Introduction:
Millimeter wave (mmWave) radar technology uses short-wavelength electromagnetic waves to detect objects’ range, velocity, and angle with high accuracy. Operating in the 76–81 GHz range, these radars can identify movements as small as a fraction of a millimeter.
Traditional mmWave radar systems, which include transmit (TX) and receive (RX) radio frequency (RF) components, along with analog and digital parts, faced challenges like high power consumption and cost due to their complexity. Recent advancements have addressed these issues by integrating complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, streamlining RF, analog, and digital components.
The adoption of frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) technology further enhances mmWave radars by enabling continuous signal transmission, improving the measurement of range, angle, and velocity compared to traditional pulsed-radar systems.
Millimeter wave (mmWave) Sensor:
For automotive scales from a high-performance front-end radar Sensor—
Single-chip radar Sensor—
Sensor for industrial use—
IWR1443, Single-chip 76-GHz to 81-GHz mmWave sensor integrating MCU and hardware accelerator
IWR1642,Single-chip 76-GHz to 81-GHz mmWave sensor integrating DSP and MCU
Evaluation Boards for mmWave Sensor:
Radar Sensor Arduino Platform Evaluation Expansion Board from DFRobot –
This 24GHz millimeter-wave radar sensor employs FMCW, CW multi-mode modulation and separate transmitter and receiver antenna structure.
In working, the sensor first emits FMCW and CW radio waves to the sensing area. Next, the radio waves, reflected by all targets which are in moving, micro-moving, or extremely weak moving states in the area, are converted into electrical signals by the millimeter-wave MMIC circuit in the sensor system. After that, these signals will be sent to the processor and processed through the related signal and data algorithms. Then, the target information can be solved out.
Radar Sensor LaunchPad™ Platform Evaluation Expansion Board from Texas Instruments –
These BoosterPack™ plug-in module are an easy-to-use 77GHz mmWave sensor evaluation board for the single-chip AWRX and IWRX devices, with direct connectivity to the TI MCU LaunchPad™ development-kit ecosystem.
The DCA1000 evaluation module (EVM) provides real-time data capture and streaming for two- and four-lane low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) traffic from TI AWR and IWR radar sensor EVMs. The data can be streamed out via 1-Gbps Ethernet in real time to a PC running MMWAVE-STUDIO tool for capture and visualization, and then can be passed to an application of choice for data processing and algorithm development.
mmWave software development kit (SDK):
The mmWave software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software packages to enable application evaluation and development on TI mmWave sensors. This tool includes the MMWAVE-SDK and companion packages to support your design needs.
MMWAVE-SDK
mmWave software development kit (SDK) for xWR1443, xWR1642, xWR1843, xWR6443 and xWR6843
Other Related Topics:
Basics of Millimeter Wave(mmWave) Technology
Getting Started with the TI AWR1642 mmWave Sensor
Applicable Part Numbers
| DigiKey Part Number | Manufacturer Part Number |
|---|---|
| 296-52218-ND | AWR1443FQIGABLQ1 |
| 296-49121-ND | AWR1642ABIGABLQ1 |
| 296-49116-2-ND,296-49116-1-ND,296-49116-6-ND | AWR1642ABIGABLRQ1 |
| 296-53135-2-ND,296-53135-1-ND,296-53135-6-ND | AWR1243FBIGABLRQ1 |
| 296-53136-2-ND,296-53136-1-ND,296-53136-6-ND | AWR1443FQIGABLRQ1 |
| 296-52217-ND | AWR1243FBIGABLQ1 |
| 1891-XS121-ND | XS121 |
| 1891-XE121-ND | XE121 |
| 296-AWR1843BOOST-ND | AWR1843BOOST |
| 448-SHIELD60ATR24ES01TOBO1-ND | SHIELD60ATR24ES01TOBO1 |
| 296-52309-ND | IWR1443BOOST |
| 296-50206-ND | AWR1642BOOST |
| 296-IWR1843BOOST-ND | IWR1843BOOST |
| 296-AWR2243BOOST-ND | AWR2243BOOST |
| 1597-101010001-ND | 101010001 |
| 1738-SEN0521-ND | SEN0521 |
| 1738-SEN0395-ND | SEN0395 |
| 448-SHIELDBGT60LTR11AIPTOBO1-ND | SHIELDBGT60LTR11AIPTOBO1 |
| 448-S2GORADARBGT60LTR11TOBO1-ND | S2GORADARBGT60LTR11TOBO1 |
| 448-SHIELDAUTONOMBGT60TOBO1-ND | SHIELDAUTONOMBGT60TOBO1 |
| 1568-SEN-24540-ND | SEN-24540 |
| 1568-SEN-16826-ND | SEN-16826 |
| 296-53114-ND | AWR1642BOOST-ODS |
| 296-53267-ND | AWR1443BOOST |
| 296-53266-ND | AWR1243BOOST |
| 1471-MIKROE-5183-ND | MIKROE-5183 |
| 1471-MIKROE-5869-ND | MIKROE-5869 |
| 2887-OPS243-C-FC-WB-ND | OPS243-C-FC-WB |
| 296-49118-ND | IWR1642BOOST |
| 1597-109020021-ND | 109020021 |
| 1471-MIKROE-4636-ND | MIKROE-4636 |