The RAS radar family’s CFAR “PointCloud” data output is provided as a UDP network stream.

The linux command line application at the download link below allows this UDP output stream to be logged directly to a CSV file for subsequent analysis or processing. As well as logging the range and bearing of each point within the point cloud, the tool logs the magnitude of the radar response, and precise timestamp information.

Alongside the CSV data file containing the data provided over the UDP connection, this tool establishes a TCP/IP connection with the radar to read back the current radar serial number and configuration, storing these in a text file.

Point-cloud Writer

The pointcloud_writer application records navigation point-cloud output from a radar and writes it to a file as comma-separated variables (CSV).
The application also retrieves the radar and navigation configuration and stores it in a name-associated file.

The output from the pointcloud_writer is two files, the configuration and the data. The format of the file is:

YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_<tag>.cfg - configuration
YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_<tag>.csv - data

For example:

20231123_153106_pointcloud.cfg
20231123_153106_pointcloud.csv

The date/time is generated automatically by the application. The <tag> can be specified on the command-line and could be used to identify, for example, a particular radar.

Command-line options for the pointcloud_writer application are as follows:

-i - The TCP address of the radar                                           [default: 192.168.0.1] 
-p - The TCP port of the radar                                              [default: 6317]
-u - The UDP address where point-cloud data is send (usually the host PC)   [default: 127.0.0.1]
-d - The UDP port for point-cloud data                                      [default: 6317]
-f - The file tag for identifying output files                              [default: "pointcloud"]
-m - Turn OFF configuration meta data                                       [default: create radar meta data]

For example:

$ ./pointcloud_writer -i 10.77.2.211 -p 6317 -u 10.77.2.104 -d 6317 -f school_rd 

This will produce two files:

20231123_153106_school_rd.cfg
20231123_153106_school_rd.csv

(NOTE - the date/time will reflect the actual time the application is run!)

$ ./pointcloud_writer -i 10.77.2.211 -p 6317 -u 10.77.2.104 -d 6317 -f school_rd -m 

This will produce only one file:

20231123_153106_school_rd.csv

Running in Windows Subsystem for Linux

to route UDP packets from Windows to wsl

 ou'll also need the sudppipe utility,

Comand line:

sudppipe.exe -b <Windows IP> <WSL IP> <WSL port> <Windows port>

for example:

sudppipe.exe -b 10.77.2.112 172.20.71.120 6320 6317

When you start up the pointcloud_writer, set the UDP port to 6320, not 6317