Courtesy of www.siversima.com
If you are looking for innovative solutions to measure distances or speed, radar sensors might be the right solution for you. With this technology dusty, smoky or foggy environments will not prevent you from getting precise results. With remote sensing you can acquire information about an object without direct contact.
Radar Development Kit gives fast ROI
At Sivers IMA we have extensive experience developing complete Radar solutions and have a portfolio of different FMCW Radar sensors. We have taken our experience and products and packaged it in what we call a Radar Development Kit (RDK). The purpose of this is to simplify the evaluation and implementation of Radar Sensors in your end-user applications, thereby shortening the time to market.
Elaborate, Optimize, Verify and Deploy
The RDK is a platform that provides the user with an easy-to-use system for measuring speed or distance to an object. The RDK is easily installed out-of-the-box and the user can quickly start experimenting and optimizing the right parameters for the targeted object within the detection zone. The measuring ranges for the targeted object can easily be adjusted in the Graphical User Interface. Speed measurement is performed by measuring the Doppler shift of the radar signal. In this mode the radar sends out a fixed frequency signal; an object that moves will create a speed measurement with very good accuracy. Distance measurements are performed using the FMCW principle, where a signal is swept over a frequency range.
The RDK Unit
The RDK consists of a patch antenna array with a 10-degree beam angle, a 24 GHz FMCW Radar front end, and a signal processing board with software. The interface of the RDK unit consists of two analogue output connections and four digital output connections, two digital input connections, 12 V power supply input and USB connectors for a PC with Windows 7 or later. The radar measures speeds of up to 200 km/h and distances up to 100m with an accuracy of 300ppm. Analogue output voltages and digital outputs are available for easy interface to a variety of other systems.
How it works
It’s easy to get started. First you setup the application case you want to evaluate. Secondly you define the parameters you want to measure in the GUI. Once that is done you are ready to start measuring.
Setup and Calibration step-by-step
- Connect the RDK unit to a PC with the included USB cable.
- To calibrate the RDK, set the distance or speed range you want to measure in the GUI
- Depending on the distance to the object you measure, you will get an output analogue signal between 0 – 3.3V.
- For measuring distance 0 V corresponds to the closest distance and 3.3V corresponds to maximum distance.
- For measuring speed 0 V corresponds to the slowest speed and 3.3V to maximum speed.
- Set limits to get digital output signals
- Your RDK is now ready to operate standalone
Standalone operation
The RDK needs to be supplied with 12 Volts. The output signals as per your settings will come from the rear panel interfaces. Digital outputs are mainly used for control interface purposes, i.e. a digital output can be programmed to turn on an indicator lamp or LED, or send a digital signal to another unit when the radar senses a minimum distance to an object. The digital input is used for starting/stopping the radar. The analog outputs provide a voltage proportional to the speed or distance being measured.
The RDK package
The RDK package includes an enclosure with a 24Ghz Radar front-end, antenna, controller board, interface connector and GUI. The delivery also includes one hour training over webinar, one hour on-line support and free e-mail support one week after delivery.
Download RDK Software Package B
Please, read more about Sivers IMA’s radar sensors here: http://siversima.com/products/radar-sensors/