mmWave Demo User Guide

Table of Contents

🛑 DISCLAIMER
To find Out-of-Box demos for other radar devices, go to the Out-Of-Box Demo Overview.

Introduction

The mmWave Demo is a TI mmWave SDK5 out-of-box demo project for the xWRL1432, xWRL6432, and IWRL6432AOP. The mmWave Demo 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.

🛑 Before Continuing! xWRL6432 - ES2.0 Only
For xWRL6432 devices, this demo is only compatible with ES2.0. To determine the ES version of your device, review the Determine Silicon Revision Guide

For this demo, use the following visualizer provided by TI:

Quickstart xWRL1432, xWRL6432, or IWRL6432AOP Device

Requirements

Tool Version Download Link
XDS110 Drivers Latest XDS Emulation Software - open in new tab
TI mmWave SDK 5.4.x.x MMWAVE-L-SDK 5.4.x.x
UniFlash Latest Download UniFlash
Access UniFlash through the Cloud
TI Radar Toolbox Latest Radar toolbox should be downloaded to access binaries and source code. Download Instructions in the readme file.

Using the SDK Low Power Visualizer

1. Connect the device to the PC

Connect the EVM to the micro USB port. The barrel jack does not need to be connected to a power supply.

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\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 Device Manager, and select this port in the GUI. If its not shown, 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 the specific EVM used.

    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\mmwave_demo\prebuilt_binaries\

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

4. Configure the EVM for Functional Mode

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 the specific EVM used.

  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, baud rate, and device are correct. Then, under “Configuration Selection”, select the “Automated Parking” configuration. Select “Send Selected Config”. A custom configuration file can be loaded from the local PC by clicking the “Upload” button and selecting a .cfg file. Alternatively, a configuration file can be generated by selecting “Generate Custom Configuration” and adjusting the parameters in the “Generate Configuration File” panel.

🛑 Disable Compression for xWRL6432 (Non-AOP)
For xWRL6432, compression must be disabled. Otherwise, no points will be detected. The provided configuration file, xwrl6432_parking_5m.cfg, disables compression by setting compressionCfg to 0 and should be used when running the mmWave demo. The “Automated Parking” configuration from the SDK visualizer has compression enabled and should not be used for xWRL6432.

📝 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

To view plots, go to the “Plots” tab. Checkboxes on the left allow control of the visualization.

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 5.4.x.x mmWave SDK 5.4.x.x
Code Composer Studio CCS 12.4 or later Code Composer Studio
XDS110 Drivers Latest XDS Emulation Software

2. Import Project

The mmWave Demo CCS Project is available on TI Resource Explorer under mmWave Sensors → Radar Toolbox. The project can be imported into the user’s 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 the 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 a 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 is 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.

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