AWR1243BOOST: No signal on SYNC_OUT

Hello Thomas,

Please note that the sync_out signal is available only in cascade kind of application and for that you would need the 20Ghz sync also between the two devices. This is not available in the single chip EVMs available today. Also the present firmware supports only single chip mode. The cascading support would be added in the subsequent releases.

Regards,
Vivek

Hi Vevek,

My understanding was there there are two levels of synchronization:

- Phase/frequency synchronization provided by the 20 GHz locking -> not available on AWR1243BOOST
- Start of frame synchronization provided by chaining SYNC_OUT -> SYNC_IN and setting the second board in Software Trigger mode

In the AWR1xxx Radar Interface Control document included in the mmwave_dfp, the documentation for AWR_FRAME_CONF_SB specifies:

"HWTRIGGER (Hardware SYNC_IN based triggering): Each frame is triggered by rising edge of pulse in SYNC_IN pin, after receiving AWR_FRAMESTARTSTOP_CONF_SB (this is to prevent spurious transmission). W.r.t. the SYNC_IN pulse, the actual transmission has 5ns uncertainty in SINGLECHIP and only a 300 ps uncertainty (due to tight inter-chip synchronization needed) in MULTICHIP sensor applications as defined in AWR_CHAN_CONF_SB."

Based on this, it seems that frame synchronization with 5ns uncertainty should be possible in SINGLECHIP mode without the 20 GHz synchronization.

Could you clarify if this configuration is possible with the current hardware?

Thanks,
Thomas

Could we get clarification on this? It seems like the capability for frame-synchronization does exist in the hardware. Is it possible to access?

Thanks!

Hello Thomas,
I apologize for the late reply. You can use the lastest DFP package 0.09.01.06 (www.ti.com/.../mmwave-dfp). In the frame configuration API (AWR_FRAME_CONF_SB) you need to select "Hardware trigger ". With this when you provide a Frame Start API (AWR_FRAMESTARTSTOP_CONF_SB) it would look for pulse on the SYNC_IN to transmit the frames.

Regards,
Vivek

Hello Thomas,
The digital SYNC_OUT that you mentioned would be available only in the cascade mode , when you configure the device as "master". In this case both the 20Ghz Sync and digital sync_out would be available. But the cascade mode configuration is different from a single chip one.
Could you clarify if you are looking for a cascaded configuration or are you just looking at synchronizing the frame start of the two radar sensors? If you are looking for the later, you would have to feed the SYNC_IN to both the radar devices from an external source to synchronize just the frame trigger.

Regards,
Vivek

Hi Vivek,

For now, I'm just looking to synchronize the start of the frames on two (otherwise independent) radars.

I suspect "Single Chip" versus "Master" mode could be the issue.

When I first start Radar Studio, this option appears in the StaticConfig tab. As soon as I press the "Set" button on the SOP mode, though, the entire dropdown for "Single Chip," "Master," and "Slave" disappears from the StaticConfig page.

Is this the expected behavior? If so, what do I need to do differently to configure the device as "Master" rather than "Single Chip"?

Thanks!

Hi Vivek,

Any update on this?

Thanks!

Hello Thomas,
If the device you have is AWR1243 then those options will reappear once you do a RS232 connect.

Regards,
Vivek

I am using AWR1243, and the latest DFP package 0.09.01.06. Before I click "set" for SOP, I can see dropdown of Single, Master, Slave options. However, as long as I click "set" for SOP, the whole dropdown disappears from the StaticConfig page as Thomas mentioned.

Any solutions?

To Vivek,

Correct my post, I am actually using DFP package V1.9.1.0. I think it is the latest one.

Hello RJimmy,
Did you do RS232 Connect after doing the "Set" ? Once you do that the options should re-appear since it detects it as a AWR1243 device.

Regards,
Vivek

Yes, I did RS232 connect after doing the "Set". I still didn't see the cascading mode option. I attach photos here, 

1, before I did any connect.

2, I saw cascading mode options

3, After I press SOP, RS232 Connect. The cascading mode disappeared. 

Hello:

I am also observing the exact same issue with Radar Studio and the latest firmware with AWR1243. After SOP connect and RS 232 connect, the single/master/slave option drop down does not exist.

Regards,

RJ  

Vivek,

Any new answer on this issue?!

Do you have any solutions now?

Hello RJ,
I just doubled checked the scenario, the radar studio enabled the cascading options only when multiple AWR1243 devices are connected to the same PC. Other wise it assumes a single chip mode and disables the cascading menu.

Regards,
Vivek

Hi Vivek,

Thanks for the tip. Plugging in two devices opens up a whole bunch of new options in Radar Studio.

I'm now running into two issues:

1. When configuring the first device, I can get as far as SPI Connect, but, when I press SPI Connect, the buttons grey-out and the SPI status never changes. The same device works just fine when it's the only one plugged into the computer.

2. It's unclear to me how to actually configure two devices because I can't make the RS 232 connection to one without disconnecting the other. After connecting to device 1, I uncheck device 1 and check device 2 on the left side bar. In the RS232 options, the button still stays disconnect, though, and I can't change the COM port until I disconnect. If I actually press disconnect, the first device gets disconnected.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong for either of these? Is there a guide to using Radar Studio with multiple devices?

Thanks!