AWR1642 Read Data (Python 3)

Python program to read and plot the data in real time from the AWR1642 and IWR1642 mmWave radar boards (Texas Instruments). The program has been tested with Windows and Raspberry Pi and is based on the Matlab demo from Texas Instruments.

First, the program configures the Serial ports and sends the CLI commands defined in the configuration file to the radar. Next, the data comming from the radar is parsed to extract the 2D position, range and doppler velocity of the reflected points. Finally, the 2D position of the reflected points is shown in a scatter plot.

Although it works correctly, the program is still in development, so if you have comments or questions, please feel free to comment.

Required Python packages

• numpy: For the array calculations.
• serial: To read the serial data from the radar.
• time: To wait until more data is generated.
• pyqtgraph: For the scatter plot showing the 2D position of the reflected points.

Program Functions

• serialConfig(): Configures the serial ports and sends the CLI commands to the radar. It outputs the serial objects for the data and CLI ports.
• parseConfigFile(): Parses the configuration file to extract the configuration parameters. It returns the configParameters dictionary with the extracted parameters.
• readAndParseData16xx(): It reads the data from the data serial port and parses the recived buffer to extract the data from the Detected objects package only. Othe package types (range profile, range-azimuth heat map...) could be done similarly but have not been implemented yet. This functions returns a boolean variable (dataOK) that stores if the data has been correctly, the frame number and the detObj dictionary with the number of detected objects, range (m), doppler velocity (m/s), peak value and 3D position (m).
• update(): Runs the readAndParseData16xx() function to read the current data and if the data has been read correctly the scatter with the 2D position is updated.

HOW TO USE

• Download the required packages.
• Change the name of the configuration file (.cfg).
• Change the serial ports.
• If not all the antennas are being used, then change the value of numRxAnt and numTxAnt.
• Run the program.
• The data of each frame with the position and velocities of the reflected points is stored in the detObj dictionary. Each frame data is stored in the frameData dictionary array.