Part Number: IWR6843ISK
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MMWAVEICBOOST, , MMWAVE-SDK
Hardware: IWR6843ISK (custom carrier board, no MMWAVEICBOOST)
Silicon revision: ES2.0 (IWR68XX QM non-secure ES 02.00)
SDK: MMWAVE-SDK 3.6.0.00
Demo: Modified Out-of-Box (OOB) Demo
System configuration:
- Power supply: External 5V/3A power adapter -> custom carrier board -> IWR6843ISK
- UART baud rate: 115200 for both config port and data output port
- Serial terminal: XCOM v2.6
- CLI command interval: 300ms between commands, no additional delay
- Issue frequency: ~10% of cold boots
- Firmware version:
Platform : xWR68xx
mmWave SDK Version : 03.06.00.00
Device Info : IWR68XX QM non-secure ES 02.00
RF F/W Version : 06.03.02.06.20.08.11
mmWaveLink Version : 01.02.06.06
Observed Behavior (only on first cold boot, initial configuration attempt):
- Normal case (90%): After each CLI command, the device returns "Done" then "mmwDemo:/>". Radar runs normally and outputs data.
- Failure case (10%): The last command of the configuration file (`sensorStart`) triggers the issue. After sending `sensorStart`, the device returns:
"Debug: Init Calibration Status = 0x1ffe"
"Done"
Then the prompt appears truncated as "mmwDem" (missing "o:/>") — only partial characters are printed. After this, the device becomes completely unresponsive. No further CLI commands are accepted, and no radar data is output. A full power cycle is required to recover.
What I have tried so far:
- Verified power supply meets IWR6843ISK requirements (using 5V/3A adapter).
- Verified correct SOP mode and reset sequence.
- Cannot test with another IWR6843ISK board (only one unit).
- Attempted fixes already implemented:
1. Increased CLI task stack size appropriately.
2. Added DPM counter forced clear on boot.
3. Reduced frame structure bits as much as possible.
My modifications to the OOB Demo:
1. DSS side: Added custom code to calculate golf swing parameters (club speed, impact metrics, etc.) based on the point cloud data.
2. MSS side: Commented out the original UART output code and wrote new code that only outputs a custom frame format: "Magic Word + Golf Parameters + Tail Marker". This custom data is transmitted via UART.
3. Inter-core communication: The golf parameters computed on DSS are transferred to MSS via the payload in the HSRAM (shared memory).
4. Configuration file: I am using my own custom configuration file (not the default OOB one).
Questions:
1. Is this a known issue with MMWAVE-SDK 3.6.0.00 on IWR6843ISK (ES2.0) with a modified OOB demo?
2. Could the 115200 baud rate cause UART buffer overrun or timing issues that lead to the CLI task hanging on the first boot?
3. Are there any known differences in boot-up behavior between the standard OOB demo and a modified version that might trigger this problem?
4. Is there any known issue with APLL calibration during cold start that could lead to intermittent hang? I noticed this was improved in SDK 3.1.1.2, but my SDK is 3.6.0.00.
Debugging assistance needed:
- What additional debugging steps can I take to capture the root cause?
- Are there any specific error codes or registers I can read to determine why the CLI task stops responding?
Thank you for your support.
