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CN0566 Real-time data processing and beamforming control to track targets

		
	
				

			

									
					    HelloQiLin
					
							


			
				
									
											
			
			
				
    
			
			
			    	
			                    
                
				                on Oct 17, 2025 
				
			
			
		
    
		
		                    	    
    
        	    
    Thread Summary
    
                The user inquires about real-time beam control for human or drone tracking using the CN0566 phased array radar, facing delays due to processing times. The final answer suggests using GNURadio with a remote host computer instead of a Raspberry Pi to handle the data processing, noting the USB connection as a bandwidth limitation for the PlutoSDR. The user can also disconnect the PlutoSDR and use their own SDR by carefully managing the U.FL RX connectors on the phaser board.
                        	    
    
                
                     AI Generated Content
                
    	    
    
             
				
        		
    
		    
		    		    
    
		      		            		        
    Category: Hardware
    
    		        		            		    
    Product Number:  CN0566 
    
    		        		    		    
    
		    		    
		    			
    
			    
    Dear Professor, 
    

    Hello. I have encountered the following issue using the CN0566 phased array radar: when I track a human or a drone, I want to control the beam direction using the latest data instead of processing after data acquisition. However, the processing time inevitably takes a long time. In the example code, the sum-difference beam tracking is in the time domain, but when detecting a human or a drone, it is necessary to perform a range FFT, and if needed, also a range-Doppler FFT. Therefore, in practice, only data from a long time ago can be processed each time, and the angle data after processing, when used for current beamforming, is already outdated. Given all this, does your hardware setup make it impossible to achieve real-time beam control for human or drone tracking tasks and only allow observation via range-Doppler?
    
			
    
			
									    
    
			        
    Edit Notes
    
    				Corrected a grammatical error
    
[edited by: HelloQiLin at 3:47 AM (GMT -4) on 18 Oct 2025]
				
    
						
		                             
                        

    
    
                                            
                 pluto sdr
                
                                                    
                 hardware
                
                                                    
                 cn0566
                
                                                    
                 CN0566 Phaser
                
                                
            
    
    
    
		
    

				
				        
        		
    
			
						
									
												
			
			
                        
                                    
                        
                        
                        
            
			            
						
						
			
			
			
			
		
    

        
        
        
    
					
    
			
    


    
















    
	
    
	
    
					



			


				
	









	
      
	

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      •  Analog Employees  
      
            
						
                            
            
            				
            
                on Oct 19, 2025 11:04 AM
            
            
						
			            		
      
		
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      Hi  ,
      

      It is certainly possible to improve upon the software examples provided with the phaser - we provide a baseline set of examples to facilitate the exercises in the lab manual, further experimentation and development is up to the user.
      

      GNURadio might be able to help you out here, but you might want to connect the PlutoSDR to a remote host computer, rather than the Raspberry Pi, due to its limited power. Also connect the Raspberry Pi to the remote host via wired Ethernet - the Raspberry Pi's only job then is to control the PLL and beamformers.
      

      Note that the limiting factor for the PlutoSDR's data bandwidth is the USB connection, see:
      

       Maximum Continuously Receiving Sample Rate of Pluto SDR 
      

      You can also disconnect the Pluto entirely, and use your own SDR - just carefully disconnect the U.FL RX connectors from the phaser board, and connect your device.
      

      -Mark
      
			
      

		
			
	      

		
		
	
      
	
      
		
      
			
		
      
	
      
	
      
		
						
						
						
						
				
				
		
		
      
			
		
      
	
      

      

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                on Oct 24, 2025 10:41 PM
            
            
												
						in reply to MarkThoren
					
										
			                            
                     Contains AI Generated Content
                
            		
        
		
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        Best wishes, and thank you very much! 
        I am now much faster when connected to the computer！ However, there is still one issue that confuses me greatly: when the interval between each acquisition is too short, the amplitude sometimes becomes unstable. Even if I unplug the transmitting antenna, it still happens. Specifically, I set the ramp_time to 300 microseconds, the rest time to 200 microseconds, the sampling rate to 1e6, and for each loop, I send and receive 32 chirps for cyclic acquisition. But I found that sometimes the amplitude of all 32 chirps suddenly becomes very large. This also happens even when the transmitting antenna is unplugged. However, if I add some delay between each loop acquisition, the sudden amplitude increase does not occur. Therefore, it should be caused by the internal hardware, right? But I want to understand why this happens. I look forward to your help in resolving my confusion. Thank you very much!
        

        The following is the result of flickering. When I unplug the transmitting antenna and continuously transmit and receive 32 chirps, flickering occurs randomly, and the amplitude suddenly increases.
        

         
        
			
        

		
			
	      

		
		
	
        
	
        
		
        
			
		
        
	
        
	
        
		
						
						
				
						
				
				
		
		
        
			
		
        
	
        

        

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