5. Setup: VC MIPI Module on a Raspberry Pi

Table of Contents

1. Overview

2. Hardware Setup

3. Software Setup

4. Troubleshooting and Background Information

1 Overview

Open

Overview of relevant components excluding power supply, monitor, USB keyboard, cables

Open

The power supply must at least provide 2.5A at 5V.

2 Hardware Setup

2.1 Hardware Pre-Check: Install Raspberry Pi OS

First step is to install Raspberry Pi OS from

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/

The driver is compatible with kernel versions 5.4, 5.10, 5.15, 6.1 and 6.6 (32-bit and 64-bit), so download the appropriate Raspberry Pi OS version. Raspberry Pi OS Buster Lite is sufficient, and this guide expects this version to be installed not only for the framebuffer output handling.

For more installation instructions see the Raspberry Pi OS Installation Manual; the procedure depends on the platform type where the OS is going to be installed.

The display shows a login prompt after successful installation. If this is not the case, you have to check your Raspberry Pi OS installation. The most relevant information to succeed can be found at the Raspberry Pi OS website or on the web.

2.2 Connect the MIPI module

The ends of the MIPI module connector cable is marked with the hardware to connect to. Open the socket connectors first by raising their lid, insert the cable and press their lid back when mounted correctly. You should then not be able to pull the cable out.

The socket type is also not protected against wrong orientation, so compare your setup to the figures below before switching the power on.

There may be a dust prevention sticker at the socket named CAMERA at the raspberryPi, remove it first. Like at the sensor module, open the lid first, insert the cable to be orthogonally fixed after shutting the lid. Also check the orthogonality here and correct it if the cable is angled!

Reconnect the other peripherials to the Raspberry Pi.

You should have the login prompt back after switching the system on.

3 Software Setup

3.1 Get the driver and demo code

You can download the driver and demo code from the following links.

Driver: vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-dkms_0.2.8_all.zip

Demo code: vcmipidemo_0.7.0.zip

3.2 Install necessary Raspberry Pi OS packages

Before beginning with the installation, do the following steps first. This requires your Raspberry PI to already have an internet connection; otherwise you have to install the packages mentioned manually, search the web for the procedure needed.

1. Update the raspberrypi-kernel package and your system by calling:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

2. Reboot.

3. Install the raspberrypi-kernel-headers and device-tree-compiler package by using the following command:

   sudo apt-get install raspberrypi-kernel-headers device-tree-compiler

4. Test if the version of the running kernel matches the version of the kernel headers, the following command should show the directory for compiling the sensor module kernel module driver:

   ls "/usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)"

5. Install the dkms package with:

   sudo apt-get install dkms

3.3 Driver Installation

1. Copy the driver debian package (vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-dkms_x.x.x_all.deb) to the /tmp folder on the Raspberry Pi.

2. Install the driver package by calling (replace x.x.x by the current version number):

   sudo dpkg -i /tmp/vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-dkms_x.x.x_all.deb

3. Edit the file /boot/config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835.txt (for example with nano with the command: sudo nano /boot/config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835.txt).

   • choose the correct platform by uncommenting the corresponding line

   • choose the correct overlay according to your MIPI module and platform by uncommenting the corresponding line (for the IMX565, IMX566, IMX567, IMX568 please activate the overlay for the IMX568.)

   • choose the desired sensor mode (see chapter Sensor modes below for mode description)

   • change the IO configuration if necessary (see chapter IO configuration below for IO description)

   • activate the self-triggered mode (see chapter Self-triggered mode below)

   All these settings can be done for cam0 and cam1 in case you are using a Raspberry Pi CMIO or a VC CMIO.

Part 2:

4. Reboot.

3.4 First Image Acquisition Test

A sensor device should be listed as Video input at the following command output (from the Video4Linux-Control):

v4l2-ctl --all

The following command dumps sensor data:

v4l2-ctl --stream-mmap --stream-count=-1 -d /dev/video0 --stream-to=/dev/null

It will output subsequent lines ending with a frames-per-second information (in the example named [number]) until pressing CTRL-C:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [number] fps

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [number] fps

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [number] fps

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<^C

3.5 Running the Demo

The demo itself is a program named vcmipidemo and its source code is mainly in the file vcmipidemo.c. However more programs are provided, namely the vcimgnetsrv, a network image server, and its counterpart vcimgnetclient.py. The vcimgnetsrv is started as background service, and the vcmipidemo connects to it. Then you can use the vcimgnetclient.py on your PC to view live captured images.

But for the first run it is better to just run the vcmipidemo and check if it shows the ascii representation. This works without any network cable attached. You can then output the captured image to the framebuffer of the display by using the -f command line switch.

3.5.1 Compile the programs

1. Unpack the previously downloaded archive vcmipidemo_x.x.x.zip and copy the folder vcmipidemo to the Raspberry Pi (for example to /home/pi/)

2. Change to the subdirectory named vcmipidemo/src.

3. The source directory contains a Makefile to compile the driver. Do so by calling:

make clean all

3.5.2 Execute the demo

Just run the demo itself:

./vcmipidemo

or with framebuffer output:

./vcmipidemo -f

or with live view over ethernet:

./vcimgnetsrv &

./vcmipidemo

For live view over ethernet, execute the vcimgnetclient.py at the client. This needs Python 2 and PyGTK. Install both following packages in this order (Windows):

• Python 2: https://files.vision-components.com/ImageTransfer/python-2.7.11.msi

• PyGTK: https://files.vision-components.com/ImageTransfer/pygtk-all-in-one-2.24.2.win32-py2.7.msi

3.6 Switching Sensor Configuration

3.6.1 Sensor modes

The sensor driver provides different modes which support several features. They can be switched by changing values of sensor driver parameters.

To list available parameters of the sensor driver kernel module, you can use the following command:

dmesg

You can also check the table below (Sensor modes description) for a complete list of available sensor modes.

To set the desired mode, edit the file /boot/config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835.txt (for example with nano with the command: sudo nano /boot/config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835.txt). Change the sensor mode by modifing dtparam:

dtparam=cam0_sensor_mode_1

The number after the underscore is the sensor mode. For mode 0 the correct setting would be dtparam=cam0_sensor_0

3.6.2 Sensor modes description

This table lists the available modes for all mipi modules.

3.6.3 IO configuration

Some sensors can be triggered externally and also provide a flash output. These two features can be switched using the cam0_io_config parameter.

This parameter corresponds to the value written to register 3 on the MIPI module. A value of 0x08 activates the trigger input. A value of 0x09 activates the trigger input and the flash output.

After modifying the sensor mode or the IO configuration, save the changes and reboot.

3.6.4 Self-triggered mode

On some modules the streaming mode does not allow a flash output signal. In this case it is necessary to activate the so-called self-triggered mode (from the user point of view it behaves like the streaming mode). This is done by overriding the value of the register 0x0108 of the mipi controller.

A detailed documentation of the mipi controller registers is available on request.

4 Troubleshooting and Background Information

4.1 Q/A

Problem:

Running make fails with an error:

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make[1]: *** /lib/modules/4.14.79-v7+/build: No such file or directory. Stop.

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Solution:

The system needs the build tools of the kernel to build the sensor driver (which itself is a kernel module). They can be obtained by installing the RaspberryPi Kernel Headers package named raspberrypi-kernel-headers, see https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/kernel/headers.md

Problem:

The sensor module driver cannot be started, it shows an error:

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[ 4.773298] ov9281 0-0060: Error -5 setting default controls

[ 4.773346] ov9281: probe of 0-0060 failed with error -5

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Solution:

Be sure no other device is connected to the I²C bus 0! For example, the touch screen controller of the Raspberry PI display may not be connected.

Check the orientation of the cable at the sensor side as well as at the cpu side. Also check if the cable and the sockets are orthogonal.

4.2 Driver Knowledge

The following tasks have to be done to do an image acquisition with the camera sensor:

• Information about the new sensor hardware and its connector must be provided to the kernel by adding it to the so-called kernel device tree as overlay.

• This device tree overlay must be applied to the kernel device tree.

• For the driver to communicate with the sensor the I²C bus must be set up to connect between the CPU and the MIPI socket.

• The driver itself must be installed as kernel modules.

• Contiguous memory must be reserved for the captured image.

The driver is separated into parts exclusive for the platform, e.g. the Raspi3BPlus as well as generic parts.

The main configuration file for the driver is named:

config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835.txt

It should include the platform specific configuration, here the file:

config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-raspi3Bplus.txt

and also refer to the sensor overlays (see the following) you would like to use. Overlays can be found relative to the configuration file at the ./overlays/ directory.

4.2.1 Providing device tree overlays

The so-called kernel device tree overlay contains information about the socket and periphery where the mipi module is connected to.

Here are the steps to compile a device tree overlay by yourself:

We assume to compile an example overlay file named

example123-overlay.dts

1. Install the device-tree-compiler package via:

sudo apt-get install device-tree-compiler

2. Compile the dtbo kernel device tree overlay binary representation by using the following command:

dtc -@ -I dts -O dtb -o example123.dtbo example123-overlay.dts

3. Copy the binary to

/boot/overlays/example123.dtbo

4.2.1.1 Telling the RTOS to use the device tree overlay

Before starting the linux kernel, the Raspberry Pi first boots a real-time operating system (RTOS) on the GPU. This RTOS looks into the file /boot/config.txt. It loads a default Kernel device tree and patches it by overlaying the device tree parts listed by the dtoverlay entries at the file /boot/config.txt. To add new information to the device tree this config-file (or a therein included file) needs the following entry:

dtoverlay=example123

The device tree will then be modified by the overlay at

/boot/overlays/example123.dtbo

before the linux kernel is run.

To check the behaviour of the RTOS one can look at the output by the following command:

sudo vcdbg log msg

Example

After reboot the applied overlays can be shown by executing the following command:

sudo vcdbg log msg 2>&1 | grep '^[0-9\.]\+: Loaded overlay'

Here is a sample output:

002143.555: Loaded overlay 'example123'

A deeper insight into the device tree overlays and parameters can be found at
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/device-tree.md

4.2.2 Set up the I²C bus for driver-sensor communication

For the RaspberryPi 3B+ there is only one socket available, so there is no need to change the CSI port information at a device tree overlay provided.

The sensor driver needs to communicate via the I²C Bus named VC. To be able to access it, assigning it to the CPU is mandatory.

The I²C bus is assigned by the RTOS. So the file /boot/config_vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-raspi3Bplus.txt has an entry:

dtparam=i2c_vc=on

It changes the physical I²C bus VC accessor from the default, the GPU, to the CPU. The referred overlay vc-mipi-bcm2835-raspi3Bplus-i2c0 makes it accessible for linux over GPIO pins.

Example

After reboot the dtparam line can be shown by executing the following command:

sudo vcdbg log msg 2>&1 | grep '^[0-9\.]\+: dtparam:'

Here is a sample output:

002077.358: dtparam: audio=on 002096.467: dtparam: i2c_vc=on

4.2.3 Providing the sensor driver as kernel module

Here are the steps to compile the kernel modules by yourself:

1. After installation of the DKMS module the driver will be found at a subdirectory of the folder /usr/src/:

   vc-mipi-driver-bcm2835-versionnumber

2. Copy it to a new place and change to that new place, since the previous mentioned subdirectory is part of the DKMS package management! Be aware, that after a new kernel version installation, the DKMS will rebuild the driver. Check where the sources for that rebuild lies to have your customized setup after the kernel update.

3. The source directory contains a Makefile to compile the driver. Do so by calling:

   make clean all

4. The directory then contains the driver as several modules. They must be copied to their place

   • *.ko to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/media/i2c/

   • *.txt to /boot/

   • overlays/*.dtbo to /boot/overlays/

   Afterwards the new modules must be registered by calling depmod -a and the main configuration file must be included at the /boot/config.txt.

   All this can be also done by calling:

   make install debian/postinst

The module drivers will then be loaded by calling the following commands in that order (or automatically at boot):

modprobe vc_mipi_modules_0 modprobe bcm2835-unicam

Example

After reboot you can display the output of the vc_mipi_ov9281 kernel module by executing the following command:

dmesg | grep '^[^]]*\] vc_mipi_modules_0'

Here is a sample output which will be different at your setup:

[ 13.260918] vc_mipi_modules_0 0-001a: VC_SEN_FPGA found! [ 13.260930] vc_mipi_modules_0 0-001a: [ MAGIC ] [ mipi-module ] [ 13.260941] vc_mipi_modules_0 0-001a: [ MANUF. ] [ Vision Components ] [ MID=0x0427 ] ... [ 13.464166] vc_mipi_modules_0 0-001a: VC_SEN_MODE=0 PowerOn STATUS=0x80 try=2 ...

4.2.4 Reserving Contiguous Memory for the Image Captures

In contrast to the normally used non-contiguous memory the capture hardware needs a contiguous memory region to transfer pixel data to by using direct memory access (DMA).

To reserve other than 128MByte of memory for capturing images, edit the overlay file named

vc-mipi-common-memory-contiguous-overlay.dts

and change its size entry, for example to use 64MiB:

size = <0x4000000>; /* 64MiB */

Compile the .dts file and copy its .dtbo file to /boot/overlays/.

After reboot the kernel message line beginning with Memory: will show an updated entry (last one):

[ 0.000000] Memory: 881620K/970752K available (8192K kernel code, 653K rwdata, 2220K rodata, 1024K init, 822K bss, 23596K reserved, 65536K cma-reserved)

Example

After reboot you can show the line by executing the following command:

dmesg | grep '^[^]]*\] Memory:'

Here is a sample output which will look slightly different at your setup:

[ 0.000000] Memory: 817108K/970752K available (7168K kernel code, 576K rwdata, 2076K rodata, 1024K init, 698K bss, 22572K reserved, 131072K cma-reserved)