MMWAVE-SDK: IWR1642BOOST guide to connecting to a stand-alone processor rather than a laptop

Hi Akash,

Thanks for that. So where would I find resources to show me how to interface with the appropriate protocols, and what those protocols are? 

Regards, 

Karl

I was wanting to use it as a longer range detector (for detecting the movement of large animals in a field) so could use one of the existing setups, but then want the output sent to a (for example ) Raspberry Pi or Arduino. I'm happy for it to be a TI processor though if there's one that integrates better with the IWR1642. I'm sure I could use UART, SPI or I2C if I can find some manuals that describe how to configure it but tht's been part of the problem; I haven't been able to find anything other than connecting it to a laptop. 

Hi Akash,

I'm trying to detect the movement of animals in a paddock; preferably being able to detect when they're moving towards the sensor rather than away from it so that I can then take an action as required. I'm currently doing this with a range of other sensors such as LIDAR. At the moment those other sensors are used as digital or analog inputs to a Raspberry Pi or Arduino. I'm wanting to use the IWR1642 as another sensor, although I'm happy for it to also be the MCU if needs be. What I'd like (I'm assuming) is for the IWR1642 to be able to send a signal over the UART letting me know (preferably) details such as distance to a detected animal, and as to whether it's moving towards or away from the sensor.

Regards, 

Karl

Thanks Krishna, is there a more specific example available other than pointing to the SDK URL? I've gone through a lot of that documentation and haven't found what I was looking for, hence the question on this forum.

I was hoping for more than just the sensor sending on/off state and was hoping for distance/direction vectors for each of the detected objects, but I don't know whether this is possible and haven't seen an interface specification. Again this is the sort of information I'm looking for and hence the question posed here.

The TI resource explorer certainly looks promising and am going through it at the moment. If anyone knows though as to whether there are specific experiments/labs in there that relate to what I'm trying to achieve here (and which don't just use the PC hosted tools), I'd be grateful.

Hello Karl

Those vector data which you require is sent by all those applications you see in resource explorer, by using UART - you have to read the C code of the labs to understand the algorithms how it is done. Those C code run inside the chip and not on PC.

The PC is only used to display the data and no computation is done on  it - if that is what you want to know.

Hi Krishna,

If the PC's used to display the data, what API or other protocol is used to transfer the information over the UART? How can I find out what format I need to expect the data to be arriving in?

Regards, 

Karl

That is up to you the programmer who is going to program the code on the SoC! I suggest you to read the code of any of the labs. From what I infer you have a long learning curve.

These are the steps you may need to follow, to get where you want to reach

1.  try to learn about Ti RTOS .

2. Try Programing in C using the mmwave sdk in Ti RTOS

3. Create an algorithm for detection tracking etc based on the example labs given. (You may need to learn few other things about Radar)

4. Send that final data to where ever you want using UART. When you resolve the first 3 steps you will not be needing help with the 4th step which is very fundamental or basic.

I can only wish you good luck with your endeavour.

Yeah, OK. So this is what I was originally trying to find out. Is any of this available as API's or existing examples and algorithms, or do I need to write it myself. It sounds like I'm going to have to write it myself.