IWR6843ISK: Replaying *.bin files after restarting mmWave studio

HI, Cagri:

The binary data should be still there.  There are two types of binary data, one is called fileName_Raw_0.bin, which will change to fileName.bin after you click on "postProc" button on the GUI.  But these two files are exactly the same.  The fileName.bin should be still there after you restart the radar studio GUI.

Best,

Zigang

Hi Zigang,

Thanks for your response.

I may not have clearly stated the issue in my original message so please let me rephrase it. The problem I am having is I cannot playback a previously recorded *.bin file in either of the two scenarios below:

1 - I record a new *.bin file (in which case I cannot playback a previously recorded *.bin file)

2 - I close the mmWave Studio application and restart it (which again causes the same *.bin file playback issue)

Do you have any idea why I am seeing this behavior? Am I missing something here (perhaps related to the file naming or something) I am able to see the *.bin files but when I select them for playback, I get an error message. (I am including the error messages I am seeing below in bold in case they help)

[20:51:39] [RadarAPI]: ar1.StartMatlabPostProc("C:\\Cagri_Workspace\\LAU_Team\\projects\\Radar_Research\\admin\\data_collections\\Home_environment\\IWR6843ISK\\cagri_adc_capture_file_1.bin")
[20:51:39] [RadarAPI]: No of files Captured: 1, Total no of frames for each device : 1194
[20:51:39] [RadarAPI]: Error:
[20:51:39]
[20:51:39] ... MWMCR::EvaluateFunction error ...
[20:51:39] Reference to non-existent field 'NumOfSubFrames'.
[20:51:39] Error in => process_adc_data.m at line 76.
[20:51:39]
[20:51:39] ... Matlab M-code Stack Trace ...
[20:51:39] at
[20:51:39] file C:\Users\ctanriov\AppData\Local\Temp\ctanriov\mcrCache8.5.1\Matlab0\Processing_functions\prepare_frame.m, name prepare_subframes, line 167.
[20:51:39] at
[20:51:39] file C:\Users\ctanriov\AppData\Local\Temp\ctanriov\mcrCache8.5.1\Matlab0\Processing_functions\prepare_frame.m, name prepare_frame, line 17.
[20:51:39] at
[20:51:39] file C:\Users\ctanriov\AppData\Local\Temp\ctanriov\mcrCache8.5.1\Matlab0\Processing_functions\create_current_burst_config.m, name create_current_burst_config, line 5.
[20:51:39] at
[20:51:39] file C:\Users\ctanriov\AppData\Local\Temp\ctanriov\mcrCache8.5.1\Matlab0\Processing_functions\populate_current_burst_constants.m, name populate_current_burst_constants, line 11.
[20:51:39] at
[20:51:39] file C:\Users\ctanriov\AppData\Local\Temp\ctanriov\mcrCache8.5.1\Matlab0\MatlabPostPr\process_adc_data.m, name process_adc_data, line 76.
[20:51:39]
[20:51:39] Trace:
[20:51:39] at MathWorks.MATLAB.NET.Utility.MWMCR.EvaluateFunction(String functionName, Int32 numArgsOut, Int32 numArgsIn, MWArray[] argsIn)
[20:51:39] at MathWorks.MATLAB.NET.Utility.MWMCR.EvaluateFunction(Int32 numArgsOut, String functionName, MWArray[] argsIn)
[20:51:39] at MatlabPostProcGui.MatlabPostProcGUIClass.process_adc_data(MWArray adc_file_name, MWArray force_cont_stream_mode)
[20:51:39] at AR1xController.frmAR1Main.iStartMtlabPostProc()

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

Cagri

HI, Cagri:

In the radar studio user guide section 21.8, the standalone processing is described.  C:\ti\mmwave_studio_02_01_01_00\docs\mmwave_studio_user_guide.pdf

Please take a look and let me know if your problem can be resolved by following that procedure. 

Best,

Zigang

Hi Zigang,

Thank you for the reference. This is exactly what I was looking for. I can confirm that the post processing now works with all the *.bin files I captured in earlier sessions. Thank you!

I have one more related question. Is it possible to access the Matlab code for the post processing used in this GUI or is this proprietary information and is not disclosed? If it is accessible, can you please point me in the right direction to access this?

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

Cagri

Hi Zigang,

I have been experimenting with post processing of *.bin files captured in different sessions. It seems there is an upper limit of 300 radar frames that can be visualized this way (which is not actually mentioned in section 21.8)

I wanted to confirm that such limit exists and I am not missing any details here. Is there a way to visualize *.bin files with more than 300 frames using Matlab's PostProc?

Regards,
Cagri

HI, Cagri:

Do you mean you can capture more than 300 frames? But the post processing script listed below can not process more than 300 frames?

C:\ti\mmwave_studio_02_01_01_00\mmWaveStudio\MatlabExamples\singlechip_raw_data_reader_example

Best,

Zigang

Hi Zigang,

I use the PostProc button as shown below. (I never used the *.m scripts in the path you mentioned before)

I basically leave the *.bin file path field empty and hit the PostProc button to open the Matlab processing window. I then provide the log file and the bin file as inputs to generate the visualizations I need.

However, the above method seems to only display the first 300 frames available in my bin file. I know my bin file has about 3000 frames in it.

I was wondering if this 300 frame was a limitation of the PostProc tool. Is there an alternative visualization method that will process my bin files with say 3000 frames?

By the way, is the PostProc tool triggered from within the mmwaveStudio (as I described above) related to the Matlab examples you mentioned in the following link?

C:\ti\mmwave_studio_02_01_01_00\mmWaveStudio\MatlabExamples\singlechip_raw_data_reader_example

My understanding is these are two independent tools (but I may be wrong) In an earlier message. (I was also told in an earlier message that the users were not given access to the post processing performed by Matlab engine)

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Cagri

HI, 

The matlab script under C:\ti\mmwave_studio_02_01_01_00\mmWaveStudio\MatlabExamples\singlechip_raw_data_reader_example only provided the parsing of the ADC signal to radar cube (after range FFT), it provide a tool for data parsing only.  The PostProc in the radar studio GUI has more features.  But as we mentioned, the source code is not provided.   

I did not aware of any frame size limitation.  Do you have the same issue if you capture the data more than 300 frames and immediately process it?  You can also give a try on the parsing script.  

Best,

Zigang

Hi Zigang,

If it is possible to remove this limitation in future releases that will be very helpful in terms of quick verification of captured data and to enable early visual sanity checks.

I am developing my own visualization tool with a full radar post-processing pipeline already, but I was hoping to have a quick means to cross-check my tool with Matlab's during the data collection phases of my development. I suppose with carefully designed data collection, I can still work with this 300 frame limitation (though it is not ideal)

Thank you for the useful suggestions and guidance. Much appreciated.

Regards,
Cagri