft metals since metal can be a difficult medium for ultrasonic energy, causing a lot of the energy to be reflected at times and significantly attenuating what actually makes it through the tank. In those cases higher voltages are typically necessary, but of course it all depends on the material, thickness, and distance being measured inside the tank.

    When the pulses stop transmitting have you tried using the reset button for the TDC1000 to see if that helps reset the device? You would need to reconfigure the device after that since I believe it resets and goes back to the default registers. But I am leaning that perhaps the software (firmware or GUI software) could be causing this behavior since we have not observed this in the past before with our own evaluation modules or with any devices that are out on the field.

    It might be worth to start looking at the TUSS44x0 family of devices anyways since we typically recommend these devices over the TDC1000. They contain a log amp as part of the system's AFE that makes it easier to measure echoes if they are near or far. You can always set up the device to work like the TDC1000 if you liked the simplicity of this device where the TUSS44x0 produces a signal once the echo meets a threshold so you do not have to worry about sampling the devices raw data and processing that through your system.

    Best,

    Isaac