• State TI Thinks Resolved
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 6 replies
  • Answers 2 answers
  • Subscribers 31 subscribers
  • Views 188 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

IWR6843AOP: Clarification on Relative Power and Side Info Values in IWR6843AOP (Standalone vs Integrated in Drone)

Dima Roso
Prodigy 10 points
Part Number: IWR6843AOP

Tool/software:

Hello,

As part of my evaluation process, I am comparing the performance of the IWR6843AOP radar in two configurations:

  1. As a standalone unit (connected directly to a PC and visualized via the TI GUI)

  2. As part of our integrated D3 package, mounted on our drone and interfaced via CAN bus.

Test setup:

In an isolated room (anechoic chamber), I measured an 18 dBsm corner reflector and observed:

  • In the TI GUI (standalone setup): Relative power = ~104 dB

  • In the D3 package via CAN bus (side‑info TLV):

    • snr_db = 280

    • noise_db = 642

My Questions:

Q1:
Assuming snr_db and noise_db are in 0.1 dB units, the total signal power would be:

SNR + Noise = 28.0 dB + 64.2 dB = 92.2 dB
Is that correct?

Q2:
What exactly is the "Relative Power (dB)" shown in the TI GUI?
How can I derive it from raw TLV data or side-info fields?

Q3:
What is the relationship between the "relative power" in the GUI and the side‑info (snr_db, noise_db)?
How can I compare the standalone radar output to the CAN-based side‑info values from the integrated system?

Q4:
A total signal power of ~92 dB from a 20 dBsm corner reflector seems high.
Is there any known scaling factor, offset, or gain added to the signal in TI’s signal chain or visualization tools?

My overall goal is to use the chamber setup to measure the RCS of various real-world targets and understand their detectability with the IWR6843AOP.

Thanks in advance for your support.

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 37805 points

    Hi,

    An expert will comment shortly.

    Best,

    Nate

  • 0
    Prodigy 10 points

    Hi, just following up to check if there are any updates on this question — I’d appreciate any guidance when possible

  • 0 in reply to Dima Roso
    TI__Mastermind 19520 points

    Hello Dima.

    Apologies for the delay in response as I was looking into your questions.

    Dima Roso said:

    Assuming snr_db and noise_db are in 0.1 dB units, the total signal power would be:

    SNR + Noise = 28.0 dB + 64.2 dB = 92.2 dB
    Is that correct?

    This is correct.

    Dima Roso said:
    Q2:
    What exactly is the "Relative Power (dB)" shown in the TI GUI?
    How can I derive it from raw TLV data or side-info fields?

    I believe the relative power is the amplitude of the range profile of the zero-doppler(or the range profile for static objects in the scene).  It should be the 

    MMWDEMO_OUTPUT_MSG_RANGE_PROFILE

     TLV in the demo code(TLV 2).

    Dima Roso said:
    Q3:
    What is the relationship between the "relative power" in the GUI and the side‑info (snr_db, noise_db)?
    How can I compare the standalone radar output to the CAN-based side‑info values from the integrated system

    There is no relationship; the side info is for each point that is detected; the relative power is the unit of the range profile.

    Dima Roso said:
    Q4:
    A total signal power of ~92 dB from a 20 dBsm corner reflector seems high.
    Is there any known scaling factor, offset, or gain added to the signal in TI’s signal chain or visualization tools?

    I believe there may be a scaling factor; you can check the source code in the visualizer as the math done in post-processing can be found in the source code via inspect element.

    Sincerely,

    Santosh

  • 0 in reply to Santosh Krishnan
    Prodigy 10 points

    Thank you for the clear reply.

    Regarding Q4:
    Does the SNR (side information) already include the gains from the range‑Doppler FFT and beamforming?

    If it does, how should I calculate any additional gains on top of SNR from the radar equation?

    Thanks in advance.

  • 0 in reply to Dima Roso
    TI__Mastermind 19520 points

    Hello Dima.

    Apologies for the delay in response.  I am looking into this and will provide an update by the end of the day tomorrow.

    Sincerely,

    Santosh

  • 0 in reply to Santosh Krishnan
    TI__Mastermind 19520 points

    Hello Dima.

    It does not include gains from beamforming, it does include gains from the range-doppler fft.  I believe for the beamforming gains you can simply combine it with the Rx and Tx gains to compute the SNR.

    Sincerely,

    Santosh