Presence And Motion Users Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Presence and Motion Detection Demo is the TI mmWave SDK5 out-of-box demo project for low power architecture EVMs, like the xWRL6432 and xWRL1432. It is designed to showcase the capabilities of TI’s mmWave low power sensors by using the SDK5 APIs and tools to form an application that includes device configuration, processing, and visualization of the processed data.

You can choose between two visualizer tools provided by TI for this demo:

Quickstart xWRLx432 Device

Requirements

Tool Version Download Link
XDS110 Drivers Latest XDS Emulation Software
TI mmWave SDK 5.x.x.x (xWRLx432) MMWAVE-L-SDK 5.x.x.x
UniFlash Latest Download UniFlash
Access UniFlash through the Cloud

Using the SDK Low Power Visualizer

1. Connect the device to the PC

Connect your EVM to the micro USB port. You do not need to connect to the barrel jack.

2. Open the MMWAVE-L-SDK Low Power Visualizer

Navigate to the MMWAVE-L-SDK download location and find the Low Power Radar Visualizer at <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>\tools\visualizer\Low_power_visualizer_5.x.x.x\visualizer.exe

3. Flash the EVM using the SDK Low Power Visualizer

On the “Flash” tab in the visualizer, follow the steps listed.

  1. Select the COM Port. It should be automatically detected. If not, look for the “XDS110 Class Application/User UART” COM port in your Device Manager, and select this port in the GUI. If you do not see this, you need to install the XDS 110 drivers listed in the Requirements section above.

  2. Select the baud rate. It should be automatically detected.

  3. Select the device in the drop down. It should be automatically detected.

  4. Configure the EVM for Flashing Mode. For more help on device setup, follow the steps in the EVM Setup Guide for your specific EVM.

    1. Place the device into Flashing Mode by setting the switches as shown in the visualizer.

    2. Then, toggle the reset button (circled in green) to latch in the mode.

    3. Press “SWITCH SETTINGS CONFIRMED”

  5. Upload the application image which can be found at <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>\examples\mmw_demo\motion_and_presence_detection\prebuilt_binaries

  6. Select the “FLASH” button. Upon a successful flash, you see the following appear on the bottom of the flashing page:

4. Configure the EVM for Functional Mode

Navigate to the SDK download location and find the Low Power Radar Visualizer at <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>\tools\visualizer\Low_power_visualizer_5.x.x.x\visualizer.exe

Move to the “Configuration Dashboard” tab in the visualizer. A pop up will appear which instructs switching the device into functional mode, follow the instructions.

  1. Place the device into Functional Mode by setting the switches as shown in the visualizer. For more help on device setup, follow the steps in the EVM Setup Guide for your specific EVM.

  2. Then, toggle the reset button (circled in green) to latch in the mode.

5. Send Device Configuration

In the “Configuration Dashboard” tab, first confirm the COM port and baud rate are correct. Then, under “Configuration Selection”, select “High Performance Motion Detection”, “Low Power Presence Detection”, “Automated Parking”, or “Object Tracking”. Select “Send Selected Config”. Optionally, the user can load a custom configuration file from their local PC. Use the “Load Config from PC” button to accomplish this.

📝 NOTE
Only the Presence Detection configuration enables the enhanced presence and motion features by default. Please refer to <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>\docs\MotionPresenceDetectionDemo_documentation.pdf for more information about enabling these enhanced features through the CLI command guiMonitor.


In the visualizer’s console window commands should be seen being sent to the device.

6. View Plots

Once commands are sent, users can view the Presence Detection plot on the same page (if presence detection is enabled)

Users can view other plots in the “Plots” tab. Checkboxes on the left allow control of the visualization.

Using the Radar Toolbox Industrial Visualizer

1. Configure the EVM for Flashing Mode

  1. Connect your EVM to the micro USB port and follow the steps below. You do not need to connect to the barrel jack.

  2. Place the device into Flashing Mode by setting the switches as shown.

  3. Then, toggle the reset button (circled in green) to latch in the mode.

2. Flash the EVM using Uniflash

Flash the appropriate binary from the prebuilt binaries folder using UniFlash. Follow the instructions for using UniFlash Prebuilt release binaries can be found in <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>\examples\mmw_demo\motion_and_presence_detection\prebuilt_binaries

3. Configure the EVM for Functional Mode

  1. Place the device into Functional Mode by setting the switches as shown in the viualizer. For more help on device setup, follow the steps in the EVM Setup Guide for your specific EVM.

  2. Then, toggle the reset button (circled in green) to latch in the mode.

4. Open the Radar Toolbox Industrial Visualizer

Navigate to the Radar Toolbox download location and find the Industrial Visualizer directory at <RADAR_TOOLBOX_INSTALL_DIR>\tools\visualizers\Industrial_Visualizer\. Then, run the visualizer either directly from source with python gui_main.py, or as an executable by running the mmWaveIndustrialVisualizer.exe

📝 NOTE
In general, running the visualizer from the Python source runs faster and results in fewer errors over long periods of time. If running Python directly from source, use Python version 3.7.3, and run the setUpEnvironment.bat script first to ensure all the correct packages and versions are installed.

5. Connect the Device

  1. Look for the “XDS110 Class Application/User UART” COM port in your Device Manager, and select this port in the GUI. If you do not see this, you need to install the XDS110 drivers listed in the Requirements section above.

  2. Make sure the correct device is selected and choose the COM port found in the previous step, and then select “Connect”.

6. Send Device Configuration

In the “Configuration” section, click on “Select Configuration”. Select one of the pre-written configurations in <RADAR_TOOLBOX_INSTALL_DIR>\source\ti\examples\Presence_and_Motion_Detection\chirp_configs\. Then, click “Start and Send Configuration”

In the visualizer’s console window commands should be seen being sent to the device.

7. View Plots

Once commands are sent, users can view the point cloud plot on the same page (if presence detection is enabled). Please refer to the Industrial Visualizer Documentation located at <RADAR_TOOLBOX_INSTALL_DIR>\tools\visualizers\Industrial_Visualizer\docs\mmWave_Industrial_Visualizer_User_Guide.html for more information about how to use this tool.

Getting Started Tuning the Device

For information about getting started tuning the performance of the sensor, please see the mmWave SDK5 Presence and Motion Tuning Guide: <MMWAVE_SDK5_INSTALL_DIR>/docs/MotionPresenceDetectionDemo_TuningGuide.pdf

Build the Firmware from Source Code

1. Software Requirements

Tool Version Download Link
TI mmWave SDK 5.x.x.x (xWRLx432) mmWave SDK 5.x.x.x
Code Composer Studio CCS 12.2 or later Code Composer Studio
XDS110 Drivers Latest XDS Emulation Software

2. Import Project

The mmWave SDK Presence and Motion Detection Demo CCS Project is available on TI Resource Explorer under mmWave Sensors → Radar Toolbox. You can import the project in your CCS workspace using TI Resource Explorer in CCS or by importing the projectspec from a local copy of the toolbox. Both methods of importing projects are defined below. To get started, open CCS and set up your workspace as desired.

Importing via TI Resource Explorer in CCS

.

Importing via CCS Import Projectspecs

📝 NOTE
Project Workspace
When importing projects to a workspace, a copy is created in the workspace. It is important to note that the copy in user’s workspace is the one that gets built and all modifications will only be implemented for the workspace copy. The original project downloaded in the Radar Toolbox is not modified.

3. Build the Project

There is only one project in Project Explorer, right click on the project name and select Rebuild Project.

🛑 Before Continuing!
Build Fails with Errors
If the build fails with errors, please ensure that all the prerequisites are installed as mentioned in the previous steps.

4. Execute the Project

There are two ways to execute the compiled code on the EVM:

Understanding Output Data Formats

The Low Power Visualizer and Industrial Visualizer are used to visualize processed output data from the mmWave radar device. This data is processed on-chip, and packaged into a TLV format. To understand this format, reference Understanding UART Data Output. Additionally, raw ADC data can be saved for offline processing using the DCA1000 EVM.

📝 NOTE
Output Data versus Raw ADC Data
Output data refers to point cloud data (x,y,z,v). Raw ADC data refers to digitally sampled sensor data.

Need More Help?