Texas Instruments AWR1443 User manual

AWR1443, AWR1243 Evaluation Module
(AWR1443BOOST, AWR1243BOOST) mmWave
Sensing Solution
User's Guide
Literature Number: SWRU507A
May 2017–Revised May 2017

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Table of Contents
Contents
1 Trademarks......................................................................................................................... 4
2 Getting Started .................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................ 5
2.2 Key Features.............................................................................................................. 5
2.3 What is Included.......................................................................................................... 5
3 Hardware ............................................................................................................................ 6
3.1 Block Diagram............................................................................................................ 8
3.2 Connecting BoosterPack™ to LaunchPad™ or MMWAVE-DEVPACK........................................... 8
3.3 Power Connections ...................................................................................................... 9
3.4 Connectors................................................................................................................ 9
3.5 PC Connection.......................................................................................................... 13
3.6 Antenna .................................................................................................................. 14
3.7 Jumpers, Switches, and LEDs ....................................................................................... 16
4 Design Files and Software Tools.......................................................................................... 18
4.1 Software, Development Tools, and Example Codes for AWR1443.............................................. 18
5 Mechanical Mounting of PCB............................................................................................... 18
6 PCB Storage and Handling Recommendations ...................................................................... 19
7 Regulatory Information ....................................................................................................... 19
Revision History.......................................................................................................................... 20

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List of Figures
List of Figures
1 EVM Front View.............................................................................................................. 6
2 EVM Rear View .............................................................................................................. 7
3 BoosterPack™ Block Diagram............................................................................................. 8
4 3V3 and 5-V Mark on the LaunchPad™ (White Triangle).............................................................. 8
5 Power Connector ............................................................................................................ 9
6 20-Pin BoosterPack™ Connectors (J5 and J6).......................................................................... 9
7 High Density Connector (60 Pin)......................................................................................... 11
8 CAN Connector............................................................................................................. 12
9 XDS110 Ports............................................................................................................... 13
10 PCB Antenna ............................................................................................................... 14
11 Antenna Pattern in H-Plane............................................................................................... 14
12 Antenna Pattern in E-Plane............................................................................................... 15
13 SOP Jumpers............................................................................................................... 16
14 Current Measurement Point............................................................................................... 16
15 Vertical Assembly of the EVM............................................................................................ 18
List of Tables
1 20-Pin Connector Definition (J5) ......................................................................................... 10
2 20-Pin Connector Definition (J6) ......................................................................................... 10
3 HD Connector Pin Definition.............................................................................................. 11
4 SOP Modes ................................................................................................................. 16
5 Push Buttons................................................................................................................ 17
6 LEDs ......................................................................................................................... 17

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AWR1443BOOST, AWR1243BOOST Evaluation Module mmWave Sensing
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User's Guide
SWRU507A–May 2017–Revised May 2017
AWR1443BOOST, AWR1243BOOST Evaluation Module
mmWave Sensing Solution
1 Trademarks
BoosterPack, LaunchPad are trademarks of Texas Instruments.
ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

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2 Getting Started
2.1 Introduction
The AWR1443 BoosterPack™ is an easy-to-use evaluation board for the single-chip AWR1443 mmWave
sensing device from TI, with direct connectivity to the TI MCU LaunchPad™ ecosystem. The evaluation
board contains everything needed to start developing on a low-power ARM®-R4F controller. The
evaluation board includes onboard emulation for programming and debugging, onboard buttons, and
LEDs, for quick integration of a simple user interface. The standard 20-pin BoosterPack headers make the
evaluation board compatible with a wide variety of TI MCU LaunchPads and enables easy prototyping.
The AWR1243 BoosterPack is an evaluation board for the AWR1243 mmWave high-performance front
end. The evaluation platform enables raw capture of ADC data from the front end and evaluation of RF
performance.
2.2 Key Features
• 40-pin LaunchPad standard that leverages the LaunchPad ecosystem
• XDS110-based JTAG emulation with serial port, for onboard QSPI flash programming (for AWR1443)
• Backchannel UART through USB to PC, for logging purposes
• Onboard antenna
• 60-pin high density (HD) connector, for raw ADC data over CSI, or the high-speed debug interface
• Onboard CAN transceiver (for AWR1443)
• One button and two LEDs, for user interaction
• 5-V power jack, to power the board
2.3 What is Included
2.3.1 Kit Contents
• AWR1443BOOST or AWR1243BOOST
• Mounting brackets, screws, and nuts, to allow placing the PCB vertical
• Micro USB cable to connect to the PC
NOTE: Not included: 5 V, >2.5-A supply brick with 2.1-mm barrel jack (center positive). TI
recommends using an external power supply that complies with applicable regional safety
standards such as UL, CSA, VDE, CCC, PSE, and so on. The cable length of the power cord
must be < 3 m.
2.3.2 mmWave Proximity Demo
TI provides sample demo codes to easily get started with the AWR1443 evaluation module and
experience the functionality of the AWR1443 mmWave sensor. For details on getting started with these
demos, see the mmWave SDK User Guide.

Onboard Antenna
AWR1443
Flash
60-Pin HD Connector
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3 Hardware
Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the front and rear views of the evaluation board, respectively.
Figure 1. EVM Front View

Micro USB
Connector
PMIC
20-Pin LaunchPad
Connector (J6)
XDS110
20-Pin LaunchPad
Connector (J5)
Heat Sink Area
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Figure 2. EVM Rear View

AWR1443/
AWR1243
Power and 2 GPIO
LED Indicators
4 RX and 3 TX PCB Antennas
PMIC
LDO1
LDO2
QSPI
Flash
EN Control
from the MCU
Current
Measurement
5 V i/p
from jack/
MCU
Option for 3.3 V from
the MCU LaunchPad
2.3 V 1.8 V
1.3 V
1.8 V
1.2 V
3.3 V (IO)
60-Pin
HD
CSI2I/ LVDS Lanes
JTAG + Trace
40
Mhz
BP CONN
UART and JTAG
SPI, UART, I2C,
Rst, Nerrs, SOP,
Loggers, CAN,
GPIOs
XDS110
PC Interface
Over USB
CAN
SOP
Jumpers
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3.1 Block Diagram
Figure 3. BoosterPack™ Block Diagram
3.2 Connecting BoosterPack™ to LaunchPad™ or MMWAVE-DEVPACK
This BoosterPack can be stacked on top of the Launchpad, or the MMWAVE-DEVPACK, using the two
20-pin connectors. The connectors do not have a key to prevent the misalignment of the pins or reverse
connection. Therefore, ensure reverse mounting does not take place. On the AWR1443 BoosterPack, we
have provided 3V3 marking near pin 1 (see Figure 4). This same marking is provided on compatible
LaunchPads which must aligned before powering up the boards.
Figure 4. 3V3 and 5-V Mark on the LaunchPad™ (White Triangle)

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3.3 Power Connections
The BoosterPack is powered by the 5-V power jack (>2.5-A current limit). As soon as the power is
provided, the NRST and 5-V LEDs glow, indicating that the board is powered up (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Power Connector
NOTE: After the 5-V power supply is provided to the EVM, TI recommends pressing the NRST
switch (SW2) once to ensure a reliable boot up state.
3.4 Connectors
3.4.1 20-Pin BoosterPack™ Connectors
The BoosterPack has the standard LaunchPad connectors (J5 and J6) which enable the BoosterPack to
be directly connected to all TI MCU LaunchPads (see Table 1). While connecting the BoosterPack to other
LaunchPads, ensure the pin 1 orientation is correct by matching the 3V3 and 5-V signal marking on the
boards (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. 20-Pin BoosterPack™ Connectors (J5 and J6)

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Table 1 and Table 2 provide the connector-pin information.
Table 1. 20-Pin Connector Definition (J5)
Pin Number Description Pin Number Description
1 NERROUT 2 GND
3 NERRIN 4 NC
5 MCUCLK OUT 6 SPI_CS
7 NC 8 GPIO1
9 MSS LOGGER 10 nRESET
11 WARMRST 12 SPI_MOSI
13 BSS LOGGER 14 SPI_MISO
15 SOP2 16 HOSTINT
17 SOP1 18 GPIO2
19 SOP0 20 NC
Table 2. 20-Pin Connector Definition (J6)
Pin Number Description Pin Number Description
1 5 V 2 3V3
3 GND 4 GND
5 ANA1 6 RS232TX (Tx from IWR
device)
7 ANA2 8 RS232RX (Rx into IWR device)
9 ANA3 10 SYNC_IN
11 ANA4 12 NC
13 PGOOD (onboard VIO) 14 SPI_CLK
15 PMIC Enable 16 GPIO0
17 SYNC_OUT 18 SCL
19 PMIC CLK OUT 20 SDA
• PGOOD – This signal indicates the state of the onboard VIO supply for the AWR device coming from
the onboard PMIC. A high on the PGOOD signal (3.3 V) indicates that the supply is stable. Because
the IOs are not failsafe, the MCU must ensure that it does not drive any IO signals to the AWR device
before this IO supply is stable. Otherwise, there could be leakage current into the IOs.
• PMIC Enable – This signal goes onboard PMIC enable. The MCU can use this signal to completely
shut down the PMIC and AWR device to save power. The power up of the PMIC takes approximately 5
ms once the Enable signal is released.
NOTE: To enable this feature, the R102 resister must be populated on the EVM.
• ANA1/2/3/4 – These are inputs to the GPADCs (general purpose ADC) available on the AWR1443
device.

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3.4.2 60-Pin High Density (HD) Connector
The 60-pin HD connector provides high speed data over CSI or the HS_DEBUG interface, and controls
signals (SPI, UART, I2C, NRST, NERR, and SOPs) and JTAG debug signals (see Table 3). This
connector can be connected to the MMWAVE-DEVPACK board and interface with the TSW1400 (see
Figure 7).
Figure 7. High Density Connector (60 Pin)
Table 3. HD Connector Pin Definition
Pin Number Description Pin Number Description
1 5 V 2 5 V
3 5 V 4 TDO
5 TDI 6 TCK
7 SPI_CS 8 TMS
9 SPI_CLK 10 HOSTINT
11 SPI_MOSI 12 SPI_MISO
13 PGOOD (onboard VIO) 14 NERROUT
15 NC 16 SYNC_IN
17 NC 18 GND
19 NC 20 DEBUG_VALIDP
21 NC 22 DEBUG_VALIDM
23 NC 24 GND
25 NC 26 DEBUG_FRCLKP
27 NC 28 DEBUG_FRCLKM
29 NC 30 GND
31 NC 32 DEBUG/CSI_3P
33 NC 34 DEBUG/CSI_3M
35 NC 36 GND
37 NC 38 DEBUG/CSI_2P
39 NC 40 DEBUG/CSI_2M
41 NC 42 GND

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Table 3. HD Connector Pin Definition (continued)
Pin Number Description Pin Number Description
43 NC 44 DEBUG/CSI_CLKP
45 NC 46 DEBUG/CSI_CLKM
47 NC 48 GND
49 NC 50 DEBUG/CSI_1P
51 I2C_SDA 52 DEBUG/CSI_1M
53 I2C_SCL 54 GND
55 RS232RX (Rx into AWR
device) 56 DEBUG/CSI_0P
57 RS232TX (Tx from AWR
device) 58 DEBUG/CSI_0M
59 nRESET 60 GND
PGOOD – This signal indicates that the state of the onboard VIO supply for the AWR device coming from
the onboard PMIC. A high on the PGOOD signal (3.3 V) indicates the supply is stable. Because the I/Os
are not failsafe, the MCU must ensure that it does not drive any I/O signals to the AWR device before this
I/O supply is stable, to avoid leakage current into the I/Os.
3.4.3 CAN Interface Connector (for AWR1443)
The J3 connector provides the CAN_L and CAN_H signals (see Figure 8) from the onboard CAN
transceiver (SN65HVDA540). These signals can be directly wired to the CAN bus.
Because the digital CAN signals (TX and RX) are muxed with the SPI signals on the AWR device, one of
the two paths must be selected. To enable the CAN interface, the R11 and R12 resisters muct be
populated with 0 Ω, and the R4, R6, R28, and R63 resisters must be removed to disconnect the SPI path.
Figure 8. CAN Connector

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3.5 PC Connection
Connectivity is provided using the micro USB connector over the onboard XDS110 (TM4C1294NCPDT)
emulator. This connection provides the following interfaces to the PC:
• JTAG for CCS connectivity
• UART1 for flashing the onboard serial flash, downloading FW using RADAR studio, and getting
application data sent over the UART
• MSS logger UART, which can be used to get MSS code logs on the PC
When the USB is connected to the PC the device manager recognizes the following COM ports, as shown
in Figure 9:
• XDS110 Class Application/User UART →the UART1 port
• XDS110 Class Auxiliary Data port →the MSS logger port
Figure 9. XDS110 Ports
If Windows®is unable to recognize the COM ports previously shown, install the emupack available here
3.5.1 Erasing Onboard Serial Flash
Before loading the code to the serial flash or connecting the board to RADAR Studio, TI recommends
completely erasing the onboard serial flash. The instructions to erase the onboard serial flash are in the
mmWave SDK User Guide.
3.5.2 Connection With MMWAVE-DEVPACK
Mmwave SDK demos and released labs do not require the DevPack to be used with the BoosterPack.
Users may be required to use the DevPack along with the BoosterPack for the following use cases:
• Connecting to RADAR studio. This tool provides capability to configure the mmWave front end from
the PC. This tool is available in the DFP package.
• Capturing high-speed LVDS data using the TSW1400 platform from TI. This device allows the user to
capture raw ADC data over the high-speed debug interface and post process it in the PC. The RADAR
Studio tool provides an interface to the TSW1400 platform as well, so that the front end configurations
and data capture can be done using a single interface. Details on this board can be found at
http://www.ti.com/tool/tsw1400evm
For details on these use cases, see the mmWave-DevPack User Guide.

RX Antennas
TX Antennas
£/2
£
rx1 rx2 rx3 rx4 tx1 tx2 tx3
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3.6 Antenna
The BoosterPack includes onboard etched antennas for the four receivers and three transmitters, which
enables tracking multiple objects with their distance and angle information. This antenna design enables
estimation of both azimuth and elevation angles, which enables object detection in a 3-D plane (see
Figure 10).
Figure 10. PCB Antenna
The antenna peak gain is > 10.5 dBi across the frequency band of 76 to 81 GHz. The radiation pattern of
the antenna in the horizontal plan (H-plane) and elevation plan (E-plane) is as shown in Figure 11 and
Figure 12.
Figure 11. Antenna Pattern in H-Plane

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Figure 12. Antenna Pattern in E-Plane

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3.7 Jumpers, Switches, and LEDs
3.7.1 Sense On Power Jumpers
The AWR1443 and AWR1243 devices can be set to operate in three different modes, based on the state
of the SOP (sense on power) lines (see Figure 13). These lines are only sensed during boot up of the
AWR device. The state of the device is described by Table 4.
A closed jumper refers to a 1and an open jumper refers to a 0state of the SOP signal going to the AWR
device.
Table 4. SOP Modes
Reference Use Comments
P3 (SOP 2) SOP[2:0] 101 (SOP mode 5) = Flash programming
001 (SOP mode 4) = Functional mode
011 (SOP mode 2) = Dev mode
P2 (SOP 1)
P4 (SOP 0)
Figure 13. SOP Jumpers
3.7.2 Current Measurement
The P5 jumper enables measurement of the current being consumed by the reference design (AWR
device + PMIC + LDOs) at the 5-V level.
To measure the current, R118 must be removed and a series ammeter can be put across the P5 pins (see
Figure 14).
Figure 14. Current Measurement Point

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3.7.3 Push Buttons and LEDs
Table 5 and Table 6 list the push button and LED uses, respectively.
Table 5. Push Buttons
Reference Use Comments Image
SW2 RESET
This button is used to reset the
radar device. This signal is also
brought out on the 20-pin
connector and 60-pin HD
connector, so that an external
processor can control the AWR
device.
The onboard XDS110 can also
use this reset.
SW1 GPIO_1 When this button is pushed,
the GPIO_1 is pulled to Vcc.
Table 6. LEDs
Reference Color Use Comments Image
DS2 Red 5-V supply indication This LED indicates the
presence of the 5-V supply.
DS4 Yellow nRESET
This LED is used to indicate
the state of nRESET pin. If
this LED is on, the device is
out of reset. This LED glows
only after the 5-V supply is
provided.
DS1 Red NERR_OUT This LED turns on if there is any hardware error in the
AWR device.
DS3 Yellow GPIO_1 This LED turns on when the
GPIO is logic-1.

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4 Design Files and Software Tools
•AWR1243BOOST Schematics, Assembly, and BOM Details
•AWR1243BOOST Design Database and Layout Details
•AWR1443BOOST Schematics, Assembly and BOM Details
•AWR1443BOOST Design Databased and Layout Details
4.1 Software, Development Tools, and Example Codes for AWR1443
To enable quick development of an end application on the R4F core in the AWR1443, TI provides a
software development kit (SDK) which includes demo codes, software drivers, an emulation package for
debug, and so on. The SDK is available at mmwave-sdk.
5 Mechanical Mounting of PCB
The field of view of the radar sensor is orthogonal to the PCB. The L-brackets provided with the AWR1443
and AWR1243 EVM kit, along with the screws and nuts help in the vertical mounting of the EVM.
Figure 15 shows how the L-brackets can be assembled.
Figure 15. Vertical Assembly of the EVM

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6 PCB Storage and Handling Recommendations
The immersion silver finish of the PCB provides a better high-frequency performance but is also prone to
oxidation in an open environment. This oxidation causes the surface around the antenna region to
blacken. To avoid this effect, store the PCB in an ESD cover and keep it at controlled room temperature
with low humidity conditions. All ESD precautions must be taken while using and handling the EVM.
7 Regulatory Information
The AWR1443 and AWR1243 evaluation modules (AWR1443BOOST and AWR1243BOOST) are in
compliance with Directive 2014/53/EU. The full text of TI's EU Declaration of Conformity is available here.
The compliance has been verified in the operating bands 76 – 77 GHz and 77 – 81 GHz. Should the user
choose to configure the EVM to operate outside the test conditions, it should be operated inside a
protected or controlled environment, such as a shielded chamber. This evaluation board is intended only
for development, and is not for use in an end product or part of an end product. Developers and
integrators that incorporate the chipset in any end products are responsible for obtaining applicable
regulatory approvals for such an end product.
The European RF exposure radiation limit is fulfilled if a minimum distance of 5 cm between the users
body and the radio transmitter is respected.
NOTE: The EUT has been tested in the 76 – 77 GHz band (2 Tx at a time) at a maximum peak
power of 26 dBm EIRP, and in the 77 – 81 GHz band (1 Tx at a time) with maximum peak
power of 21 dBm EIRP across the temperature range of –20ºC to 60ºC.

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Revision History
Revision History
NOTE: Page numbers for previous revisions may differ from page numbers in the current version.
Changes from May 22, 2017 to May 25, 2017 .................................................................................................................. Page
• Added cable length info to Kit Contents section....................................................................................... 5
• Changed mmWave SDK UG link........................................................................................................ 5
• Changed Antenna Pattern in H-Plane and Antenna Pattern in E-Plane images................................................ 14
• Added Regulatory Conformity section................................................................................................. 19