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IWR1642: Question on DCA1000 EVM

Chris Meng
Mastermind 37666 points
Part Number: IWR1642
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DCA1000EVM

Hi,

My customer is using IWR1642 and have below questions about DCA1000 EVM. Would you pls help?

1. Can DCA1000 EVM work without Radar studio?

Customer would like to power on the DCA1000 EVM and use own PC software to capture the radar data on Ethernet port. Radar chip config can be hard coded in customer's software. I found there is hardware switch configuration mode for DCA1000EVM. So this is supported, right?

2. Can DCA1000 EVM support to capture the radar raw data with sub-frame configure (e.g. 4 sub frames in one frame, with different number of ADC sample, different number of chirps in each sub frame)?

3. Can customer use IWR1642 and DCA1000 to capture the radar data which is beyond the capability of IWR1642 to process on DSP/MCU?  For example, if IWR1642 can't process one certain frame config (e.g. 256 chirps with 512 ADC sample), can customer disabled the radar data process on DSP/MCU and only output radar on LVDS, then DCA1000 EVM to capture the radar data for some research?

I think if the radar raw data throughput with customer's config is less than xwr1642 LVDS interface own max throughput, this can be supported. Would you pls help to confirm?

4. What's the max throughput on Ethernet TI has ever tested with DCA1000 EVM?

  • 0
    TI__Genius 11405 points

    Hi,

    DAC1000 can be supported using mmwave studio 

    I'm not sure about the other questions, will get back to you later.

    Regards,

    Michelle

  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points

    Michelle,

    Any update?

    I have one more question.

    Q5. if Q1's answer is yes, as customer wants to use DCA1000 EVM with their own board, they wants to only connect the signals which are useful. Can they remove below signals in red circle?

    If customer wants to use the playback mode which will be supported later, do they need to keep the I2C signals? Or any other signal in red circle need to keep?

  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    Chris,

    To answer your initial questions, DCA has no notion of frame or sub frame. It captures all the data coming on the lvds lines.
    when you use mmwave studio there is no DSP processing involved. The ADC data is just sent out over the lvds lanes.

    The maximum throughout we have got over the Ethernet is up to 600Mbps.

    As to your added question, for the customer board, how do they plan to communicate with host? no SPI, UART or I2C needed, no interrupt or reset needed? PGood may be removed, but the FPGA image needs to be modified.

    Regards,
    Michelle
  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points

    Michelle,

    What's the answer for Q1: Can DCA1000 EVM work without Radar studio?

    Michelle Liu said:
    As to your added question, for the customer board, how do they plan to communicate with host?

    What's the host you mean here? PC? Customer will hard code the cfg in their code so no need for PC to configure the radar chip.

    Michelle Liu said:
    PGood may be removed, but the FPGA image needs to be modified.

    Do you mean current FPGA code will check the status of PGOOD? If the PGOOD status is not expected, the capture card will stop working?

  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    Q1 is answered earlier. Not radar studio, mmwave studio.

    From top diagram, I can see PGood goes into FPGA. It's a possibility that FPGA will check PGood signal before running. I haven't got to check the FPGA code yet.

    Regards,
    Michelle
  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points
    Michelle,

    Q1: Ok. mmwave studio is called radar studio in old days. So my question is if DCA1000 EVM can works without mmwave studio?

    Q5: Would you pls help to give a clear answer?
  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points

    Q6: If customer can only connect IWR1642's LVDS, UART, SPI signals to DCA1000, can DCA1000EVM work ok with customer's board?

  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    Chris,

    I'm not sure what you mean in Q1. How does customer plan to use DCA1000? They can create custom software, but for now, only mmwave studio is recommended for DCA1000.

    The statement about FPGA checking PGOOD status is based on the assumption that DCA1000 function inherits from IWR+DevPack+TSW1400, where PGOOD signal is required. I can also double check with designer.

    For Q6, I'll get back to you with designer's confirmation.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Michelle
  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points

    Michelle Liu said:
    I'm not sure what you mean in Q1. How does customer plan to use DCA1000? They can create custom software, but for now, only mmwave studio is recommended for DCA1000.

    Can DCA1000 capture the data from LVDS lane and output from Ethernet port without configuration by mmwave studio?

    I know currently DCA1000 EVM can work ok with mmwave studio. My customer would like to use own PC software to capture the radar on Ethernet port and process it in real time on PC. So they don't want to use mmwave studio to configure the DCA1000 EVM or IWR1642 board. They just wants to capture the LVDS data from their own IWR1642 board by DCA1000 EVM.

  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    OK, I know what the request is now. Actually if you read the DCA1000 user guide (www.ti.com/.../spruij4.pdf), there's a hardware switch-based config mode. Once radar device is running in LVDS mode, data can be captured by pressing the capture button on DCA1000.

    Regards,
    Michelle
  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    Chris,

    As for the pin connection, at least RSTn, PGOOD and HOST_INT (this is part of SPI) needs to be connected. I2C and DMM is optional.

    Let me know if you have any other questions.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Michelle
  • 0 in reply to Michelle Liu
    TI__Mastermind 37666 points
    Michelle,

    Thanks for your help! Would you pls help to double check if my below understanding is correct?

    With hardware configure mode of DCA1000 EVM and customer's board:
    1. if customer only wants to support LVDS data capture, LVDS signals/RSTn, PGOOD, HOST_INT must be connected. Other signals on connector are optional.
    2. If customer wants to support playback feature too, DMM signals should be connected.
  • 0 in reply to Chris Meng
    TI__Genius 11405 points
    Chris,

    Correct.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Michelle