Distance2go recorded data and Matlab

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User16262
Level 1
Level 1
First question asked First reply posted
I've been playing with a Distance2go board, and would like to process data through Matlab.
When I record data I can read it into Matlab, but then I'm not sure what I'm looking at!

For example, if I record Time domain data, the help file says its I and Q signals, but the data recorded as a string of complex numbers, so I'm not sure how this relates to time domain data

Can anyone explain this, maybe with an example of how to process it?
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User15583
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First solution authored 10 replies posted 5 replies posted
If you want to work with the IQ data then you need to do FFT and further calculations to get the range to a target. In general, I data is the real part and Q data is the imaginary part.

You don't need to record the data with the Radar GUI and process it in MATLAB afterwards. You can also work with the IQ data there, see the demo MATLAB file for more information. This file also has the ability to do all the calculations internally (via the microcontroller firmware) so you can work directly with the target information like range and level e.g.
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User16262
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Thank you for your reply

I guess I'm not as advanced as that as I still don;t know exactly what the IQ data represents in this case. Can you explain what I would have to do to get anything useful from the IQ data.
I understand that the I is real and the Q is imaginary, but I don't understand what its representing. They can be the two parts of a modulation scheme but this requires a fixed frequency term to apply to the I and Q to get the modulated carrier. I was expecting to see IF data against time, where the IF is the frequency difference between the transmitted carrier and the received carrier.

So in short, what is the general principle needed to get something useful out of the IQ data such as range, and what actually does the IQ data represent in this case?

Can you tell me where to get the Matlab file from so I can have a look at what it is doing (sorry if its a stupid question!)
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User16262
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Level 1
First question asked First reply posted
Found the Matlab file (it was a stupid question)
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