DCA1000EVM: Technical Support Mouser - 400514

Hi, 

This sounds like there is a short condition somewhere on the PCB that is causing heating under the lattuce chip. 

Has the customer observed all ESD precautions when handling the device? (wrist strap, static free environment... etc) ?

Thanks

Blake

Hello,

Please find the reply from Customer:

Hi Greg, I do not use a conductive wrist strap because I work in a
laboratory with professional laboratory tables that prevent the build-up
of static charge (they have a very low conductive surface). Other
microwave circuits are also designed and tested there, and phenomena such
as static charge breakdown do not occur. Of course, a grounded conductive
wrist strap is an element that eliminates or minimizes the possibility of
damage from static electricity, but when working with and testing radars,
it is a highly restrictive element. Moreover, it is not strictly required
in the instructions because experimenting with radars would be very
difficult and impractical due to their design. Sending you or the
manufacturer a photo of the laboratory would seem ridiculous to me.
However, I would like to point out that my colleagues and I, with whom I
collaborate not only in the field of FMCW radars, but also in the field of
pulse or UWB radars with M sequences, have numerous publications in
international journals, which may indicate that we are not beginners or amateurs in this field.

Could you advise next step? Thanks

Grzegorz, 

In order to show that the DCA1000 in question is defective, we need to rule out EOS. 

Have there been any customer modifications to the DCA1000? Also, please describe the present use case of the DCA1000: how it is powered, what connections have been established between it and other PCBs, ...etc. 

Thanks! 

Blake

Hello,

Please find the response from Customer:

No modifications were made. The DCA1000EVM board is connected to
the AWR2944 EVM board via a supplied 60-pin connector. The board is also
connected to a computer or hub that is connected to a laptop via the
supplied Ethernet cable. The radar is also connected via the same hub
through an FTDI_microUSB interface microUSB/USBA cable from Vention
because the supplied cables of the same type were of such poor quality
that they did not provide a reliable connection. It took us quite a long
time to realize this. The DCA1000 board is powered by a 5V/5A power supply
and the AWR2944 is powered by a 12V/5A power supply. The configuration of
jumpers and switches is the same on both boards as it is on the working
pairs and as it was when the faulty board was working. The radar with the
data acquisition board was used in the preparation of a bachelor's thesis
entitled: Visualization of FMCW radar data in the Matlab environment .
Data acquisition was performed in a microwave laboratory with tables with
antistatic surface treatment. I chose this topic because there is
currently no direct support for this type of radar in Matlab, as is the
case with AWR1843BOOST, for example. The data was successfully collected and the thesis was successfully defended. It was only after that that the
board began to behave as I have described. I was personally present during
all the experiments.

Could you advise next step?

Thanks