IWR1642BOOST: Detection range of Out-of-Box demo

user5062827

Part Number: IWR1642BOOST

Hello,

I am using the IWR1642BOOST with the Out-of-Box demo and am having difficulty detecting a pedestrian past ~6-10m range using the built-in plots (CFAR object scatter plot, Range-Azimuth graph, Range-Doppler graph).

I am using the included mounting bracket and am levelly standing the radar 3-6ft from the ground in an open area with little clutter. I am only using the built-in presets (I have tried "Best Range Resolution" and "Best Range").

I can detect and track a human fairly well with the CFAR scatter plot and range-doppler graphs within ~6-10m, but cannot see anything after ~10m (no objects detected, range-doppler intensity blip becomes too faint to see). I have tried setting the CFAR threshold to 0 dB.

Do you have any suggestions? I understand I should be able to get at least ~30m with high range resolution for this application, and a white-paper suggests ~80m detection of a car.

over 8 years ago

0 Vivek Dham over 8 years ago

TI__Guru 58035 points

Hello ,
You might need to adjust the configuration file to achieve a larger lane. You can refer to the SRR TI reference design guide for an example configuration for 80m kind of range (for car) : www.ti.com/.../tidud36a.pdf

Regards,
Vivek

0 Michelle Liu over 8 years ago

TI__Genius 11405 points

Can you try boosting the rx gain, setting in profileCfg, the last parameter from 30 to 48? If SNR is low, setting CFAR won't help.

0 Vaibhav Mahimkar over 8 years ago

TI__Mastermind 23725 points

Hello,

can you please confirm if you need more help here.

We will be closing out this ticket due to inactivity. Please file a new ticket for further questions.

Thank you,
Vaibhav

0 Radio-Joe over 8 years ago in reply to Vaibhav Mahimkar

TI__Mastermind 37500 points

Hello,

I have used the mmWave estimator, Long Range default, and modified the engineering parameters to detect a .5RCS object at 50meters. See attached

The estimator engineering values can be loaded from the attached .json file.JPG. The .json file, can be converted to the Visualizer Out of Box demo, by saving the max range Visualizer commands, and modifying the key parameters. This will be reported in the .cfg file, and visualizer picture.

I will try these on the EVM and report the results next. The experiment results will be provided Monday Oct 2.

Fullscreen mmwaveestimator_modified 1642longrangedefaultdesign.json Download

{
    "platform": "xWR1642",
    "num_rx": 4,
    "num_tx": 1,
    "tx_gain": 9,
    "rx_gain": 9,
    "frequency_range": "77 - 81",
    "maximum_bandwidth": 1000,
    "tx_power": 12,
    "ambient_temperature_degC": 20,
    "maximum_detectable_range": 50,
    "range_resolution": 20,
    "maximum_velocity_kmph": 40,
    "velocity_resolution_kmph": 2,
    "measurement_rate": 10,
    "typical_detected_object": "Adult",
    "detection_loss": 1,
    "system_loss": 1,
    "implementation_margin": 2,
    "detection_SNR": 12,
    "maximum_radar_cube_size": 768,
    "maximum_RF_bandwidth": 5,
    "maximum_sampling_frequency": 6.25,
    "sensor_maximum_bandwidth": 4000,
    "maximum_allowed_bandwidth": 1000,
    "starting_frequency": 77,
    "maximum_velocity": 11.11111111111111,
    "velocity_resolution": 0.5555555555555556,
    "valid_sweep_bandwidth": 750,
    "idle_time": 2,
    "adc_valid_start_time": 5.6,
    "excess_ramping_time": 1,
    "periodicity": 100,
    "ambient_temperature": 293.15,
    "noise_figure": 16,
    "num_virtual_rx": 4,
    "non_coherent_combining_loss": 2,
    "rcs_value": 1,
    "combined_factor_in_dB": -4,
    "combined_factor_linear": 0.39810717055349726,
    "inter_chirp_time": 8.6,
    "aux_comp_coeff_a": 77375000000,
    "aux_comp_coeff_b": -6080375,
    "chirp_time": 78.58319870759289,
    "ramp_slope_init": 9.544024833994614,
    "ramp_slope_parameter": 198,
    "ramp_slope": 9.559392929077148,
    "aux_comp_T1": 1,
    "maximum_beat_frequency": 3.186464309692383,
    "sampling_frequency": 3.540515899658203,
    "number_of_samples_per_chirp": 279,
    "total_sweep_bandwidth": 816.3919933319091,
    "idle_time_minimum": 2,
    "ramp_end_time": 85.40207515151515,
    "carrier_frequency": 77.0535342338526,
    "aux_comp_T2": 4.5,
    "adc_valid_start_time_2": 5.5,
    "lambda": 3.893397012647324,
    "max_chirp_repetition_period": 88,
    "chirp_repetition_period": 87,
    "num_range_fft_bins": 512,
    "min_num_of_chirp_loops": 41,
    "max_range_for_typical_detectable_object": 57.272540816194095,
    "min_rcs_detectable_at_max_range": 0.580890422042715,
    "num_doppler_fft_bins": 64,
    "active_frame_time": 3.567,
    "range_inter_bin_resolution": 10.8984375,
    "velocity_inter_bin_resolution": 0.3559027777777778,
    "radar_cube_size": 328
}

Regards,

Joe Quintal

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IWR1642BOOST: Detection range of Out-of-Box demo