SPRACV2 November   2020 AWR1843 , AWR2243

 

  1.   Trademarks
  2. 1Introduction
    1. 1.1 Background – Simple Single-Chip Applications
  3. 2Cascade Incoherence Sources and Mitigation Strategies
    1. 2.1 PCB Routing Imbalances and Device Processes
    2. 2.2 Temperature Drifts
    3. 2.3 Scheduling of Run Time Calibrations
  4. 3Enabling Cascade Coherence and Improved Phase Performance
    1. 3.1 High-Level Summary
      1. 3.1.1 Sequence of Proposed Steps and Introductory Flow Diagrams
    2. 3.2 Saving RF INIT Calibration Results at Customer Factory
      1. 3.2.1 Note on LODIST Calibration
      2. 3.2.2 TX Phase Shifter Calibration and Saving Results at Customer Factory
    3. 3.3 Corner Reflector-Based Offsets Measurement at Customer Factory
      1. 3.3.1 Corner Reflector-Based Inter-Channel Imbalances
      2. 3.3.2 Corner Reflector-Based TX Phase Shifter Errors
    4. 3.4 Restoring Customer Calibration Results In-Field
      1. 3.4.1 Restore RF INIT Calibrations Results In-Field
      2. 3.4.2 Restore TX Phase Shift Calibration Results In-Field
    5. 3.5 Host-Based Temperature Calibrations In-Field
      1. 3.5.1 Disabling AWR Devices’ Autonomous Run Time Calibrations
      2. 3.5.2 Enabling Host-Based Temperature Calibrations of Inter-Channel Imbalances
      3. 3.5.3 Switching of DSP Imbalance Data
      4. 3.5.4 Enabling TX Phase Shifter’s Host-Based Temperature Calibrations
        1. 3.5.4.1 Estimating TX Phase Shift Values at Any Temperature
        2. 3.5.4.2 Temperature Correction LUTs for AWR1843TX Phase Shifter
        3. 3.5.4.3 Temperature Correction LUTs for AWR2243 TX Phase Shifter
        4. 3.5.4.4 Restoring TX Phase Shift Values – Format Conversion
        5. 3.5.4.5 Restoring TX Phase Shift Values – Transition Timing and Constraints
        6. 3.5.4.6 Typical Post-Calibration TX Phase Shifter Accuracies
        7. 3.5.4.7 Correcting for Temperature Drift While Sweeping Across Phase Settings
        8. 3.5.4.8 Amplitude Stability Across Phase Shifter Settings
        9. 3.5.4.9 Impact of Customer PCB’s 20-GHz Sync Path Attenuation on TX Phase Shifters
      5. 3.5.5 Ambient and Device Temperatures
  5. 4Concept Illustrations
  6. 5Miscellaneous (Interference, Gain Variation, Sampling Jitter)
    1. 5.1 Handling Interference In-Field
    2. 5.2 Information on TX Power and RX Gain Drift with Temperature
    3. 5.3 Jitter Between Chirp Start and ADC Sampling Start
  7. 6Conclusion
  8.   A Appendix
    1.     A.1 Terminology
    2.     A.2 References
    3.     A.3 Flow Diagrams for Proposed Cascade Coherence Scheme
    4.     A.4 LUTs for TX Phase Shifter Temperature Drift Mitigation
    5.     A.5 Circular Shift of TX Phase Shifter Calibration Data Save and Restore APIs

1.1 Background – Simple Single-Chip Applications

In single chip usage context, in interference-free environments, all self-calibrations can be enabled, including the RF INIT calibrations and Run Time calibrations. Typically, the host is expected to trigger RF INIT calibrations once at the beginning of each power cycle. The host also enables run-time calibrations by configuring the device to self-trigger calibration updates at a configurable periodicity (for example, once in N number of frames, amounting to ~1 second). The device then schedules auto-periodic calibrations, with a 10°C hysteresis to avoid unnecessary successive retriggers. Alternately, the host may also explicitly trigger Run Time calibration after it senses a significant temperature change (for example, ~30°C).

These calibrations do not disturb any inter-channel imbalances in single-chip context due to inherent channel matching within each device. But the situation is different in cascade systems and in advanced single-chip usages. In cascade usage, this note provides guidelines to mitigate process and temperature variation effects without disturbing inter-channel imbalances. This note also provides guidelines to enable advanced single chip usages that desire stability of radar return signal’s absolute phase over time across frames.

Further, in typical automotive usages, where interference from other radars can be expected, some of these calibrations are discouraged to be used in field, to avoid interference corrupted calibration results. The recommendations in this note avoid running in-field those RF INIT or Run Time calibrations that are susceptible to interference corruption. Instead, some calibration procedures in interference-free customer factory (one time per device) and other temperature adjustment procedures in-field are recommended.

TX phase shifter accuracies can also be improved with similar calibration approaches. These are relevant in interference and cascade contexts.