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AWR1243BOOST: AWR1243P Cascade, DCA1000 EVM, Datapipeline

Siyuan Zhu
Intellectual 280 points
Part Number: AWR1243BOOST
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DCA1000EVM, , MMWAVE-STUDIO

Hi:

We're trying to use one computer to control two custom AWR1243P board with two DCA1000 attached to them to achieve cascading and data collection on one windows computer.

We merged the codes for radar and codes for DCA1000 containing in ti\mmwave_dfp_01_02_00_01\ti\example\mmwavelink_example 

Are these two codes enough for controlling two radars on one windows computer?

If it's possible, what number should we assign to 'deviceMap' parameter in the codes?

Thanks for reply!

  • 0
    TI__Guru 69480 points

    Hi,

    Controlling two AWR1243P-BOOST from single PC may be a problem as it won't distinguish b/w two SPI interface. SPI interface is available on DCA1000EVM connected to one AWR1243BOOST and application (SPI-FTDI library) will have fixed SPI interface name; so it can't connect two SPI of AWR1243BOOST at same time.

    Regards,

    Jitendra

  • 0 in reply to Jitendra Gupta
    Prodigy 180 points

    Hi Jitendra,

    How do you suggest that we differentiate between the two SPI interfaces? Is the interface name conflict introduced by how the driver handles the SPI connections or is it some hardware problem?

    In this answer record (https://e2e.ti.com/support/sensors/f/1023/p/836450/3138019#3138019), it is suggested that the FTDI chips in all the boards have the same ID and that is what causes the conflict.

    Best,

    Kshitiz

  • 0 in reply to Kshitiz Bansal
    TI__Guru 69480 points

    Hi Kshitiz,

    First thing with connecting two AWR1243P EVM you can't directly achieve the cascade setups, as it requires Dig_SYNC, 20GHz LO  etc. to be connected from Master to the slave device. Please refer this app-note

    http://www.ti.com/lit/an/swra574a/swra574a.pdf

    FTDI SPI Limitation is with the mmwlstudio.lib which mmwavelink_example uses to communicate with FTDI chip from PC. This library looks for fix FTDI device text description to connect SPI interface. Each of the DCA1000EVM are configured with same FTDI product description 'AR-DevPack-EVM***' so even though you change the above library feature you first need to change device description in DCA1000EVM FTDI so PC program can distinguish two DCA1000EVM connected with the PC.

    Official Studio and mmwlstudio.lib don't support connecting two DCA1000EVM (FTDI) but I can provide you few workarounds which you need to follow on your own. Here is the workaround to connect two DCA1000EVM (apart from Cascade device emulation)

    1. Update the DCA1000EVM FTDI (USB String description) with a different name using FTDI-FT_Prog utility. Same name you need to add in above source code.

    2. In the lastest mmWave Studio version, package provides FTDI library (extracted part of mmwlstudio.lib) to communicate with FTDI chip and DCA1000EVM CLI source

    <Studio 2.1>\mmWaveStudio\ReferenceCode\FTDILib\SourceCode

    <Studio 2.1>\mmWaveStudio\ReferenceCode\DCA1000\SourceCode

    mmwl_port_ftdi.c -> rls_spiDeviceName** string stores the FTDI device description, add array of this to add multi-device connection feature here.

    3. Update mmwavelink callbacks (rlClientCbs_t clientCtx) in the mmwavelink_example (MMWL_powerOnMaster) with the corresponded API provided in mmwl_port_ftdi.h/.c

    4. Now you can assign device index to each one of DCA1000EVM. deviceMap combines different deviceIndex where each bit stands for one device. This device Index you need to handle in above library which communicating with different FTDI device (SPI).

    Hope you can take this one further based on above information.

    Regards,

    Jitendra

  • 0 in reply to Jitendra Gupta
    Prodigy 180 points

    Hi Jitendra,

    Thanks a lot for the detailed description. I have a good sense of how to proceed now. However, I am a bit confused about the 3rd step. I am not sure which corresponding API are you referring to. The files/APIs

    mmwl_port_ftdi.c/.h are used while compiling mmwlstudio.lib but I can't find a build structure for this library. I feel a small disconnect here in my understanding. It would be great if you could elaborate the step a bit

    here.

    Best,

    Kshitiz

  • 0 in reply to Kshitiz Bansal
    TI__Guru 69480 points

    Hi Kshitiz,

    In the mwmavelink_example you can add mmwl_port_ftdi project from mmwave-studio (C:\ti\mmwave_studio_02_01_00_00\mmWaveStudio\ReferenceCode\FTDILib\SourceCode\vs)

    And link newly created library from mmwl_port_ftdi to mmwavelink_example.

    So in this ftdi library source code you need to amend to add multi FTDI connection and then assign device index to each of FTDI.

    Regards,

    Jitendra