AWR1843: Evaluating min RCS it can detect at max range

Mihir Salot

Part Number: AWR1843

We are searching for a radar, which can sense trees (from 30 m) and wires (from larger distances). We are currently using AWR 1843, and maximum region we can sense trees is up to 10m.

Is the AWR 1843 capable enough for long range sensing of obstacles with low RCS (around 0.01) at 20 m. We will be operating in an extremely sparse environment with few trees and electric wires to be detected, Are there any reference designs to guide us through the development process?

over 2 years ago

0 Cesar over 2 years ago

TI__Guru*** 148334 points

Hi,

Based on your information you are trying to detect static objects. This type of detection is most challenging for radars.

What demo SW are you using for AWR1843?

Thank you

Cesar

0 Mihir Salot over 2 years ago

Prodigy 200 points

We will use it for our drones(moving) to sense canopies (20 m minimum distance) and wires (8 m minimum distance), and avoid them! We also wish to map shape of these obstacles to avoid them! Currently we sense wires only till 2.5 m and trees till 8m, using 1843. The config we are using are as:

LINK: drive.google.com/.../view

SDK 3.3, Demovisualizer:3.6

1) Is AWR 1843 the best radar for our use case

2)What changes in parameters/radar do you suggest?

0 Cesar over 2 years ago in reply to Mihir Salot

TI__Guru*** 148334 points

Hi,

Unfortunately our team does not have much experience with this use case.

We can provide recommendations on AWR1843 configurations.

I am not able to access the link you provided. Can you please attach it to the thread?

Since you mentioned the SDK, you are probably using the mmWave SDK demo.

I recommend you take a look a the AWR1843 MRR demo that enabled all TX at the same time. Since all TX are enabled at the same time, there is more power transmitted. So this demo will be able to detect further.

This demo uses a special feature: alternate frames:

One frame is working as MIMO - 1 Tx enabled at a time (similar to SDK demo) - 20m max range
One frame is working as BeamForming - 3 Tx enabled at a time 130m max range

It is possible to modify this configuration and enable only MIMO frames or only BF frames. It is also possible to change the max ranges.

You can download this demo with the Automotive Toolbox from the TI Resource Explorer

https://dev.ti.com/tirex/explore/node?a=VLyFKFf__3.2.0&a=VLyFKFf__4.0.0&node=A__AHImI8gIT9rka73eMxmrrw__com.ti.mmwave_automotive_toolbox__AocYeEd__LATEST

After unzipping the file,

Please read the MRR demo documentation

mmwave_automotive_toolbox_3_6_0\labs\lab0007_medium_range_radar\docs\MediumRangeRadar_GettingStartedGuide.pdf

mmwave_automotive_toolbox_3_6_0\labs\lab0007_medium_range_radar\docs\MediumRangeRadar_DeveloperGuide.pdf

Thank you

Cesar

0 Mihir Salot over 2 years ago in reply to Cesar

Prodigy 200 points

Our application is described here exactly. TI already has experimented with it .Can I get the configuration file and chirp parameters which may have been used for these experiments?

https://www.ti.com/lit/fs/spyy001/spyy001.pdf?ts=1669966542994&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252FIWR1642

0 Cesar over 2 years ago in reply to Mihir Salot

TI__Guru*** 148334 points

Hi,

Unfortunately the team that worked on this document is no longer available for support.

This application was no further pursued by the marketing team and we don't have additional information for this use case

thank you

Cesar

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AWR1843: Evaluating min RCS it can detect at max range