kamtar / dw1000

DecaWave DW1000 Linux kernel driver

Overview

The DecaWave DW1000 is an IEEE 802.15.4 ultra-wideband (UWB) radio chip, capable of timestamping received and transmitted packets with a nominal resolution of 64GHz (15ps). This equates to a distance of around 0.5cm, allowing the DW1000 to be used to construct a viable indoor positioning system. (Note that sub-centimetre resolution is extremely unlikely to be achieved in practice.)

This repository contains a Linux kernel module for the DecaWave DW1000 radio chip, and a reference design for a Raspberry Pi Hat PCB based around the DWM1000 module. The total material cost in single-unit quantities is around $30-$50 per board (including the manufacture of the PCB itself).

Build instructions

On your Raspberry Pi, install the most recent kernel along with the corresponding kernel headers:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel raspberrypi-kernel-headers

If necessary, reboot to ensure that you are running the correct kernel version:

sudo reboot

Build and install the kernel module(s):

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux rpi/kernel/linux
KBUILD=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
make -C ${KBUILD} M=`pwd`/rpi/kernel
sudo make -C ${KBUILD} M=`pwd`/rpi/kernel modules_install
sudo depmod -a

Install the udev and ifupdown configuration files:

sudo make -C rpi/config install

Retrigger udev to detect the DW1000:

sudo udevadm trigger

List your network devices:

ip addr

You should see two interfaces: wpan0 and lowpan0. For example:

wpan0: <BROADCAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 123 state UNKNOWN
 link/ieee802.15.4 70:b3:d5:b1:e0:00:00:02 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
lowpan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1280 state UNKNOWN
 link/6lowpan 70:b3:d5:b1:e0:00:00:02 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
 inet6 fe80::72b3:d5b1:e000:2/64 scope link
    valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Congratulations; you now have a working DW1000 network interface!