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6 MIPI CSI-2 Cameras support for NVIDIA® Jetson TX2/ TX1

Tegra X1 SOC offers support for interfacing up to 6 MIPI CSI2 cameras simultaneously, e-con Systems designed an adapter board to connect 6 camera modules to Jetson TX1. See how 6 e-CAM30A_CUMI0330_MOD modules housing an onsemi sensor can be connected to TX1 to form a low-light camera solution.

Jetson Camera, TX1 camera

We had earlier launched the 13MP Jetson TX1 Camera – e-CAM130_CUTX1 which garnered terrific response, but lacked the support for connecting multiple cameras to the TX1 at the same time. It was a single camera solution.

The Tegra X1 SOC has support for interfacing upto 6 MIPI CSI2 cameras simultaneously. To leverage this, we have designed an adapter board which helps to connect 6 camera modules to the Jetson TX1. The e-CAM30A_CUMI0330_MOD utilizes OnSemi’s AR0330HS MIPI CSI-2.0 sensor. One of the major benefits of using this sensor is its low light sensitivity. For more info about the cameras low light capabilities, check out the following link.

Some of the key features of our 3.4MP MIPI Camera are:

  • Auto/Manual exposure support along with ISP functions such as brightness, saturation, sharpness, zoom, flip & mirror etc.
  • 2 lane MIPI CSI-2.0 interface.
  • Maximum data transfer rate of 3.4MP at 30 fps on a single camera.
  • 6 Cameras can simultaneously output 1080p@30fps.
  • Support for Face detection and smile detection as an add-on feature.
  • S-mount lens holder for interchangeable lenses as per requirement.
  • Supported output formats – YUV422.

Other modules such as the 13MP MIPI CSI2 module can also be used but framerates are untested as of now.

Please write to camerasolutions@e-consystems.com with your requirements and we’ll get back to you.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  1. 1. Why six cameras for NVIDIA® Jetson TX2/ TX1?
  2. With powerful processing capabilities and high number of camera support, the NVIDIA® Jetson TX2/ TX1 is ideal for developing high-end multimedia devices in a small form factor. The e-CAM30A_HEXCUTX2 will be ideal for customers to prototype their multi camera ideas on the TX1/TX2.
  3. 2. Why e-CAM30A_CUMI0330_MOD included in the kit? Can I use other sensor?
  4. This product uses the e-CAM30A_CUMI0330_MOD sensor modules which can produce exceptional image quality with good low-light sensitivity, and low noise level. However, we can customize this product to support other different sensors too if required. For more information, please write to camerasolutions@e-consystems.com
  5. 3. Is it possible to use less than 6 cameras at a time?
  6. We provide a multi-camera adaptor board for the NVIDIA® Jetson TX2/ TX1 which allows you to connect up to 6 cameras easily and quickly. The number of connected cameras can be lesser than 6 as well. For example, when just 4 cameras are required, the same adaptor board can be used to connect the individual camera modules.
  7. 4. What should I do if I want to use this camera without sync?
  8. You can easily disable the synchronized mode of the cameras using our sample application (HexCAM) and you can stream all the cameras individually without synchronization.
  9. 5. Do you have any plan to support longer length cable?
  10. Currently, we provide a very flexible and robust 30cm coaxial cable along with this kit. If you wish to use a longer cable, we can support longer distances using GMSL. Please write to camerasolutions@e-consystems.com with your requirement.

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30 comments

Arvin December 5, 2016 at 1:20 am

Why this is only 30fps while e-CAM30_CUMI0330_MOD is listed as 60fps?

Reply
Dilip Kumar January 10, 2017 at 3:35 pm

We support only 30fps for now in the MIPI driver for e-CAM30_CUMI0330_MOD on the TK1 and TX1

Reply
David Lary January 2, 2017 at 10:31 pm

Dear e-consystems,

I read with interest your post at: https://www.e-consystems.com/blog/camera/products/6-mipi-csi-2-cameras-support-for-jetson-tx1/

I would like to set up a 6-camera system for real-time panorama and image stitching with OpenCV (http://www.pyimagesearch.com/2016/01/25/real-time-panorama-and-image-stitching-with-opencv/#comment-414654). Please advise if this Python and OpenCV code is likely to work on the NVIDIA Jetson TX1 utilizing your 6 camera board. If so please provide an itemized list of all the items that I would need to purchase and the total cost to reproduce what you show in the video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ax5By5S6Us&feature=youtu.be. Please advise on any educational discounts.

Am I correct in assuming that the 13MP MIPI CSI2 module would also work?

Thanks

David

Reply
Dilip Kumar January 10, 2017 at 3:31 pm

The 6 camera setup would require the following components:

6 cam adapter for tx1 board – 1 nos.
ACC-iMX6-CUMI0330CAM – 6 nos.

Also the software release package will be provided upon purchase of the camera hardware. For pricing details please contact camerasolutions@e-consystems.com.

About the functionality, the camera driver that we provide is compliant with v4l2 and so it should work fine with both OpenCV as well as its python bindings.

The 13MP module can also be used instead of the 3MP module. In that case, the following part numbers will be required.

ACC-iMX6-CUMI1820CAM – 6 nos.

Please contact us(camerasolutions@e-consystems.com) with your requirements and we will work closely with you to understand and develop a customized solution that fits your needs.

Reply
Lei February 7, 2017 at 1:32 pm

Dear e-consystems,
Is the system support frame sync between the six cameras?
Thank you.

Reply
Dilip Kumar February 14, 2017 at 2:13 pm

Hi Lei,

Yes, the 6 cameras support synchronous frame capture to the microsecond level. We have tested it and should update the blog space soon with a video for that.

Reply
Muhammad Ali February 10, 2017 at 9:27 am

You mention “6 cam adapter for tx1 board ” but I can’t find a link to this board specs and features on your website. Can you please link me to the “6 cam adapter for tx1 board ” page ?

Reply
Dilip Kumar February 14, 2017 at 2:16 pm

Hi,

The 6 cam adapter board has been updated to our website. kindly check: https://www.e-consystems.com/multiple-csi-cameras-for-nvidia-jetson-tx2.asp

Reply
George March 2, 2017 at 2:35 pm

Hi, what exactly do you mean with: “The 6 cameras support synchronous frame capture to the microsecond level”?
Is it 1/100 of a second or 1/1000?

Reply
Dilip Kumar March 6, 2017 at 5:41 pm

I wasn’t referring to the exposure of the camera. I was referring to the driver time stamp of the frames when capturing a frame from each of the 6 cameras. We tested this sync at an exposure of 1/30th of a second

Reply
Akshay May 8, 2017 at 11:48 pm

Hey,
Really curious, Does the above mentioned sensors provide external triggering? if so at what frequency at i trigger the cameras??
Thanks

Reply
Dilip Kumar May 15, 2017 at 6:22 pm

Hi Akhsay. The cameras mentioned in the post supports external triggering. The default configuration we provide for the cameras support triggering at 30Hz. If you have a different requirement we can look for customization as well.

Reply
devashish May 18, 2017 at 6:09 pm

Hi,
The images can be streamed only or can be stored on the Jetson TX1? For example if we connect an SSD to the carrier board.

Also the YUV422 is raw footage right? The files must be huge if all cameras record 1080p@60

Regards,
Devashish

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash May 26, 2017 at 7:26 pm

We provide GStreamer usage document as well along with the cameras. This allows any user to record the video in compressed format on the TX1/TX2. Or the data can be transferred over the network to any other device for further processing/storage.

Reply
Mark McPherson September 17, 2017 at 10:58 am

What is the field of view of each camera? Looking at the video, it does not seem to quite be enough to fully capture each location twice, i.e. 120 degrees.

Are there any lenses which could make this possible? The reason I am asking is that I have in mind 360 deg 3D capture.

Thanks,

Mark

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash September 18, 2017 at 4:38 pm

We are using 4K monitor to render 6 cameras streaming at 1080p (1920×1080*4 = 4k), so we crop images in vertical (in-order to maintain aspect-ratio from 1080 to 720) to accommodate the display area.
With default lens : 120°(D), 103°(H), 70°(V). Yes, with default lens shipped with the product the camera can able to give 120° image in memory.

Note:
Based on the availability the Alternative lens will also be shipped with following parameters DFOV: 77.3°, HFOV: 66.24°, VFOV: 46.1°.

Reply
Casey Dearth January 6, 2018 at 1:16 am

Hi I am working on a project and would like a quote for six camera image streaming on NIVIDIA Jetson TX2 kit as it can be used for our project.

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash January 8, 2018 at 8:42 pm

you can directly buy it from our online webstore: https://www.e-consystems.com/webstore.asp#CamBoards

Reply
shridhar April 16, 2018 at 5:53 pm

please suggest the hardware that can be interfaced with 3D Stereo Camera for SnapDragon 820.

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash April 18, 2018 at 7:30 pm

We are not supporting Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. We are supporting only NVIDIA Jetson TX1/TX2.

Reply
Yujie Wang October 17, 2018 at 6:04 am

Hi I am working on a project using six cameras and TX2, i am trying to use gstreamer to transfer to another network, however, the helper document only teach to transfer single camera video, what about for six cameras? Thanks!

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash October 17, 2018 at 5:51 pm

There are two ways to implement this,
Method 1: Non sync
You can use six different pipeline to stream six cameras to the other network. Here there wont be any frame sync possible.
Method 2: with Sync
Refer the hexcam.elf, a gstreamer based sample application. You can customize this application and the pipeline according to your requirement. After getting frames from 6 cameras synchronously, you can combine it as a single buffer and transfer to the network.

Reply
Yujie Wang November 6, 2018 at 5:19 am

Hi, i have another question: i want to do calibration of the cameras, are there any camera intrinsic parameters provided in a particular focal length? Thanks!

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash November 7, 2018 at 6:32 pm

We don’t provide camera intrinsic parameters. You can use OpenCV samples to get the paraemeters.

Reply
xamix November 18, 2018 at 5:47 pm

Will the new launched Nvidia Xavier board be supported?
Do you think with this new board it be possible to capture 12 cameras?

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash November 19, 2018 at 4:57 pm

Current e-CAM30_HEXCUTX2 hardware is not compatible with Xavier. We are designing new boards for Xavier, stay tuned. Xavier has 16 MIPI lanes and can support maximum of 6 Cameras in MIPI interface. If you need additional cameras you can go for USB cameras.

Reply
xamix January 29, 2019 at 5:13 pm

Do you have a time schedule for supporting Nvidia Xavier board?

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash January 29, 2019 at 6:31 pm

We have already launched Synchronized multiple 4K cameras for NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier.
You can opt to purchase anything between a single camera to four cameras according to your requirement.

Reply
Guy Hamo July 15, 2020 at 11:34 pm

where i can to buy it in middle east? (Israel)

Reply
Anitha Jothiprakash July 20, 2020 at 8:32 pm

You can buy directly from webstore: https://www.e-consystems.com/webstore.asp

Reply

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