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IWR6843AOPEVM: Choosing the right range/velocity resolution

Part Number: IWR6843AOPEVM

Dear,

Please pardon my little understanding of the subject matter.
But I will like some clarification on specifying the max range and velocity (as well as their minimum resolutions) especially concerning very fine motions and vital sign detection.

In the demo concerning very fine motion detection, the configuration 68xx_fine_motion.cfg used for detecting major (arm movements), fine (typing) and very fine (breathing/heartbeats) motions and it was stated that this was made used because the "chirp configuration configures the mmWave sensor for very high velocity resolution and a maximum range of about 6 meters". The configuration file gave the following parameters:

maximum range: 6.4m; range resolution: 12.5cm; max velocity: 1.18m/s; velocity resolution: 0.04m/s

But then in same documentation of the very fine motion detection, reference was made to the Vital Signs demo and the configuration for this demo was specifically optimised for vital signs (a type of very fine motion). The configuration thereof translates to:

maximum range: 7.4m; range resolution: 4.6cm; max velocity: 9.7m/s; velocity resolution: 2.4m/s

Now my question is which of these configurations is the optimal for very fine motions and/or vital signs detection? Noting that it is required that fine motions have 'very high velocity resolution' but the velocity resolution for fine-motion.cfg of 0.04m/s is << 2.4m/s of vital-sign.cfg

2. When aiming to design configurations for fine motions especially vital signs, should I aim for high velocity resolution (of 2.4m/s or thereabout) or low velocity (of 0.04m/s)?

-Tosin

  • Hi Tosin,

    I am looking into this and will be getting back to you tomorrow (7/8) with more information.

    Thank you,

    Angie

  • Hi Tosin,

    The velocity resolution itself does not have an impact on the fine motion detection. However, velocity resolution is inversely related to the chirp time and number of chirps (read about the equations here). Chirp time * number of chirps equals the total frame time. Therefore velocity resolution is inversely related to total frame time.

    This means a smaller velocity resolution leads to a bigger chirp time. The fine motion lab that has a resolution of 0.04m/s needed >1s of data to feed into the fine motion processing chain. Our vital signs lab based on people counting (see here) accumulates data over a window of frame (typically 300) therefore it's frame time can be <100ms. If we optimize the profile cfg for a smaller frame time the velocity resolution will increase. 

    Thank you,

    Angie