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AWR1243BOOST: Controlling AWR1243P on custom board from DCA1000EVM

radar_pete
Intellectual 410 points
Part Number: AWR1243BOOST
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DCA1000EVM, , AWR1843, AWR1243

Hello,

I'm designing a custom board using the AWR1243P and am using the AWR1243BOOST evaluation board as a reference for the design. I'm planning to use the DCA1000EVM to capture receive data from the board and also intend to use mmWave Studio to control the AWR1243P chip. Is it possible to do this with the DCA1000EVM via the J1 USB connector as section 3.1 of the DCA1000EVM user guide seems to suggest:

'The DCA1000EVM should be connected to a PC through a USB cable (J1-Radar FTDI) for configuring the xWR1xxx EVM if the mmWave Studio is used to configure the radar device. If an embedded application is used to configure the xWR1xxx EVM, then this is not required.'

Ideally I don't want to have to use the  XDS110 sections of the AWR1243BOOST board (microcontroller, USB connector) on our custom board design. We plan to use a different microcontroller on a separate custom board to control the radar but in the short term it would be good to be able to use mmWave Studio/DCA1000EVM board to configure the AWR1243P chip.

Best regards,

Peter.

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 31035 points

    Hello Peter,

    You will need the 60-pin connector to connect the AWR1243 board to the DCA1000. The minimum signals required can be found in the AWR1843 hardware design checkilst (it will be the same required connections as 1243). Open the design checklist document and look at the mmWave Studio Interface tab to see the minimum signals required for the 60-pin header to interface with the DCA1000.

    Basically, you will need the LVDS, SPI1, PGOOD, AR_HOSTINTR1, and NRST signals at a minimum, connected to the same pins on the 60-pin connector as shown in the design checklist.

    Regards,

    Adrian

  • 0 in reply to aozer
    Intellectual 410 points

    Hi Adrian,

    Many thanks to your reply and link to the design checklist document, it's very useful - in addition to the pins it mentions on the 60-pin header that are required to interface with the DCA1000EVM board is there also a requirement for a USB connection to enable the UART pins on the AWR1243 to be accessed?

    In these threads guys have suggested using FTDI USB-UART chips (rather than the MCU used on the AWR1243BOOST eval board) and say that this is required on a custom board that will interface with mmWave Studio (along with external flash connected to QSPI pins) since the UART is needed to erase and program the QSPI flash before SPI is enabled - https://e2e.ti.com/support/sensors/f/1023/t/713570?AWR1243-Programming-Serial-Data-Flash-Over-UART / https://e2e.ti.com/support/sensors/f/1023/p/769611/2846520. Is this correct?

  • 0 in reply to radar_pete
    TI__Mastermind 31035 points

    Hello Peter,

    Yes, you will need to access the RS232 pins on the AWR1243 device as well. These can be brought out by the FTDI USB-UART cable/chips like in the thread you have linked, or using the MCU like on our EVM. mmWave Studio requires this UART connection.

    Regards,

    Adrian