AWR1243: Configure GPIO pins for other functions?

Hello ,
The AWR1243 is a front end only device, it does not have a user programmable MCU for GPIO's or other digital interfaces. It has only the fixed set of interfaces required for the front end configuration (SPI) . If you are looking for programmable interfaces and GPIOs we would recommend using AWR1443 or AWR1642.

Regards,
Vivek

Hello,
Did this clarify your query?

Regards,
Vivek

Thank you Vivek for your clarification that AWR1243 is a front-end only device.

However I would like to know how certain AWR1243 pins can be configured and used. Specifically, Can you please point me to some documentation that describes what data can one send to which registers in order to configure pins:

• FW_CW_SYNCIN1/2
• FM_CW_CLKOUT
• FM_CW_SYNCOUT
• SYNC_IN
• SYNC_OUT
• OSC_CLKOUT
• PMIC_CLKOUT
• MCU_CLKOUT
• ...

Thank you so much for following up.

mmWaver

Hello ,
The SYNC_IN is always enabled by default. If the HW_Trigger option is selected in the frame config then the device will look for a pulse on this pin to start the frame transmission.
The OSC_CLKOUT is only to get debug signals our like SYNTH signals. This can be used in debug mode using Radar Studio tool (part of the DFP package) . In the "RegOp" tab of the Radar studio tool you can select the debug signal you want to bring out on the OSC_CLKOUT pin.

In the future SW releases we will be adding APIs to control the PMIC_CLKOUT and MCU_CLKOUT signals.
The rest of the pins like FM_CW_SYNCIN , FM_CW_CLKOUT, FM_CW_SYNCOUT are only used for cascade mode and not for single chip application.

Regards,
Vivek

Hi Vivek,

There seems to be two options for the 20 GHz output signal: FM_CW_CLKOUT and FM_CW_SYNCOUT.

1)Can both of these pins be used to control two different slave chips? Or is only one pin allowed to be used?

2) For FM_CW_SYNCOUT description, it says it can be used for onboard loopback. What does this mean?

Thanks,

Faiz

Thank you Vivek for answering.

I have a couple of follow-up questions:

1. According to the AWR1243 datasheet, OSC_CLKOUT is a cleaned up version of the 40MHz crystal oscillator. And I could not get OSC_CLKOUT on the "Debug Signal" output. Rather, none of the selections of the "Debug Signal" worked, as you can see from the script message screen capture. Can you please let me know where I did wrong?

2. Since we want to use our own software to control the AWR1243, is there a way to set the SYNC_IN to HW_Trigger without using TI's Radar API? Can this be done over the SPI interface, and if so, where can I find the documentation for the SPI commands and formats?

Thank you,

mmWaver

Hello Faiz,
Both FM_CW_CLKOUT and FM_CW_SYNCOUT can be used. Both these pins are located on opposite sides of the package to enable easy routing to the slave, depending on which side the slave device is placed on the board.
The FM_CW_SYNCOUT can be used to feed back the 20Ghz back the master to that its easier to phase match the 20Ghz between the master and slave on the PCB.

Regards,
Vivek

Hello mmWaver,
1) Regarding the failure you are seeing in the radar studio , can you let me know the DFP version you are using? Also can you make sure you are trying to get the debug signal out after you have configured the sensor (ie done the static config, data config and sensor config)?

2) the frame config API that you would give over SPI (rlSetFrameConfig) has a parameter called Trigger select. There you can select HW triggered and the SYNC_IN would be used.

Regards,
Vivek

Hello,
Are you still getting the same error? If yes could you provide the above requested details?

Regards,
Vivek

Hello Vivek,

Thank you for following up. We no longer get the errors after reloading the FW.
But my question still remains - if we write our own firmware to send commands to AWR, how do we format the commands over SPI and what register address do we write into? That is, how do we realize the same rlSetFrameConfig function in the API that you referred to? Or how do we incorporate your API into our own FW library? Sorry for my ignorance in FW.

Thanks,
mmWaver