Mv series camera appnotes 4 jetson
1 Overview
The MV series cameras are cameras introduced for AI applications in the industrial field. It uses the MIPI CSI-2 interface, which is especially suitable for embedded computing platforms.
It features rich data formats and trigger characteristics, extremely low latency, extremely high bandwidth and reliable stability.
This article describes how to use the MV series camera on the NVIDIA Jetson platform.
1.1 Camera Module List
| Series | Model | Status |
|---|---|---|
| MV series | MV-MIPI-IMX178M | Done |
1.2 Jetson Board List
| Jetson Board | Status |
|---|---|
| Nano A02 | Done |
| Nano B01 | Done |
| Nano 2GB | Done |
| TX2 NX | Done |
| XAVIER NX | Done |
| TX2 Devkit | Coming soon |
| AGX Xavier | Coming soon |
| Orin Series | Coming soon |
1.3 Supported L4T versions
- Jetpack4.6.1,L4T r32.7.1
1.3.1 How to check the current L4T version
On Jetson board
cat /etc/nv_tegra_release
If it shows:
# R32 (release), REVISION: 7.1......
It means L4t Version is 32.7.1, and the Jetpack version is 4.6.1.
2 Hardware Setup
MV series cameras require an adapter board to access the Jetson platform. The following table shows the support status.
| Jetson Board | adapter board | camera number | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano A02 | ADP-MV1 | 1 | 5V DC（Required） |
| Nano B01 | ADP-MV1 | 1 | 5V DC（Required） |
| Nano 2GB | ADP-MV1 | 2 | 5V DC（Required） |
| TX2 NX | ADP-MV1 | 2 | 5V DC（Required） |
| XAVIER NX | ADP-MV1 | 2 | 5V DC（Required） |
| TX2 Devkit | ADP-N4 | 6 | 12V DC (Optional) |
| AGX Xavier | ADP-N4 | 6 | 12V DC (Optional) |
| Orin series | TODO | TODO | TODO |
2.1 Connection of MV-MIPI-IMX178M and ADP-MV1
The two are connected using 0.5 mm pitch*30P FFC cable with opposite direction. The cable must be inserted with the silver contacts facing outside.
2.2 Connection using ADP-MV1 (using Xavier NX as an example)
2.2.1 Power supply
The ADP-MV1 requires a separate 5V power supply and can be powered directly from the Jetson board using a Dupont cable.
2.3 Connection using ADP-MV1
The Nano Series and NX Series are connected in this way.
2.4 Connection using ADP-N4
The AGX Series and TX2 Devkit are connected in this way.
TODO
3 Upgrade Jetson system
This section describes how to upgrade the Jetson system to support MV camera module. For OS update method, please refer to Update Jetson OS.
Specially, for MV series camera, besides adding the camera driver in Linux system, we also add a kernel patch - veye_mv_l4t_32.7.1.patch.
This patch has two features：
- Added support for both Y10 and Y12 data formats for Mono cameras.
- Added support for trigger mode.
3.1 Description of raw data image format
On TX2 and XAVIER, 10 bit depth and 12 bit depth raw data is stored in memory in a format that is not compliant with the V4L2 standard. We have extended the definition in the linux kernel to support this case.
TY10, TY12, XY10 and XY12 are the new types we have added.
3.1.1 Nano
| Depth | Bit order | FourCC | Enumerator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 | GREY | V4L2_PIX_FMT_GREY |
| 10 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 | 'Y10 ' | V4L2_PIX_FMT_Y10 |
| 12 | 0 0 0 0 B11 B10 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 | 'Y12 ' | V4L2_PIX_FMT_Y12 |
3.1.2 TX2
| Depth | Bit order (X is undefined) | FourCC | Enumerator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 | GREY | V4L2_PIX_FMT_GREY |
| 10 | 0 0 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 X X X X | TY10 | V4L2_PIX_FMT_TX2_Y10 |
| 12 | 0 0 B11 B10 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 X X | TY12 | V4L2_PIX_FMT_TX2_Y12 |
3.1.3 XAVIER
| Depth | Bit order (X is undefined) | FourCC | Enumerator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 | GREY | V4L2_PIX_FMT_GREY |
| 10 | 0 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 X X X X X | XY10 | V4L2_PIX_FMT_XAVIER_Y10 |
| 12 | 0 B11 B10 B9 B8 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 X X X | XY12 | V4L2_PIX_FMT_XAVIER_Y12 |
Also, we provide tool software in order to convert these special data formats to standard formats: https://github.com/veyeimaging/pixel_layer_convert.
We recommend using vooya as the player.
3.1.4 Support for trigger mode
The default driver for Jetson systems only supports video streaming mode. In its VI driver, the data reception function has a timeout mechanism. We have added a settable vi_time_out_disable option to dynamically turn this timeout mechanism on and off.
Refer to the following application example for specific applications.
4 Check system status
After system update, reboot the Jetson board.
During the Jetson system boot process, it detects the presence of cameras on all i2c buses and generates the /dev/videoX device node if it exists.
Execute the following command on the Jetson board to check if the camera is properly connected.
dmesg | grep mvcam
You can see the camera model and the camera version number probed.
A prompt as below indicates that the MV-MIPI-IMX178M camera is detected on the i2c-10 bus.
mvcam 10-003b: camera is: MV-MIPI-IMX178M
mvcam 10-003b: firmware version: 0x1080103
4.1 /dev/videoX node
The camera module is mapped as /dev/videoX device node in the Jetson system.
During the OS boot process, the cameras are detected in the order of the i2c bus. The X value is incremented from 0 according to the logical order of detection.
For instance, if only one camera is connected, X is 0 regardless of the location to which the hardware is connected. If 5 cameras are connected, X is [0-4] according to i2c bus from smallest to largest.
The v4l2-ctl command uses -d /dev/videoX to access different cameras.
In gstreamer, v4l2src can access different cameras by specifying device=/dev/videoX.
5 v4l2-ctl Application Examples
5.1 Install v4l2-utils
sudo apt-get install v4l-utils
5.2 Install yavta
git clone git://git.ideasonboard.org/yavta.git
cd yavta;make
5.3 Configure parameters using v4l2-ctl
5.3.1 List the data formats supported by the camera
v4l2-ctl --list-formats-ext
The following is an example in the XAVIER system：
ioctl: VIDIOC_ENUM_FMT
Index : 0
Type : Video Capture
Pixel Format: 'UYVY'
Name : UYVY 4:2:2
Size: Discrete 3088x2064
Interval: Discrete 0.045s (22.000 fps)
Index : 1
Type : Video Capture
Pixel Format: 'NV16'
Name : Y/CbCr 4:2:2
Size: Discrete 3088x2064
Interval: Discrete 0.045s (22.000 fps)
Index : 2
Type : Video Capture
Pixel Format: 'GREY'
Name : 8-bit Greyscale
Size: Discrete 3088x2064
Interval: Discrete 0.045s (22.000 fps)
Index : 3
Type : Video Capture
Pixel Format: 'XY10'
Name : XAVIER 10-bit/16-bit Greyscale
Size: Discrete 3088x2064
Interval: Discrete 0.045s (22.000 fps)
Index : 4
Type : Video Capture
Pixel Format: 'XY12'
Name : XAVIER 12-bit/16-bit Greyscale
Size: Discrete 3088x2064
Interval: Discrete 0.045s (22.000 fps)
It should be noted that the UYVY and NV16 modes provided by the MV series cameras are for debugging purposes only and the maximum width cannot exceed 2880.
5.3.2 List the configurable parameters of the camera implemented in the driver
v4l2-ctl -L
User Controls
horizontal_flip 0x00980914 (bool) : default=0 value=0
vertical_flip 0x00980915 (bool) : default=0 value=0
trigger_mode 0x00981901 (int) : min=0 max=2 step=1 default=0 value=0 flags=volatile, execute-on-write
trigger_src 0x00981902 (int) : min=0 max=1 step=1 default=1 value=1 flags=volatile, execute-on-write
soft_trgone 0x00981903 (button) : flags=write-only, execute-on-write
frame_rate 0x00981904 (int) : min=1 max=22 step=1 default=22 value=22 flags=volatile, execute-on-write
roi_x 0x00981905 (int) : min=0 max=2712 step=8 default=0 value=0
roi_y 0x00981906 (int) : min=0 max=1744 step=4 default=0 value=0
Camera Controls
low_latency_mode 0x009a206d (bool) : default=0 value=0
preferred_stride 0x009a206e (int) : min=0 max=65535 step=1 default=0 value=0
vi_time_out_disable 0x009a2078 (bool) : default=0 value=0
Parameters can be set and get using the following methods.
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl [ctrl_type]=[val]
v4l2-ctl --get-ctrl [ctrl_type]
All the above functions can be implemented using mv_mipi_i2c.sh.
None of the above parameters can be modified in the state when the image acquisition is started.
Each of them is described below:
5.3.3 horizontal and vertical flip
- horizontal flip
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl horizontal_flip=1
- vertical flip
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl vertical_flip=1
5.3.4 Trigger Mode
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl trigger_mode=[0-2]
0：Video streaming mode
1：Normal trigger mode.
2：High-speed continuous trigger mode.
5.3.5 Trigger Source
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl trigger_src=[0-1]
0: Software trigger mode.
1: Hardware trigger mode.
5.3.6 Software trigger command
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl soft_trgone=1
5.3.7 Set frame rate
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl frame_rate=[1-max]
The maximum frame rate is automatically updated as the resolution changed.
5.3.8 Set ROI and pixel format
For example, for MV-MIPI-IMX178M:
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl roi_x=0
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl roi_y=0
v4l2-ctl --set-fmt-video=width=3088,height=2064,pixelformat=GREY
The maximum frame rate will be adjusted automatically after setting ROI. Please note that the camera roi parameters need to comply with the requirements in the camera manual.
5.3.9 preferred_stride