The Twelve of B105: B105 Radar
Posted on by Ramiro Utrilla

Termina febrero y eso significa una nueva entrega de…

theTwelveOfB105

Esta vez nos hemos centrado en la tecnología radar, con la que llevamos ya varios años trabajando. En la actualidad, dentro del proyecto All-in-One, hemos desarrollado varios prototipos de sensores de bajo coste basados en radar.

Nuestro primer prototipo fue la placa RALPH, que nos permitió validar el diseño y desarrollar el grueso del software de procesado para la detección de la velocidad de los vehículos y su conteo. Incluso tuvimos estudiantes que se atrevieron a meterle mano a esta plataforma y mejorar algunos aspectos de la misma.

En una segunda aproximación, se llevó a cabo un esfuerzo importante para optimizar RALPH al máximo en tamaño, coste y utilización de recursos. Así fue como vio la luz ISHTAR, nuestro nodo sensor radar que, por cierto, utiliza YetiOS como soporte para todo el software. Esta plataforma ha sido probada y validada múltiples veces en entornos reales.

YetiRadar

 

 

Nuevamente nos despedimos con la esperanza de que nuestros twelve os entusiasmen tanto como a nosotros, y que os permitan conocer mejor todo lo que hacemos por si os interesa uniros y participar de ello. Pincha aquí si quieres ver otros meses.

Si encuentras interesante toda esta información, no dudes en seguirnos en las redes sociales para mantenerte informado.

¡Hasta el mes que viene!

Concedidos todos los Trabajos Fin de Titulación
Posted on by araujo

Como siempre en el B105 apostamos fuerte por la docencia de calidad. Este año, una vez más, habéis confiado en nosotros y hemos cubierto TODAS las plazas de Trabajo Fin de Titulación ofertadas. Esperamos que cumpláis vuestras expectativas y recordad “Research to learn, learn to teach, teach to push society forward”.

Este curso somos:

Alumno – Tutor

Victor Garvin – Franscisco Tirado
Rosa Pita – Roberto Rodríguez
Óscar Iglesias – Ramiro Utrilla
Jaime Soler – José Martín
Javier Pomeda – Roberto Rodríguez
Javier González – Guillermo Jara
Iván Duque – Alvaro Araujo
Hector Carretero – Francisco Tirado
Carlos del Valle – Guillermo Jara
Ainhoa Seisdedos – Francisco Tirado
Agustín Riscos – Alba Rozas
Adrián Sánchez – Roberto Rodríguez
Ildefonso Áspera – Francisco Tirado/Roberto Rodríguez
David Gil – Alba Rozas
Raquel García – Guillermo Jara
Sezgin Ibramov – José Martín
Denica Dimitrova – Guillermo Jara
Yanqing Wang – Ramiro Utrilla

Alda Martín (Cátedra BQ) – Alvaro Araujo/Ramiro Utrilla
Guillermo Ojeda – Alvaro Araujo
Fernando Martínez – Alvaro Araujo
Jose Antonio Moral – Alvaro Araujo
Agoney Moreno (Cátedra Kairos) – Octavio Nieto-Taladriz

Gracias a todos por vuestro esfuerzo!

 

 

 

B105 Radar Sensor Developments: Software
Posted on by Roberto Rodríguez

 

The radar platform developed in B105 Electronic Systems Lab contains a microcontroller which process the I and Q signals adapted from the radar transceiver in order to obtain targets information -speed and distance-. The microcontroller used is a low-power STM32L496 that has a DSP module and enough RAM to perform processing tasks. It runs at 48 MHz and has low-power mode, which allows using our platform in battery-powered Wireless Sensor Networks applications.

The software developed in the microcontroller uses the YetiOS operating system which has also been developed in B105 Electronic Systems Lab and is based on well-known FreeRTOS. The architecture of the radar processing module is composed by two tasks:

  • Acquisition and Generation Task. This task is responsible of taking samples from the ADC and generating signals using the DAC synchronously. Both acquisition and generation is done using DMA, so other tasks -such as processing one- could run while taking samples.
  • Processing Task. This task provides the processed information -speed and distance of targets- to the final user. The acquired signal is filtered so the information in undesired frequency bands is eliminated. Besides, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is performed in order to obtain the signals in the frequency domain. Then an OS-CFAR algorithm is applied to select the frequency peaks corresponding to targets, and the targets are selected based on signal levels and SNR ratio.

We have tested the complete radar system in real scenarios and we can process each 128 samples signal in 15 ms. That means that our radar sensor provides distance and speed information with a rate higher to 60 samples per second.

Finally, we have developed an user interface which allows us testing different configuration and the behaviour of the radar sensor on different scenarios.

 

Radar SW

B105 Radar Sensor Developments: Hardware
Posted on by Roberto Rodríguez

 

Low-cost radar transceivers such as RFbeam ones allows using radar sensors in several applications where cost is an important constraint. However they need a hardware platform to work properly. Therefore, in B105 Electronic Systems Lab we have designed and implemented a hardware platform that allows obtaining using radar sensors in Doppler operating mode and FMCW operating mode.

The platform developed is low-sized and resource-constraint which allows using it in Wireless Sensor Networks applications in battery powered nodes. The hardware modules of the designed system are described below:

  • Power Source. Probably one of the most importan parts of the system as it must provide power to the radar transceiver and to the analog adaptation modules. The power source must provide 12 V, 5 V and 3.3 V for proper radar operation, and these sources must be highly noiseless to enchance radar performance.
  • Radar Transceiver. The main component of the radar sensor is the transceiver which sends and receive radar signals. K-LC5 and K-LC6 radar transceivers from RFbeam may be used, providing I and Q IF signals, and a VCO pin for FMCW operation.
  • Signal Adaptation Module. Signal adaptation is necessary to process radar I and Q signals and obtain information from them. An amplification stage, a low-pass filter and a high-pass filter are used in this module. Besides, a single-ended to differential stage is also used to improve signal acquisition.
  • Signal Acquisition. An ADC is used to digitalize the analog signals so they can be processed. The ADC used can be sigma-delta or SAR, with the higher resolution possible (12 to 16 bits), and with speeds from 10 KHz to 1 MHz. In our platform, the acquisition is done by the main microcontroller.
  • Signal Generation.  A DAC is used to generate the signals to modulate the radar transceiver through its VCO pin. Besides, an adaptation stage is implemented to provide adequated modulation signals to the radar transceivers. The DAC used in our platform is integrated in the main microcontroller.
  • Processing Unit. A microcontroller is needed to process the acquired signals and obtain information from them. In our design a low-power STM32L496 microcontroller is used.

Radar HW

 

B105 Radar Sensor Developments
Posted on by Roberto Rodríguez

 

Radar technology is a well-known field used since 1940s. This technology has been traditionally applied in military and aerospace fields while it has not been highly exploited in civil applications. However, in the last years, radar transceivers cost-reduction and miniaturization have allowed its application in other fields such as traffic and vehicular safety.

These low-cost radar sensors uses the Doppler effect to obtain information about obstacles or targets in its range. The radar transmits a signal and the frequency shift of the returned signal provides the velocity of the moving targets. There are two main operating modes for these radar sensors:

  • Unmodulated Doppler radar. This operating mode is the most commonly used. The hardware and processing software needed is quite simple which allows using these sensors in size-constraint and resource-contraint devices. However, they only provide velocity information of moving objects in its range. That means that static objects are missed, the distance of the objects cannot be obtained, and two objects moving at the same velocity will be detected as one.
  • Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar. This operating mode is used to obtain the distance of static and moving objects. The radar signal is frequency modulated -usually with a frequency ramp- to allow obtaining distances and velocities from the returning signal frequency shift. Thereby, it is necessary to generate a signal to realize the frequency modulation which increases the hardware complexity. Besides, the software processing is harder as there are much more information to process and there are more noise sources from unwanted environment targets.

In B105 Electronic Systems Lab we have developed a full radar system that can operate in both modes and includes all the hardware and the software necessary. This radar system is being used for traffic safety and traffic monitoring applications in several research projects.