IWR6843ISK: Sensitivity issue in IWR6843ISK

Arya D

Part Number: IWR6843ISK
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: IWR6843

Hi,

I am using IWR6843ISK evm for my project.

In the TI resource explorer for mmWave radar sensors, there are some examples for specific sensors for eg: 3D people tracking for 6843ISK

After trying out the example, the GUI which is supposed to form 3d boxes or cuboids to represent humans is not functioning that accurately.

I did an experiment where I put the sensor on a height of about 2 meters, and in the vicinity of the sensor itself asked a bunch of people to walk around/sit. The module detects 2 people correctly. Assume Person A is represented by yellow box and B by blue . B is detected and is now sitting. After a while A comes and sits beside B. Now when A stands up and moves it is represented by blue but B is no longer detected.

Can the code be modified to improve sensitivity in such scenarios?

Thanks.

Regards,

Arya

over 1 year ago

Nathan Block over 1 year ago

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

Can you send video showing this? What configuration file are you using?

best,

nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nathan,

I am using ISK_6m_default config file in the 3D people tracking folder

Attaching a video showing the issue as well as a picture of the setup

Here you can also see that the human presence is detected quite late

So in this case, it did not detect 2 people in the frame and swapped the representation when the other started moving

Regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

HI,

Can you use a configuration with static retention enabled? This should give better results.

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi,

I tried out the experiment with the configuration file that you suggested

In this case, it was able to detect 2 people much quicker than the previous case, but once the person was out of range, the box representation was still there (there was no movement in it)

If we moved out of the range fast enough , the box disappeared, else it stayed

While in the previous config file, the disappearing of the box was more accurate

Can you suggest a way we can modify the code to get the best out of these?

Regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

I would recommend tuning the configuration file. You can adjust the static2free threshold to increase the responsiveness of the person disappearing. See the PDF documents here.

https://dev.ti.com/tirex/explore/node?a=1AslXXD__1.00.01.07&a=1AslXXD__1.30.00.05&node=A__AAA1qiZfNyuf6Vuc4GJbiQ__radar_toolbox__1AslXXD__1.30.00.05&r=1AslXXD__1.00.00.26

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

I did try to edit some of the config parameters, and some improvement was seen.

I now want to configure the board with another microcontroller say arduino/esp32

I basically want the no. of people detected to be sent to the other controller so that i can take further actions.

Upon using the arduino serial monitor instead of the GUI, this is getting printed after every reset

13:01:10.854 -> ***********************************
13:01:10.854 -> IWR68xx Indoor people counting demo***********************************
13:01:10.854 -> mmwDemo:/>

Could you please guide me on this as well?

Thanks and Regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

You can remove this code in the Pcount3DDemo_CLIInit() function. In general, you can search for text strings in CCS using CTRL+H, which is how I was able to find the location of this print statement.

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

What i meant to ask was is there a way i can use the serial monitor to know the no. of people present every time the occupancy changes? Since i want to make the mmWave sensor interact with the arduino/esp board

Can you help me with that?

Regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

You can parse the output of the devices using the TLV data, which is documented here.

https://dev.ti.com/tirex/explore/node?a=1AslXXD__1.30.00.05&node=A__ADnbI7zK9bSRgZqeAxprvQ__radar_toolbox__1AslXXD__1.30.00.05&r=1AslXXD__1.00.00.26&r=1AslXXD__1.00.01.07

You can use the MMWDEMO_OUTPUT_EXT_MSG_TARGET_LIST TLV to do this, or you can write custom code to write to the UART using the examples in the toolbox.

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

Is there any documentation on how to make connections and communication with other microcontrollers and mmWave?

Thanks and regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

I would recommend using the schematics that are provided online on the EVM pages.

https://www.ti.com/tool/IWR6843ISK?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=epd-null-null-GPN_EN_EVM-cpc-evm-google-wwe&utm_content=IWR6843ISK&ds_k=IWR6843ISK&DCM=yes&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs8vmnIaKgwMV7TfUAR1DcAT5EAAYASAAEgLhy_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.ti.com/tool/MMWAVEICBOOST

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

Thankyou for your reply.

I went through the schematic and tried connecting the Radar_MSS_logger or the R96 pin of the IWR6843 with the USB to UART converter [externally] to read whatever data is coming as output

Upon seeing the output on the serial monitor, [which was supposed to be of TLV format I assume]

it is showing garbage values on all the baud rates. Connection between the USB to UARTs ground and 6843s ground was also proper

What do you think the possible reason could be?

Regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi Arya,

The MSS Logger would have a baud rate of 921600. Is that what you're using?

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

921600 is not a standard baud rate on serial monitor or arduino ide.

So I tried using PuTTY software

This was the output that i got with the suggested baud rate.

It is still showing garbage values

Is there any other software that you recommend?

Thanks and regards,

Arya

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

I would recommend using the industrial visualizer found in the tools/ folder of the radar toolbox. I am not certain the values you're showing are garbage as well - the device outputs binary data, so it is not intelligible by reading it.

Best,

Nate

Arya D over 1 year ago in reply to Nathan Block

Prodigy 10 points

Hi Nate,

We are already working with industrial visualiser but our end goal is to integrate the mmWave with a different controller

We need to have communication between them via UART or any other means. That is why we are keen to know how continuos streaming of data will be done from mmWave to ESP32

Regards,

Arya

Josh Dye over 1 year ago in reply to Arya D

TI__Mastermind 21071 points

Hello,

Much of the mmWave radar support team is out of the office right now. Responses may be delayed until the beginning of January. Your patience is appreciated.

Best Regards,

Josh

Nathan Block over 1 year ago in reply to Josh Dye

TI__Mastermind 37805 points

Hi,

If you look in the source code for the industrial visualizer, you will see that we output data over the UART at a baud rate of 921600 for the data packets, and 115200 for the configuration. See screenshot below from gui_parser.py

If you want to output data at a different baud rate, you can change the software running on the IWR6843 device.

Best,

Nate

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IWR6843ISK: Sensitivity issue in IWR6843ISK