STM32N6 - Video Capture from MIPI CSI-2 Image Sensor (Sony, ST BrightSense)

[Will_Robertson]

Hi,

I was wondering if there's any reference application or if you have any advice on drivers to capture video from a MIPI CSI-2 image sensor (perhaps Sony or the ST BrightSense image sensors (VB1940 (active) or VD1940 (preview) match the 5.1 MP dimensioning of the STM32N6) with STM32N6x7 or STM32N6x5 μCs?

The aim would be to waken up the STM32N6 in response to an external digital input, record video from a MIPI CSI-2 image sensor to SD or eMMC then return to sleep mode.

I'd be happy to consider bare metal, Zephyr or FreeRTOS - whatever you recommend.

Thank you very much for your help and all the best for 2025!

Will

[RomainR.]

Hello @Will_Robertson 

You can refer to the following examples project using Sony IMX335 5MPx CMOS camera with CSI.
These demos also use VENC. 

Bare metal version:
STM32Cube_FW_N6_V1.0.0\Projects\STM32N6570-DK\Applications\VENC\VENC_SDCard

ThreadX version:
STM32Cube_FW_N6_V1.0.0\Projects\STM32N6570-DK\Applications\VENC\VENC_SDCard_ThreadX

Best regards,

Romain,

[Will_Robertson]

Hi @RomainR. 

Thank you very much - that's an enormous help to me learning to use CSI cameras and VENC with the STM32N6!

Thank you also for the ThreadX example - ThreadX could be very valuable to our application.

https://wiki.st.com/stm32mcu/wiki/ISP:Getting_started_with_X-CUBE-ISP#Change_the_camera_module says

"The software is natively compatible with the MB1854B IMX335 and STEVAL-66GYMAI VD66GY camera modules. Simply change the camera module and restart the software. No software reconfiguration is needed."

"For a customer camera module, the sensor driver must be added to the camera middleware and a first tuning must be performed using the STM32 ISP IQTune desktop application to generate the final isp_param_conf.h file that can then be updated."

In practice, how difficult is it to find and add the sensor drives for other ST and Sony image sensors?

Thank you very much for your help!

Will

[RomainR.]

Hi @Will_Robertson 

Hard to say but for each image sensor there is necessarily a low level driver to implement. Which requires reading the different datasheets to correctly configure the protocol.
What I can tell you about the VD66GY is that it should be integrated into the next versions of the X-CUBE-IPS, I can't give you an official date for now.

Best regards,

Romain

[Will_Robertson]

Hi @RomainR. 

Thank you very much.

Will I contact the ST Image Sensors team to see if they plan to make low level drivers available for the other ST BrightSense image sensors or is that something that you'd be better positioned to do than I am? Using BrightSense and STM32N6 would allow the complete solution to stay within the ST ecosystem.

I'm looking at a μC solution based on STM32N6 or a μP solution based on STM32MP255. I guess an advantage of the μP solution is that it would support all cameras supported by Linux libcamera whereas the μC solution would only support cameras for which a low level driver is available or can be coded?

Will

[RomainR.]

No, sorry, I have no idea if a port of drivers of all models of ST BrightSense image sensors is planned on STM32N6.
As I mentioned, the VD66GY which is part of the portfolio is planned.

Best regards,

Romain,