SPRADU3 August   2026 AWR2188

 

  1.   1
  2.   Abstract
  3. 1Overview
  4. 2AWR2188 + TDA4VEN System Design
    1. 2.1 Applications of AWR2188 Radar Sensor in Automotive Products
    2. 2.2 TDA4VEN Internal Compute Resource Partitioning and Data Flow
    3. 2.3 Data Format and Layout and Raw ADC Data Memory Consumption
  5. 3CSI2-RX Capture Software Module Driver Configuration in Processor RTOS SDK
    1. 3.1 The CSI2-RX software parameters of the TDA4VEN must match the transmission format of the AWR2188 SR2.0
    2. 3.2 How to troubleshoot the TDA4VEN SoC when CSI2-RX does not receive data correctly
  6. 4Test Script Tool
  7. 5References

Abstract

This document was translated from a simplified Chinese source. (ZHCAGA7)

With the wider application and standardization of L2 and higher-level advanced driver assistance systems, high-performance imaging-grade 4D mmWave radar sensors and signal processing algorithms play an increasingly important role. Mainstream 4D forward mmWave radar technology is upgrading from the current 4T4R to the 8T8R, which offers longer range, higher detection speed, and a balance of ultra-high angular resolution and accuracy in both horizontal and vertical directions. However, it also raises challenges for data volume and bandwidth for the system's high-speed digital signal processing, algorithm computing performance, and software design complexity. TI has now released the AWR2188, an industry-leading, highly integrated, automotive-grade RF CMOS 76-to-81GHz mmWave RF transceiver. It allows the implementation of an 8T8R 4D imaging radar front end on a single chip. Its back end can be integrated with a high-performance automotive-grade SoC processor from TI's Jacinto TDA4 family, along with the software Processor RTOS SDK, to deploy lossless radar ADC raw data reception based on the built-in Cortex R5 MCU, achieve signal chain algorithm processing based on the integrated C7 DSP + MMA, and ultimately output dense point clouds with up to thousands of points per frame over high-speed Gigabit Ethernet ports.

This article focuses on the raw ADC data format and layout that the AWR2188 outputs over the CSI2-TX high-speed interface. TDA4VEN, a cost-effective entry-level SoC from TI’s TDA4 processor family, is selected to demonstrate how to configure the CSI2-RX interface for correct capture of lossless ADC data. At the end of the article, the software driver source code is provided to help users more conveniently and quickly set up and debug this most critical link connecting the mmWave radar RF front end and high-performance signal processor SoC.