Rfbeam microwave V-md3 User manual

PRODUCT INFORMATION

– Easy evaluation of the radar sensor V-MD3 over a GUI

– Easy adjustment of parameters for optimization to customer

applications

– Real-time streaming of all relevant radar processing data

– Data recording and playback including video using a webcam

– Firmware update over boot loader

– Saves time to market and reduces NRE costs

– Getting started with the V-MD3

– Real-time optimisation of the radar parameters

fordifferentapplications

– Situation recording including video data

forlateranalysisinthelab

– Learning about the potential of a V-MD3 sensor

The V-MD3 is a high-end 3D radar transceiver with integrated sig-

nal processing and tracking algorithms. It can measure the speed,

direction, distance and angle (in azimuth and elevation) of moving

and static objects. The digital structure and wide power supply

range make it very easy to use this sensor in any stand-alone or

MCU based application.

The control panel described in this user manual allows a simp-

le and quick evaluation of the sensor with all its parameters. All

settings can be easily adjusted in the control panel and the effects

can be veriﬁed in real time. The recording function also offers

the option of subsequently playing back and analysing measure-

ments.

Features

Applications

Description

Control Panel

user manual

V-MD3

digital 3D radar transceiver

Figure 1: Control panel GUI overview

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Product Information ............................ 1

Features ......................................... 1

Applications ...................................... 1

Description....................................... 1

Control Panel..................................... 1

Installation ....................................... 3

Quick Start ...................................... 3

Software update................................ 4

Control Panel ................................... 5

Views ............................................ 6

Miscellaneous Display Controls ................... 10

Modes .......................................... 10

Tabs ............................................ 11

System Requirements ....................... 16

Revision History .............................. 16

INSTALLATION

QUICK START

1. Connect the delivered USB Stick to your PC or

download and unzip the control panel software

from www.rfbeam.ch.

2. Open the installer folder.

3. Install the V-MD3 Control Panel by double clicking

the setup.exe ﬁle. If no .net framework is installed,

the installer will install it automatically.

1. Connect the V-MD3 over Ethernet to a hostPC

and change the IPV4 connection settings

onthehost to a static setting with the following

parameters:

IP-Address: 192.168.100.1

Subnet: 255.255.255.0

2. Power up the V-MD3 by applying 12 or 24V on

the pin 1 and GND on the pin 3 of the M12 male

A-coded connector.

3. Start the V-MD3 control panel software.

4. The control panel now tries to ping the V-MD3 on

the default IP address 192.168.100.201. As soon

as the sensor is ready the “Connect” button will

become available.

5. Press the “Connect” button.

6. On a system with multiple webcams, a dialog will

pop up. Select the webcam you want to use.

7. The mode indicator switches to Live stream and

the software is ready to use.

To use the integrated video function, install and

test your webcam before you go to the next

chapter. Please download and install neces-

sary drivers for the webcam from the manu-

facturer website.

At the ﬁrst start, Windows will ask whether

the ﬁrewall should allow communication

connections for the V-MD3 control panel.

Allow it, otherwise the ﬁrewall will block

the UDP packets sent from the sensor to

thehost.

SOFTWARE UPDATE

1. Connect the V-MD3 over Ethernet to a hostPC

and change the IPV4 connection settings

onthehost to a static setting with the following

parameters:

IP-Address: 192.168.100.1

Subnet: 255.255.255.0

2. Start the Control Panel and switch to the Soft-

ware update tab.

3. Power up the V-MD3 and wait until the “Connect”

button becomes active. Press the “Connect”

button in the next 4s to connect to the bootloa-

der. The connection was successful if the mode

display changed from Disconnected to Bootloa-

der mode and the bootloader and FPGA version

are displayed.

4. Use the “Browse” button to select the ﬁrmware

update ﬁle provided by RFbeam Microwave.

5. Press the “Update” button to start the update.

6. Wait until the process has ﬁnished. A message

box indicates if the update was successful. The

application starts automatically and by switching

to the communication tab it is possible to directly

connect to the sensor.

CONTROL PANEL

The control panel contains many conﬁguration op-

tions. The structure of the panel views is designed to

guide through the different steps of the radar proces-

sing, which is described in detail in the datasheet of

the V-MD3.

The control panel consists of three different areas

which are described in detail in the next chapters.

Figure 2: Overview control panel areas

Figure 3: Data output example

Views

Miscellaneous

Display Controls

Tabs

There are many views to select in the miscellaneous

display controls area. All of them have a preceded

shortcut based on the data output which is used in

the views (RADC, RFFT, RMRD, PDAT, TDAT). To use

the different views the according data output needs to

be enabled.

For example, if «PDAT – RAW Target Data» is turned

on in the «Data output» section, the views below will

start to visualise the V-MD3 data.

– PDAT – Raw Target Speed/Range

– PDAT – Raw Target Range/Range

– PDAT – Raw Target 3D

Views

The control panel features the possibility to

simultaneously show two views in parallel

to visualise the sensor data in different

ways. How to switch between the different

views is described in the chapter Miscella-

neous Display Controls

Video

If a webcam is connected to the PC it is possible to show

thevideo picture in this view.

To start the video stream the button «Start» needs to be pressed.

RADC – Raw ADC Data

The RADC view shows all sampled ADC channels of the sensor.

Checkboxes:

It is possible to enable and disable the different groups of chan-

nels using the checkboxes.

Recalculate axis button:

Button to recalculate the Y axis of the view.

RFFT – Raw Range-Doppler

The RFFT view shows the raw range Doppler map of one recei-

ving channel. Details about the internal processing can be found

in the V-MD3 datasheet.

RX antenna:

Drop-down list for changing the receiving antenna for the display-

ed data.

Threshold:

Value to change the visualisation colour of the view. Does not

affect the radar settings.

RMRD – Mean Range-Doppler

The RMRD view shows the mean range Doppler map, which is

an averaged and logarithmic map of all four receiving channels.

Details about the internal processing can be found in the V-MD3

datasheet.

Threshold:

Value to change the visualisation colour of the view. Does not

affect the radar settings.

The ADC values are complex values (I-Channel and

Q-Channel). Due to hardware coupling of these channels

targets in the lower half of the distance are seen mirrored

in the upper half of the distance but with less magnitude.

PDAT – Raw Target Speed/Range

This view contains the raw targets found with the same axis as

the mean range Doppler view. The used detection area is also

visualized, which can be conﬁgured via the parameters in the de-

tection tab. It is helpful to compare this view with the mean range

Doppler when tuning the detection parameters.

No. of targets:

Count of actually reported raw targets

PDAT – Raw Target Speed/Range

This is one of the most interesting views as the information of the

raw targets is interpreted and shown in a two-dimensional map.

The targets show the radar’s view of the real world. Grey targets

are static targets without any speed. Green targets are moving

away from the radar and red targets are moving towards the

radar.

No. of targets:

Count of actually reported raw targets

Radar direction:

Deﬁnes the direction of the radar to the monitor. If «Same as

monitor» is used, the webcam video has to be mirrored to corres-

pond to the data.

PDAT – Raw Target 3D

This view shows the raw targets in three dimensions. The infor-

mation of the azimuth and elevation angles and the target dis-

tance are calculated to the location in a 3D-distance area. The

targets are coloured pins and the colour suits to the Z-dimension

(elevation).

No. of targets:

Count of actually reported raw targets

This view can only display 3D data if the radar setting

uses a 3D setting. Further it can be turned around with

the mouse to change the perspective.

TDAT – Tracking Speed/Range

Compare this view with the corresponding raw view to see the

improvements of the tracking ﬁlter and to check the inﬂuence of

the tracking settings.

No. of targets:

Count of actually tracked targets

TDAT – Tracking Range/Range

Compare this view with the corresponding raw view to see the

improvements of the tracking ﬁlter and to check the inﬂuence of

the tracking settings.

No. of targets:

Count of actually tracked targets

Radar direction:

Deﬁnes the direction of the radar to the monitor. If «Same as

monitor» is used, the webcam video has to be mirrored to corres-

pond to the data.

TDAT – Tracking 3D

This view shows the tracked targets in three dimensions. The

information of the azimuth and elevation angles and the target

distance are calculated to the location in a 3D-distance area. The

targets are coloured pins and the colour suits to the Z-dimension

(elevation).

No. of targets:

Count of actually tracked targets

This view can only display 3D data if the radar setting

uses a 3D setting. Further it can be turned around with

the mouse to change the perspective.

PDAT, TDAT – Digital Outputs

The sensor has two digital outputs that can be conﬁgured to ge-

nerate a detection when an object is in a conﬁgurable area. This

view shows a combination of the detection areas for both digital

outputs as well as the PDAT or TDAT targets depending on the

Digital output data setting. Below the view are two indicators that

show the detection status of each digital output.

Modes

The detection parameters for the digital outputs can be

conﬁgured in the digital outputs tab.

Miscellaneous Display Controls

The middle of the control panel is used to control which views are

visualised in the views area. It is easy to switch between the diffe-

rent views using the two drop down lists. Further the mode of the

GUI, the actual frame number and the cycle time of the frames is

displayed.

Figure 4: Miscellaneous display controls

Figure 5: Different possible modes Table 1: Different possible modes

It is not possible to display the same view left and right

atthe same time.

Mode Description

Disconnected No connection to the V-MD3.

Live Stream The control panel is connected to the V-MD3 and receives data.

Record Data will be recorded to the PC.

Playback Recorded data will be played and visualised.

Bootloader The control panel is connected to the boot loader of the V-MD3

and the sensor is ready for a software update.

Tabs

This chapter describes the different control

tabs of the software. It is possible to con-

trol all the parameters of the V-MD3 and

all the functions of the control panel over

these tabs.

A more detailed parameter description of the sensor can be

found in the datasheet of the V-MD3.

Communication

Figure 6: Communication tab

To connect to the sensor, the correct server IP of the V-MD3

sensor must be entered. After starting the control panel, the

“Connect” and “Disconnect” buttons are greyed out. The control

panel tries to ping the sensor with the deﬁned IP address in the

Server IP ﬁeld and activates the “Connect” button as soon as the

ping to a V-MD3 under the server IP address was successful.

If a V-MD3 is connected, this indicator shows information about

the ﬁrmware and FPGA version of the sensor.

Select which output is sent from the radar to the control panel.

The according views can only show data if the corresponding

data outputs are enabled.

TCP Application

Info

Data Output

It may take up to 60 seconds for the “Connect” button

to activate. This depends on the network environment

used.

If the sensor is in live stream mode after a successful

connection and the corresponding data outputs are

activated but no data is shown in the views, check the

ﬁrewall settings. The control panel must have communi-

cation rights in the Windows ﬁrewall.

Radar

Detection

Figure 7: Radar tab

Figure 8: Detection tab

This tab controls the main setting of the processing chain in the

radar sensor. By changing the settings parameter it is very easy to

adapt the sensor to the needs of an application and check the in-

ﬂuences in real time. A detailed description of all settings and the

inﬂuences to the processing stages can be found in the chapter

Radar settings of the V-MD3 datasheet.

It is important to use a setting with distance and speed ranges

that match with the distance and speed of the expected targets in

the detection area of the sensor.

The detection tab controls mainly the detection ﬁlter which can be

used to control the number of PDAT raw targets. It makes sense

to use the RMRD – Mean Range Doppler view together with the

PDAT – Raw Target Speed/Range view when you change settings

in this tab because it visualises directly the used settings of the

ﬁlter and the generated outputs of the PDAT structure. A detailed

description of all parameters can be found in the chapter Detec-

tions Settings of the V-MD3 datasheet.

Wrong settings can generate

false sensor outputs. It is pos-

sible that strong targets out-

side the conﬁgured distance or

speed range can create false

reﬂections.

Tracking

Digital Outputs

Settings

Figure 9: Tracking tab

Figure 10: Digital outputs tab

Figure 11: Settings tab

On the Tracking tab you can control the tracking settings, which

are described in the chapter Tracking settings in the V-MD3

datasheet. It makes sense to use the PDAT – Raw Target Range/

Range view together with the TDAT – Tracking Range/Range view

or the corresponding 3D views if a 3D radar setting is used when

changing these settings.

On this tab you can control the digital outputs settings, which

are described in the chapter Digital outputs in the V-MD3 datas-

heet. The use of this tab together with the PDAT, TDAT – Digital

Outputs view allows for a simple and intuitive adjustment of the

detection areas for the digital outputs.

On the Settings tab you can easily save and reload the complete

settings of a sensor. This makes it simple to duplicate a useful

data set on multiple sensors. It is also possible to restore the

factory settings and change the sensor‘s IP address.

By changing the radar server IP, multiple sensors can be

connected to the same host. The control panel dyna-

mically processes the UDP port settings of the sensors

when connecting to multiple sensors.

It is not possible to change the

IP address to the ﬁxed IP of the

bootloader (192.168.100.200).

Record/Playback

Figure 12: Record/Playback tab

To record data, you ﬁrst need to specify a path where to store

the data on the PC. By selecting the Store video checkbox it is

possible to also store a picture per frame from the webcam. The

recording of the data can then easily be controlled over the Start

and Stop button.

The software creates for every recording a new subfolder with a

timestamp of the recording in the selected folder and stores there

a raw binary ﬁle with all received sensor data packets and the

video pictures when selected. Refer to the datasheet for detailed

information about the packet structure, commands and messa-

ges in the stored binary ﬁle.

To playback the recorded data, the control panel must be dis-

connected. By selecting a folder of a recorded sequence it is

possible to start, stop and pause a recording by a controlled cycle

time. Even the start of the frame number in the recorded data can

be chosen.

The playback feature is a very powerful tool to do an in depth

analysis of the recorded data. It gives the possibility to compare

the recorded data easily in all available views when the according

data output was enabled for the recording.

Record data

Playback data

The record feature records the complete data output

of the sensor speciﬁed in the communication tab under

Data output. The performance of the recording may vary

based on the following circumstances:

– Performance of the used PC

– Use of the video capture feature

– Enabled data output

This tab can be used to record and play-

back the sensor data to the hard disk. It

is also possible to store the video data in

parallel what can be helpful to interpret the

measured data in the playback mode.

Software update

Figure 13: Software update tab

This tab allows the update of the V-MD3 ﬁrmware over Ethernet.

It can also be used to completely reset a sensor to the default

values if it has an unknown programmed IP address because the

IP address of the bootloader is ﬁxed to 192.168.100.200.

A step by step instruction how to update the ﬁrmware

can be found in the chapter Software update on page4.

Use only ﬁrmware update ﬁles provided

byRFbeamMicrowave.

After starting the control panel, the „Connect“ and „Disconnect“

buttons are greyed out. The control panel tries to ping the boot-

loader of the sensor at the ﬁxed IP address 192.168.100.200. A

connection to the bootloader is only possible after a power cycle

of the sensor. If the control panel can successfully ping the boot-

loader, it activates the „Connect“ button for 4 seconds before the

button is greyed out again because the sensor has left the boot-

loader and started the application software. A detailed description

of how the bootloader works can be found in the chapter Boot-

loader in the V-MD3 datasheet.

If the control panel is connected to the bootloader, its version

and the FPGA version are available in the corresponding ﬁelds. It

is possible to select a hex ﬁle using the „Browse“ button and to

update then the sensor ﬁrmware using the „Update“ button.

TCP Bootloader

Software update

Graphical

Figure 14: Graphical tab

This tab offers the possibility to open a second window with a full

screen view. Only the left view or a view with both views can be

opened via the two “Full screen” buttons.

REVISION HISTORY

05/2020 – Revision A: Initial Version

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

– Windows 7 or Windows 10

– .NET Framework 4 Client Proﬁle

Table of contents

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