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AWR1843BOOST: probably erronous radar data from sensor evaluation kit

Bernhard Holzinger
Prodigy 60 points
Part Number: AWR1843BOOST
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DCA1000EVM, AWR1843

I've turned on the AWR1843BOOST evaluation board in combination with DCA1000EVM and the mmWave Studio revision 2.1.1.0. To get started I'm using the DataCaptureDemo_xWR.lua script.
On the PCB I set the jumpers SOP1 & 2 to "on" and SOP2 to "off". Additionally I set the jumper S2 to SPI mode.
This enabled me to run the script without any error being reported.
However, the result being displayed when running the post processing looks strange.
I've tested the radar indoors and outdoors and even pointed it into the sky. But I always get the same result: In the range-angle plot an half circle is displayed all around the sensor in a distance of 5 meters. I doubt that this is the expected result when using this demo script. But what did I do wrong?

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 31680 points

    Hello Bernhard,

    The range angle plot shows a top-down view of the range-angle mesh. Did you try comparing the results of other plots as well like the detection and angle estimation or the 2D FFT profile, just to be sure if the data is different or same every time?

    Regards,

    Ishita

  • 0 in reply to Ishita Kochar
    Prodigy 60 points

    Hi Ishita,

    thanks for this suggestion. 

    The range doppler plot shows a single detection at 5 meters with 0 velocity. I think this is consistent as if there was for instance a curved wall in front of the sensor with a radius of 5 meters and no motion I would exactly expect this result.

    In the detection & angle estimate results a single object is reported in a distance of 5 meters and something like 42 degrees to the left. This is not necessarily consistent but might be caused by how the detection algorithm is implemented. If it effectively maps a contiguous detection into a point target this outcome could be explained.  

    All this seems to be totally independent of where I'm pointing the radar sensor at including pointing it into the sky.

    Can you or anybody else confirm that this script sets the eval kit up in a way that it returns reasonable results? As I wrote, I just set the SPO jumpers and the S2 jumper on the AWR1843 board. On the DCA1000ECM board I just set the switch to external power via the power plug. If it comes to setting up the radar via the SW I completely relied on the script and didn't change anything.

    Thanks for your support and regards,

    Bernhard 

  • 0 in reply to Bernhard Holzinger
    TI__Mastermind 31680 points

    Hello Bernhard,

    DataCaptureDemo_xWR.lua script is tried and tested by various other users and TI as well. One thing you can do is try to capture data yourself without using the script.

    Follow the mmWave Studio user guide & DCA1000_Quick_Start_Guide.pdf for the steps to do that. And here are the training materials for the same.

    https://training.ti.com/dca1000-training-video?cu=1128486

    https://training.ti.com/sites/default/files/docs/mmwave_sensor_raw_data_capture_using_dca1000_v02.pdf

    Meanwhile, I will also try the script and let you know.

    Regards,

    Ishita

  • 0 in reply to Ishita Kochar
    Prodigy 60 points

    Hi Ishita,

    thanks for posting the link to this video.

    This time I followed the instructions in the video and now the radar is outputting meaningful data.

    I haven't really traced down all the differences in the setup. But one difference is that the demo script sets for the ADC Config in the StaticConfig tab the Format to Complex1x. In the video this value is set to Complex2x. As I said, I don't know whether this is the only difference. But it looks like the demo script is not setting up an AWR1843 correctly.

    This brings me to one additional question: I haven't found a documentation describing the data format being used by the xWR18xx. I only found information for the xWR12xx/xWR14xx and the xWR16xx. Is the format of the xWR18xx identical to the one of the xWR16xx?

    Thanks and regards,

    Bernhard 

  • 0 in reply to Bernhard Holzinger
    TI__Mastermind 31680 points

    Hello Bernhard,

    You could refer to the below documents for information on the data format :

    Regards,

    Ishita

  • 0 in reply to Ishita Kochar
    Prodigy 60 points

    Hi Ishita,

    thanks for sending this information. I'll have a look into it. If there are still questions on this, I will open a new thread.

    Concerning the setup when running the demo script: it look is like the demo script is enabling the TestSource. 

    This of course would explain, why the received data is in depended of the external environment. At least if my understanding of the test source is correct.

    Anyhow, my initial issue is resolved and I can work from here.

    Thanks again,

    Bernhard

  • 0 in reply to Bernhard Holzinger
    TI__Mastermind 31680 points

    Bernhard,

    Yes, this can very likely be a reason for observing similar plots in all the environments. In case, you want to use the demo script, just disable the test source and you should be good to go.

    Regards,

    Ishita