Many embedded vision applications like AMRs, surround view systems, autonomous tractors, etc., rely on multi-camera systems for various reasons. These include enabling a wide enough field of view to cover a scene, eliminating lens distortions, and obtaining images of target objects from multiple angles/orientations.
So, it’s clear that multi-camera applications require the camera to transfer high-resolution data at high speeds to the host processor. However, this depends on the bandwidth of the camera interface and the capabilities of the host platform. Now, while the NXP i.MX8M Plus is a powerful and versatile processor well-suited for modern applications, it is only capable of supporting one stream of 4K@30fps.
Understanding the dual camera pipeline in an embedded vision system
First, let’s understand how the pipeline in a dual camera setup works using i.MX8M Plus. The data from the two cameras (13MP modules in this case) are transferred through a MIPI CSI-2 interface to the ISI – and from there to the memory.
This entire workflow is demonstrated in the image below:
Figure 1 – i.MX8M Plus camera data flow
4 reasons why NXP i.MX8M Plus can be very effective for dual streaming
Let’s check out why NXP i.MX8M Plus is great for enabling dual streaming
- High performance: Features an Arm Cortex-A53 quad-core CPU, a Cortex-M7 real-time processor, and a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) to handle complex vision tasks.
- Low power consumption: Designed to consume minimal power – making it ideal for battery-powered embedded devices that require long battery life.
- Robust connectivity: Comes with a range of connectivity options (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, and HDMI) to easily integrate with other systems.
- Customization: The i.MX8M Plus is available in different configurations and can be customized to meet the specific needs of a wide range of embedded vision applications.
The dual streaming challenge while using the i.MX8M Plus processor
While the i.MX8M Plus processor can support multiple video streams, processing two streams at the same time can be a challenging task. So, while connecting two cameras, the NXP i.MX8M Plus processor is only capable of supporting one stream of 4K@30fps. Read More »
