Can we get some info about the camera connection? ie., what cameras are supported? Is there something that has to be done software wise to support different cameras? I just got the Raspberry Pi camera board and am wondering if that will work on the UDoo or if I'll need to get something else? Just curious... I'm planning to use my UDoo quad for robotics applications, and having a camera would be VERY helpful for many of my intended applications.
I am curious about this as well. Most of these dev boards are very picky on what cameras they can actually use...
As far as I remember, the developers have stated that the Raspberry Pi camera is not compatible, instead they're going to offer their own similar camera board.
In case somebody is interested in a comparison with the Raspberry Pi Camera board: This one uses a OV5647, so there's not a lot of difference. The Raspberry Pi one just seems to be slightly better for low light situations. OV5640 Product Brief (UDOO) OV5647 Product Brief (Raspberry Pi)
What we have here is failure to communicate. :? Anyhow. Since I'm not getting any traction on the camera connection question perhaps the UDOO forum gods might tell me which cameras or types of cameras will be supported via the UDOOs USB connection? Every USB camera under the sun, certain specs, none?
Not sure about when running Android, but for basic Linux, you'll want a USB webcam that supports UVC (usually the REALLY cheap ones don't, but most mainstream brands like Logitech and such do.) Generally if it says it supports Mac, it'll work on Linux. I don't know what they currently have in the kernel for the Udoo, so you might also need to recompile the Linux kernel to add in the USB webcam support (we had to do that in the early releases for the RaspPi, but it later got added as a standard item in the OS releases.) Otherwise, should be pretty straightforward. If this works at all like the camera option for the Pi, then going the MIPI camera route will be advantageous both from a "won't tie up a USB port" aspect as well as from a "doesn't suck up CPU cycles" one (on the RPi it's the GPU that handles the camera processing.) And yeah, I REALLY hope that things pick up around here once people get their hands on the boards. The RPi community was REALLY active in the 4 months leading up to the first boards getting out in the wild, and things here have been pretty tame in comparison, but I guess not having hardware on hand makes it tough to really comment on much.
Agreed mkopack .. no hardware and no draft specs yet makes it very difficult for folks to start conversing about options and ideas. Thanks for the feedback though. Yeah, I want to leverage the camera on Android so MIPI interface was my first choice. I figure this is how most devices running Android are accessing the camera so is the most likely OTS option. So far they've listed the OV5640 as the only option which is pretty limiting, but it's a start.
Ok the following depends on what you want to do with the camera, in my case I will need a camera for specific object recognition (I don't need the image displayed or anything). Since camera's usually cause a high CPU load, I've found (for my purpose) a very nice solution: the "Pixy" vision sensor. This is a kickstarter project for a vision sensor that recognizes objects and works stand-alone. In the examples found on the kickstarter page they have connected pixy to a Arduino board but you don't actually need it for the sensor to function. You can program the sensor independently. I am possitive you can make it work for the UDOO aswell since it just uses normal GPIO (though I believe the high signal of the sensor GPIO is 5volts and as far as Ive understood the UDOO can only take 3.3volts (correct me if i'm wrong) but this is solved easily with some resistors or so ) Since this sensor works stand-alone it will save a lot of CPU power of youre board for my project this is the perfect solution. Maybe it is something you could use aswell? here is the link to the kickstarter project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/254 ... ion-sensor the kickstarter campaign is still ongoing until September 12th I believe and the sensors should be shipped in November.
Mozer -- Good catch. I specifically mentioned this same PIXY project on UDOOs kickstarter forum. I've decided not to go down the PIXY road for my purposes as I do need a higher quality image streamed (I believe PIXY is 640x480). The PIXY project is quite interesting. The other kickstarters that caught my attention in relation to UDOO are FLUTTER (though I'm not sure how they're getting past FCC concerns) and HAPTIX. Anyhow, let me know how your UDOO/PIXY combo works out .. it's definitely something I'm interested in discussing.
yeah you're right, pixy is not the right thing for you if you need a high quality video it really depends on what you want to do exactly. Flutter is a very interesting project aswell yes, I want to pledge for one or two, but currently they only ship within the US, but I expect them to release it outside the US soon aswell Never heard of the Haptix before, but seems like an interesting project aswell! Have to keep my eye on that one. Once I got both the UDOO and PIXY working together I wil let you guys know how that is working out can't wait to get my hands on them!
Does anyone know of a 5MP MIPI CSI-2 camera (like OV5640) out there for sale that will work with the i.MX6D running the supported Android 4.2.2 install? I see Linux drivers for a TI OV5640 but not sure about running one of these with Android on the UDOO i.MX6D board.
For example, this e-CAM52_MI5640_MOD - 5 Mega Pixel MIPI Camera Module looks like it would work. But not sure about the 4.2.2 build for UDOO and this V4L2 Linux driver. http://www.e-consystems.com/MIPI-Camera ... -DM37x.asp
Yeah I did the kickstarter on the Pixy as well. As you said, should be pretty straightforward to use on the UDoo once you adjust the voltage levels. Great for doing object tracking, but as others said, not really right for high def needs.
@mozer, looks like you have the same idea on using the pixy with Udoo. It is going to be a fun filled Christmas if everlything are delivered on time
@jimmnh, pixy uses OV9715 camera module which is capable of 1280x800 720p 30fps HD video, not the 640x480 that you stated.
@pko .. you're so very very right. It is an OV9715 which is awesome. I got thrown off by their "What does “50 frames per second” mean? In short, it means Pixy is fast. Pixy processes an entire 640x400 image frame every 1/50th of a second (20 milliseconds). This means that you get a complete update of all detected objects' positions every 20 ms." So they're only processing 640x400 (4 to 1?) of the original 1280x800. Wonder why? And wonder if they could change that so Pixy could spot that proverbial ping pong ball at a greater distance? Or perhaps they do that 4 to 1 sample to get averaging to rule out sensor noise?
I would figure the distance pixy can detect stuff is mostly related to the camera resolution. In theory, there is no maximum detection limit, as long as you're object/ color code is big enough About the sampling, dunno how that is handled with the pixy, but in case it is not the way you like it, you can always reprogram the pixy But again, the pixy is not suited for high-res video image would be kinda cool if you could swap the camera for a more high-res camera but with that you will obviously need more CPU power of the pixy board. guess time will tell what our options are Can't wait to combine my UDOO with the pixy. Btw jimmnh, the flutter on kickstarter has finally gone international, so I ordered two for EU ! will also combine this with my UDOO board
