DWM1000 to DWM3000 migration

Wireless Connectivity Ultra-Wideband
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1

Hello

We currently use the DWM1000 in a TWR application and have many thousands deployed in field. We would like to take advantage of the DWM3000 and upgrade our current product lines, but it needs to maintain compatibility with the existing DWM1000 solution. Is there an API migration guide from the DWM1000 to the DWM3000?

I have attempted to get the DWM3000 working by dropping in the DWM3000 API and updating API calls where required, however I cannot get comms working between the DWM3000 and an existing working DWM1000. Are there common issues I can look for?

Thank you
Justin

1 Like
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I have found the cause of this issue. DWM3000 only supports channel 5 and 9 and not channels 1 to 7 inclusive. Our DWM1000 solution uses channel 2, making communication between the DWM1000 and DWM3000 impossible. If I modify the DWM1000 to use channel 5, the systems communicate correctly.

Is it possible for the DWM3000 to support other channels in the future?

Thanks
Justin

3

Channels 1-4 are in a different frequency band, they are around 4 GHz, channel 5 is around 6.5 GHz. I think the chances of a change to include support for such a significantly different frequency in the future is highly unlikely.

4

Hi,
DW3000 is backward compatible with DW1000. But only when using channel 5 and for data rates of 6.8 Mb/s and 850 kb/s.

DW3000 supports Ch5 and Ch9 , So Ch5 is the common channel between DW1000 and DW3000.

5

Hi Just,

Also note:

  • The DWM3000 is footprint and size compatible with the DWM1000
  • The DWM3000 is not register compatible with the DWM1000. It uses it’s own API, we do not have an API that works on both the DW1000 and DW3000, but porting DW1000 code to to the DW3000 is fairly straight forward (unless DW1000 specific features are used).

And no, we don’t have any plans to support other channels on the DWM3000.

6

Hi Seppe

Yes I replaced a DWM1000 with a DWM3000 on one of our existing designs, dropped in the DWM3000 API and got it communicating with a DWM1000 on channel 5.

Thanks
Justin

8

Hello.

I have a problem with my RTLS system with hundreds of DW1000 tags that have been deployed several years ago that i now have to extend with a new batch of tags but this time with DW3000 chip. The old tags have the following UWB radio configuration:

/**
 * Long range, low throughput configuration
 */
#define CONFIG_CHANNEL_DEFAULT_VALUE            5
#define CONFIG_PRF_DEFAULT_VALUE                DWT_PRF_16M
#define CONFIG_PREAMBLE_LENGTH_DEFAULT_VALUE    DWT_PLEN_2048
#define CONFIG_RX_PAC_SIZE_DEFAULT_VALUE        DWT_PAC64
#define CONFIG_TX_CODE_DEFAULT_VALUE            3
#define CONFIG_RX_CODE_DEFAULT_VALUE            3
#define CONFIG_NS_SFD_DEFAULT_VALUE             1
#define CONFIG_DATA_RATE_DEFAULT_VALUE          DWT_BR_110K
#define CONFIG_PHR_MODE_DEFAULT_VALUE           DWT_PHRMODE_STD
#define CONFIG_SFDTO_MODE_DEFAULT_VALUE         (2048 + 1 + 64 - 64)

The problem is to fine tune the configuration for DW3000 that works with the above config that has been initially put on both tags and anchors (with DW1000 on board) deployed in the past. Now the DW3000 driver does not have some of the values that were available in the DW1000 driver, like e.g. the 110kb/s data rate.

While I can easily update UWB configuration on the anchor devices to work with DW3000 I cannot really consider reconfiguring all the old tags because it would require significant effort and also significant struggle for the venue which I want to avoid.

What are my options? I would appreciate your support. Thank you.

9

Your DW1000 configuration is incomplatible with the DW3000. Getting them to interact with the current settings is not going to happen. 4 options I can think of:

  1. reprogram everything to be compatible.
  2. install a second set of anchors that use a DW3000 compatible configuration. New installs would only need these, old installs you end up with double the number of anchors for compatibility.
  3. Anchors toggle between legacy and DW3000 compatible modes spending half the time in each. This will cause drop outs in the coverage since any given tag can only be tracked 50% of the time at most. How practical this is would depend on your system design and application.
  4. Continue to use the DW1000, it’s still avalible so there is no need to switch unless you require something it offers that the DW1000 doesn’t.