TI AWR6843/AWR1843 Radar Kit Raw ADC Data Collection

• Using serial port to send cfg parameters to AWR6843(not fully tested) / AWR1843(well tested).
• Supporting using both DCA1000EVM_CLI_Control executable file and UDP packets through the Ethernet connection to send commands and collect data.

Quick Start for Linux

Setup

pip install -r requirements.txt
cd ./DCA1000_SDK && make clean && make && cd ..
cp ./DCA1000_SDK/Release/DCA1000EVM_CLI_* ./DCA1000_SDK/Release/libRF_API.so ./DCA1000/CLI

• cmd: gedit ~/.bashrc (gedit ~/.zshrc)
• add a new line (replace <your_ws> with your workspace path): export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/<your_ws>/DCA1000/CLI:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Customize Your Params

• modify Sensor/config/*.yml (If needed), but must ensure the parameter “lvdsStreamCfg -1 0 1 0”.
• modify DCA1000/CLI/configFile.json (If needed), notice that the data path, capture mode, and data prefix (if enable timestamp record) will be automatically set.
• modify serial port in /dev/tty* format, * = ACM(xWR18xx) or USB (xWR68xx) .

Config System UDP Max Recv Buffer Size

Set system UDP receive buffer to e.g. 12582912 Bytes:

• cmd: sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
• add a new line: net.core.rmem_max = 6291456
• cmd: sudo sysctl -p
• check: cat /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max

Start Collection

run the scripts like this: python3 radar_recorder.py -d 10

usage: radar_recorder.py [-h] [-d DURATION] [-b BYTES] [-f FRAMES] [-i INFINITE]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d DURATION, --duration DURATION
                        Record duration measured in second
  -b BYTES, --bytes BYTES
                        Record bytes
  -f FRAMES, --frames FRAMES
                        Record frames
  -i INFINITE, --infinite INFINITE
                        Infinite recording mode with max duration (*) s

If no arguments are provided, the code will default to an infinite record mode. The default max duration (*) can be set by the user in radar_recorder.py.

Besides, the password for the current user account will be needed to provide permission for serial port configuration.

Timestamp Sync between mmWave Radar and LiDAR

Radar Hardware Trigger

specifically tested on NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and AWR1843 & DCA1000EVM

If the SOCKET command mode and HW trigger mode are enabled, the host device will output PWM to trigger the Radar sensor. The timestamp of the trigger is aligned with the system time of the host device.

Thus, if this feature is enabled, installation of package Jetson.GPIO is required (on the NVIDIA Jetson platform).

LiDAR PTP Synchronizer

specifically tested on NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and Livox MID-360

If the time stamp synchronize mode is enabled, we will use PTP(Precision Time Protocol) for software clock synchronization. The timestamp is aligned with the system time of the host device. To install and use PTP, please run the following command:

sudo apt-get install ptpd ethtool
ifconfig  # to find the available ethernet interface, e.g. enp7s0
ethtool -T enp7s0         # check if the interface supports time stamp
sudo ptpd -M -i enp7s0 -C # start PTP as the MASTER clock source

Attention

1. The data will be transmitted in Q-in-LSB and I-in-MSB order, and cannot be modified. This format is opposite to the data collected by default configuration in mmWave Studio and requires special handling.

2. UDP Related Please note that each frame trigger corresponds to a continuous transmission of UDP data packets, which do not include several bytes determined by "data size % packet size" (remainder). As a result, there will be some data from the previous frame transmitted together with the data of the new frame in one packet. Approximately 2 seconds after the trigger is finally stopped, the last data packet will be transmitted, and all the data packets form the complete collected data. Therefore, special attention is required when processing the data in real time, as the first UDP packet corresponding to each frame trigger does not align perfectly with the start of that frame's data.

3. USB port Related To ensure proper execution of the program, it is necessary to modify self.cfg_port_obj.baudrate to another value, run the recorder, and then stop the program and change it to 115200. This modification enables the port to function correctly.

Acknowledgement

xWR6843_dataCollection