GMSL 2 Camera

Hardware

AutomatePro has an option of 0, 2 or 4 channel GMSL2 (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) camera link. GMSL2 is a robust high speed and low latency data link which was developed for automotive camera and display applications. It allows for cable lengths up to 15m and supports Power Over Coaxial (PoC). A maximum of 12W of power can be delivered through the AutomatePro to the downstream cameras. While other GMSL2 cameras can be used we recommend using those offered here. The number of FAKRA Z connectors populated will depend on the device ordered - see image below

Onboard GMSL2 Specifications

Parameter	Value
Onboard IC	MAX9296AGT
Standard	GMSL2
Max Cable Length	15m
Max Data Rate	4.5Gbs
PoC Voltage	12VDC
FAKRA Type	Type Z (Water Blue)
Max Power (total)	12W

ROS API

Node: automatepro_cam1_driver, automatepro_cam2_driver

Publishers

Topic	Type	Description
/camera/camera_name/image_raw	sensor_msgs/msg/Image	Contains Image frame.
/camera/camera_name/camera_info	sensor_msgs/msg/CameraInfo	Contains camera info.
/camera/camera_name/h264/video	foxglove_msgs/msg/CompressedVideo	Contains h264 compressed video frame.
/camera/camera_name/h264/calib	foxglove_msgs/msg/CameraCalibration	Contains camera calibration info.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Values	Runtime R/W	Description
frame_id	string	cam1/cam2	read-only	The frame sensor data messages.
camera_name	string	cam1/cam2	read-only	Unique name for the camera.
resolution	int[2]	[640,512]	read-only	Output resolution of the /image_raw, upto [1536, 1920]
compression.enable	bool	true / false	read-only	Enable video compression.
compression.format	string	h264	read-only	Compression Format (Currently supports h264 only)
compression.bitrate	int	5000	read-only	Max bitrate in kbits per second, driver will reduce quality to keep the bitrate below the set max limit
compression.keyframe	int	30	read-only	No of frames between transmitting the keyframes

Configuration

Cameras are controlled using the V4L2 API and are exposed as /dev/video0 and /dev/video1 devices. Below is a description for using the automatepro_camera_driver, but these cameras can be used with any standard drivers, which support V4L2 devices. More details are available here.

Driver: automatepro_camera_driver
Container: automatepro-core-driver

info

All the configuration related files can be found at /opt/automatepro/config/ros directory.
These files will be mounted to docker container and will be used by the ROS driver. Environmental variables can be set in the /opt/automatepro/.env file.

config file can be found here.

/automatepro/config/ros/camera_params.yaml

Default Config

automatepro_cam1_node:
  ros__parameters:
    camera_name: "cam1"
    camera_info_url: ""
    resolution: [640, 512]
    format: "bgr8"
    frame_id: "cam1"

    compression:
      enable: true
      format: "h264"
      bitrate: 5000    # kbps
      keyframe: 30

    # Do not change the following parameters
    sensor:
      device: "/dev/video0"
      model: "SG3S-ISX031C"
      resolution: [1920, 1536]
      frame_rate: 30
      format: "UYVY"

automatepro_cam2_node:
  ros__parameters:
    camera_name: "cam2"
    camera_info_url: ""
    resolution: [640, 512]
    format: "bgr8"
    frame_id: "cam2"

    compression:
      enable: true
      format: "h264"
      bitrate: 5000    # kbps
      keyframe: 30

    # Do not change the following parameters
    sensor:
      device: "/dev/video1"
      model: "SG3S-ISX031C"
      resolution: [1920, 1536]
      frame_rate: 30
      format: "UYVY"

Important

Restart the automatepro-core-driver docker container after changing the configuration.
Configurations will only be applied after the container restarts.

docker restart automatepro-core-driver

Using other drivers

To use the cameras with different drivers, you need to disable the automatepro_camera_driver. Edit the /opt/automatepro/.env file and set the ROS_DRIVER_CAM1 and ROS_DRIVER_CAM2 to false.
Restart the automatepro-core-driver container to apply the changes.

sudo systemctl restart automatepro-core-driver

Now, you can use the cameras with any standard V4L2 driver, OpenCV, GStreamer, or any other camera driver. For more details on hardware acceleration and GStreamer, check the NVDIA Jetson documentation.

Troubleshooting

if you are facing any issues with the camera, restart the automatepro-gmsl2.service

sudo systemctl stop automatepro-core-driver
sudo systemctl restart automatepro-gmsl2.service

Then restart the automatepro-core-driver container to apply the changes.

sudo systemctl start automatepro-core-driver