Rochester, NY – July 29, 2020 – D3 Engineering, a Texas Instruments platinum design partner, announced their DesignCore® RS-1843A mmWave Radar Sensor Evaluation Kit. The DesignCore Evaluation Kit enables the implementation of many different mmWave radar sensing algorithms to measure, detect, and track. The production-intent kit features a single board, small form factor, and an easy-to-use USB-Serial interface. This USB-serial interface may be used with a PC or embedded platform to facilitate field testing, sensor evaluation, algorithm development, and application demonstrations. 

Industrial applications supported by this kit include robotics, autonomous machines, industrial vehicle systems, tracking, and facility monitoring. Automotive applications include driver assistance, automated emergency braking, and corner radar. The kit can also be used in many other use cases as a stand-alone mmWave radar sensor. 

Single board form factor design with a USB-Serial interface for testing and evaluation 

The DesignCore Evaluation Kit features the TI AWR1843, a single-chip 76-GHz to 81-GHz automotive radar sensor integrating a DSP, an MCU and radar accelerator. The AWR1843 RF front end integrates a PLL, three transmitters, four receivers, and a baseband ADC.  It covers 76 to 81 GHz with bandwidths up to 4 GHz.  It features 12 dBm transmit power and noise figure 15 dB or better across the band. The processing cores in the AWR1843 include a C674x DSP for FMCW signal processing, a hardware accelerator for radar cube processing, and a Cortex-R4F microcontroller for object tracking, classification, and communications. 

The DesignCore Evaluation Kit features a high-density connector for mating with optional baseboards providing additional interfaces and functionality, including access to the raw baseband ADC data samples. Also provided on this interface are CAN-FD, I2C, SPI, GPIO and UART connections. The main interface is a USB-C connector which can act as a power supply input as well as enumerating two serial UARTS, one for console and the other for processed radar returns or other algorithm output. 

The DesignCore Evaluation Kit includes custom firmware ensuring board support for the latest version of the SDK from TI.  

For additional specifications and drawings download the DesignCore® RS-1843A/RS-6843 mmWave Radar Sensor Evaluation Kit Data Sheet 

Also, download the Radar Algorithm Validation Using the DesignCore® RS-1843A mmWave Radar Sensor Evaluation Kit Application Note 

Pricing and availability 

The DesignCore RS-1843A mmWave Radar Sensor Evaluation Kit is $499 and available for order online at https://store.d3engineering.com/product/designcore-rs-1843a-mmwave-radar-sensor-evaluation-kit/  

About D3 Engineering  

D3 Engineering provides embedded electronic design services and OEM products for original equipment manufacturers in the industrial, transportation, infrastructure and commercial sectors. Using its proven DesignCore platforms and stage-gate development process, D3 Engineering helps its partners minimize the cost, schedule, and technical risks of new product development for performance-critical applications. D3 specializes in Autonomous Systems, Edge AI, and Robotics, Safety and Control solutions. The company provides hardware design, firmware design, validation testing, transition to production, and OEM products. Learn more at www.D3engineering.com.