AWR2944: Can AWR2944 be used solely as the RF component to form a complete radar system with AM2732?

Hi Simon,

Thank you for reaching out on e2e!

Please find my responses (translated into English) as below:

• Question 1: Can the AWR2944 be used alone as an RF front-end and then integrated with the AM2732 to form a complete radar system?
  The recommended front end device to be used with the AM273x device is the AWR2243 which has a CSI2 output. The AWR2944 by itself is a complete radar SoC. Is there any particular use case you intend to cover with the 2944 exclusively or if you have any thoughts on which interfaces you want to use between the AWR2944 and the AM273x, kindly let me know. (From your questions 2 and 3 I gather that you are looking to use the LVDS interface from the 2944 and the CSI2 Rx on the AM273x)
• Question 2: Please recommend an adapter chip to facilitate the connection between LVDS (ADC raw data) of AWR2944 and MIPI CSI 2 interface of AM2732.
  Let me loop in the right team to respond to this.
  
• Question 3: I want to use TI's DS90UB954 to convert 2944 LVDS to 2732 MIPI. Is it possible? How should the clock lines be configured?
  Let me loop in the right team to comment here.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or if my understanding of the questions were inaccurate. In the meanwhile, your patience is greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Kaushik

Hi Kaushik,

For certain reasons, we need to build our own 4t4r radar system with a single channel (non-IQ). This is beneficial for our work. Using a ready-made 2944 SoC as the radar system would be too simple and lack meaning for our work. Additionally, the 2243 is a 3t4r IQ dual-channel system, which doesn't match our requirements. Therefore, I can only use the 2944 and attempt to use it solely as the RF frontend, with the MSS and DSS being handled by the 2732.

I chose this seemingly strange approach for these reasons.

Could you please let me know if there are any precedents of using the 2944 solely as an RF frontend? Or do you have any advice for me?

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,
Simon

Hi Simon,

Thank you for the details. We have not seen cases where the AWR2944 device has been used as an RF FE only device till now. I have forwarded your thread to the right team that deals with the DS90UB954 part. They can help you analyze if this use case is feasible.

Regards,

Kaushik

Hi Simon & Kaushik,

Could you please clarify what the question here is from the FPD-Link side? Generally the DS90UB954 deserializer is paired with a FPD-Link serializer such as the UB953 to transfer CSI data, GPIOs, and I2C transactions across the high speed link.

Thomas

Hi Thomas

The function of DS90UB954, as I understand it, is to convert FPD-Link to CSI. In my scenario, the front-end chip outputs radar raw data through an LVDS interface, while the back-end chip receives it through MIPI DPHY CSI2. Therefore, I need a bridge to connect the front-end chip's LVDS transmission to the back-end chip's MIPI reception.

One of the difficulties lies in the fact that the front-end chip's LVDS output includes not only two data differential pairs but also one clock differential pair and one frame clock differential pair. However, the input side of DS90UB954 does not involve any clock signals. This has left me confused about how DS90UB954 synchronizes the clocks in typical application scenarios. Can DS90UB954 meet our requirements?

Simon

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out with this question. I'll get back to you on this Monday.

Best,

Thomas

Hi Simon,

Following up here, it sounds like you're looking for a LVDS serializer to pair with the DS90UB954? The applicable devices here would be the DS90UB913A, or DS90UB933. In a system pairing the UB933 with UB954, the DVP data will be sent over the FPD-Link where it will be converted to CSI data by the UB954.

The UB933 supports 8, 10, or 12 bit payloads at up to 100MHz PCLK. Would this work with the DVP output you are looking to support?

Best,

Thomas

Hi Kaushik,

I'd like to ask it differently.about AM2732

I know that AM2732 can process data output by 2243, which is a dual-channel radar with complex (IQ) data. On the other hand, AWR2944's RF section outputs single-channel real numbers. What I want to know is whether AM2732 has the ability to handle single-channel real number radar data.

Best regards,
Simon

Interested in this one as well!!