Hi all experts:
Is OMAP4460 come with Camera Parallel Interface hardware that is kind of similar to OMAP3750's Camera Parallel Interface?
I am thinking of using this camera module onto OMAP4460. I saw blogs talking about using different camera module but similar CMOS sensor interface onto BeagleBoard xM. Here is the link:
http://gdansk.bradley.edu/wp_4copter_b/?p=76
http://blog.galemin.com/2011/04/li-5m03-camera-on-beagleboard-xm/
They have successfully make the driver working on OMAP3750 but I haven seen anyone manage to migrate the driver to OMAP4460. So, if anyone know someone has done this please post the link here. I would like to share the info to everyone in this forum...
Also, can anyone tell me some guildlines on how to configure OMAP4460 to listen to parallel port for camera interface.
I will be using SoM development board. http://www.variscite.com/products/item/76-var-som-om44-ti-omap4460
Not sure how many people come across this development kit?
Regards
Yong
Wish you all the best for your effort, but please understand that parallel camera port is not officially supported on OMAP4. I doubt if anyone has succeeded in bringing up up any sensor on OMAP4 CPI.
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Hi Mayank,
So, what is your recommendation if I want to use camera on OMAP4460? Do you know any good candidate to recommend?
We recommend CSI2 sensors. You can also use a parallel - CSI bridge chip to connect parallel sensors, but most bridge chips support a low data rate, besides adding to system cost.
So, do you have any case recommended CSI2 camera that I can work on OMAP4460? I hope to get something which is working then only I explore on other camera that no one has try on before.
These are the sensors used on our blaze reference design
1. Sony IMX060 - 12MP RAW sensor
2. Omnivision OV5650 - 5MP RAW sensor
3. Omnivision OV5640 - 5MP smart sensor
4. Omnivision OV14825 - 14MP RAW sensor
Please note that adding support for a sensor required Ducati code modifications. Please check that you have access to Ducati source before proceeding.
A better option for you may be to use a smart sensor (like OV5640) and interface it through V4L2 driver on A9 side. This code is opensource. Please refer to
https://gitorious.org/omap4-v4l2-camera
Oh... thats great!!!
So how can I have the access to Ducati source? Do I need to pay for that?
you dont need to pay, but you need NDA and a licensing agreement with TI. If you are an individual developer it maybe too much hassle. Therefore I suggest using a smart sensor with A9 side V4l2 framework. You can also use a USB class camera.
Right, I got you!
I think my approach will be as your recommendation.
Finally, I am not clear about some imaging processing when using OMAP4460. I knew the CMOS sensor is producing RAW RGB data and I knew that OMAP4460 does have Image encoder like image resizer, autofocus, exposure and some video codec.
I am wondering, are these processing are done by OMAP itself and they should not included by the driver right?
To be honest, I am not very clear in understand how these system work from hardware to software. Would you mind to point me to some reference so that I can quickly get a clear picture on how these thing work together.
You are correct. Image pipeline and video codecs and not part of sensor driver. But we still need sensor driver to do the following
1. Setup external sensor interfaces
2. Setup sensor modes and output format, resolution etc
3. Connect sensor output to OMAP image/video processing pipeline.
Thanks for clarifying all my questions and I have actually started going into the open source camera driver that you direct me to. The only one thing I am not too sure is, can I use two similar camera on CSIA and CSIB with this driver?
Finally, about the DSP - Do I need OS to drive the DSP to perform like 1280x720 30fps mp4 h264 codec? Else do I need to do something manually to fully utilise OMAP4460 Hardware DSP?
As of now he framework supports only 1 camera, but with some modifications 2 cameras should be possible. Hopefully some one from opensource community can contribute to that.
Using video engine is fairly straightforward. There are OMX components available for most codecs. A9 code needs to use standard OMX APIs to use these components. If you are on Android or generic Linux there are higher level multimedia frameworks (Stagefright for Android and gstreamer for linux) available.
That is sound good to me.
Do I need to have any OS to run the multimedia frameworks in order to test the camera driver? Any suggestions for that?
yes.. you need Android (preferable) or Linux running on target board. Please refer to OMAP4 release notes.
To build the code you need a Ubuntu PC.
Right I see! That is what I though too. but I am a bit confuse from the instruction stated at the link you recommended: https://gitorious.org/omap4-v4l2-camera/pages/Home
According to the "Testing Notes", why we need the "command line test" and "yavta" if we have OS? Can you please give me some advices on this?
Thank you!
There are usage instructions with gstreamer and Android HAL in the same release notes.