Camera - Qualcomm Dragonwing Documentation

The IQ8-EVK supports camera sensor connectivity through three MIPI CSI interfaces, supporting both C-PHY and D-PHY modes.

Hardware Architecture

CSI Interface Mapping

CSI Interface	Analog Switch	Camera Connector	B2B Connector
CSI0	U45 (TMUX646ZECR)	JCAM0	JEXP4, Pins 111–120
CSI1	U42 (TMUX646ZECR)	JCAM1	JEXP4, Pins 51–60
CSI2	U44 (TMUX646ZECR)	JCAM2	JEXP4, Pins 40–49

DIP Switch Configuration

Switch	ON	OFF (default)
SW1-5	CSI0 → GMSL mezzanine	CSI0 → mainboard
SW1-6	CSI1 → GMSL mezzanine	CSI1 → mainboard
SW1-7	CSI2 → GMSL mezzanine	CSI2 → mainboard

Supported MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

ov9282 Camera Sensor

Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor

Arducam sensor requires an additional converter board(Arducam 22-pin to Qualcomm 30-pin CSI adapter)

Arducam imx577 sensor + 22 pin flex cable + converter board

Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

ov9282 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

Supported Resolutions

Resolution	Aspect Ratio	IMX577	OV9282
4000 × 3000	4:3	Yes	No
3840 × 2160	16:9	Yes	No
1920 × 1080	16:9	Yes	No
1280 × 720	16:9	Yes	Yes
1024 × 768	4:3	Yes	Yes
800 × 600	4:3	Yes	Yes
640 × 480	4:3	Yes	Yes
320 × 240	4:3	Yes	Yes

Advanced features such as SHDR, LDC, and EIS are not supported on IQ-8275.
There is no hardware JPEG encoder — snapshots use a software encoder running on the CPU.

Camera Streaming

Prerequistes to run camera

Enable Camera functionality

On Qualcomm Linux 2.0, qcom-multimedia-proprietary-image includes the downstream camera packages by default, but camera functionality is not enabled automatically. Enable camera support on qcom-multimedia-proprietary-image by running the following command in the device shell:

echo -n "camx" > /var/data
efivar -n 882f8c2b-9646-435f-8de5-f208ff80c1bd-VendorDtbOverlays -w -f /var/data
efivar -n 882f8c2b-9646-435f-8de5-f208ff80c1bd-VendorDtbOverlays -p
sync
reboot

Clear GStreamer registry (if needed)

If a GStreamer command was executed before enabling the camera overlay, the GStreamer registry must be cleared after enabling the camera overlay. Run the following command to clear the registry:

rm ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry.aarch64.bin

Single Camera Stream

gst-launch-1.0 -e qticamsrc name=camsrc camera=0 ! 'video/x-raw,format=NV12,\
width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1' ! fakesink

The above command starts the camera with 720p at 30 FPS configuration. The frame coming from the camera sensor is thrown away by fakesink. If the gst pipeline status is changed to “PLAYING” as shown below, this indicates that the camera is running. Since this command dumps camera frames to fakesink, nothing will be saved on the device. If the pipeline status changes to PLAYING, the camera is running. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

gbm_create_device(187): Info: backend name is: msm_drm
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Pipeline is live and does not need PREROLL ...
Setting pipeline to PLAYING ...
New clock: GstSystemClock

Video Encoding

gst-launch-1.0 -e qticamsrc name=camsrc camera=0 ! \
video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1,\
interlace-mode=progressive,colorimetry=bt601 ! v4l2h264enc \
capture-io-mode=4 output-io-mode=5 extra-controls="controls,video_bitrate=6000000,\
video_bitrate_mode=0;" ! h264parse ! mp4mux ! filesink location=/opt/mux_avc.mp4

This command starts the camera with 720p at 30 FPS configuration and saves it as a video file after h264 video encoding. If the gst pipeline status is changed to “PLAYING”, this indicates the camera is running. To stop the camera, press CTRL+C. /opt/mux_avc.mp4 is generated on the device. The recorded content can be pulled from the device by running the following scp command on the host PC:

scp -r root@[ip-addr]:/opt/mux_avc.mp4 .

Video Encoding + Snapshot

Start the pipeline

gst-pipeline-app -e qticamsrc name=camsrc camera=0 ! video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,\
framerate=30/1,interlace-mode=progressive,colorimetry=bt601 ! queue ! v4l2h264enc capture-io-mode=4 \
output-io-mode=5 extra-controls="controls,video_bitrate_mode=0,video_bitrate=6000000;" ! queue ! \
h264parse ! mp4mux ! queue ! filesink location="/opt/mux_720_avc.mp4" camsrc.image_1 ! "image/jpeg,\
width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1" ! multifilesink location=/opt/frame%d.jpg async=false sync=true \
enable-last-sample=false

Take a snapshot

From the interactive menu: (1) Ready → (3) Playing → (p) Plugin Mode → (11) camerasrc → (37) capture-image → (1) Snapshot → enter count

Stop and retrieve files

Press Enter → b (Back) → q (Quit).

scp -r root@[ip-addr]:/opt/<file name> .

Multi-Camera with Offline IFE

The IQ-8275 camera subsystem includes two full Image Front End (IFE) hardware blocks capable of performing real-time Bayer-to-YUV image processing. In a conventional real-time camera pipeline, each Bayer camera requires an IFE for de-Bayering and image signal processing, limiting concurrent Bayer camera streaming to two cameras. The Offline IFE feature extends this capability by separating image acquisition from image processing. In this mode, each camera sensor is connected to an IFE-Lite instance, which captures the incoming RAW Bayer data and writes it directly to DDR memory through the RDI path without performing any image processing. The stored RAW frames are subsequently fetched from DDR by the SFE Lite fetch engine and supplied to a IFE for offline Bayer-to-YUV processing. Since the input frames are sourced from memory rather than directly from the sensor interface, a single IFE can time-share its processing resources across multiple cameras. As a result, the two available IFEs can each process RAW frames from two different cameras, enabling concurrent streaming of up to four Bayer cameras.

Verify Multi-Camera Operation

Connect Three MIPI cameras(OV9282 or IMX577) to MIPI CSI slots (0, 1 and 2) Run a GST command with multicamera-hint=true for each camera to enable this feature. For example:

gst-launch-1.0 -e qticamsrc name=camsrc camera=0 multicamera-hint=true ! \
video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1,\
interlace-mode=progressive,colorimetry=bt601 ! v4l2h264enc \
capture-io-mode=4 output-io-mode=5 extra-controls="controls,video_bitrate=6000000,\
video_bitrate_mode=0;" ! h264parse ! mp4mux ! filesink location=/opt/mux_avc.mp4

Check for below print in user log to confirm offline ife feature is enabled

CamX: [CORE_CFG]3509 3556 [CORE   ] camxpipeline.h:4222 SetPipelineStatus() RealTimeFeatureZSLPreviewRawOfflineIFE_0_cam_0 status is now PipelineStatus::STREAM_ON

Troubleshooting

Camera App Not Working

Check camera module connection and DIP switch settings

Restart cam-server

systemctl restart cam-server
# or
pkill cam-server

Run a single-stream test

gst-launch-1.0 -e qticamsrc name=camsrc camera=0 ! 'video/x-raw,format=NV12,\
width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1' ! fakesink

Camera Sensor Not Probing

Collect logs and search for probe success:

journalctl -f > /opt/user_log.txt

Expected probe success log:

CAM_INFO: CAM-SENSOR: Probe success, slot:0, slave_addr: 0x34, sensor_id:0x577

If no probe success appears, check the flex cable connection or camera module.

Camera Not Streaming

Enable CSI debug logs and collect dmesg:

echo 3 > /sys/kernel/debug/camera/ife/ife_csid_debug
dmesg -w > /opt/kernel_log.txt

Start the camera and check for SOF/EOF IRQ messages in the log. Expected logs:

CAM_INFO: CAM-ISP: cam_ife_csid_irq: 5288 CSID:1 IPP SOF received
CAM_INFO: CAM-ISP: cam_ife_csid_irq: 5300 CSID:1 IPP EOF received
CAM_INFO: CAM-ISP: cam_ife_csid_irq: 5288 CSID:1 IPP SOF received
CAM_INFO: CAM-ISP: cam_ife_csid_irq: 5300 CSID:1 IPP EOF received

Collect Debug Logs

journalctl -f > /opt/user_log.txt   # User space logs
dmesg -w > /opt/kernel_log.txt      # Kernel logs

Resources

Topic	Link
Camera Architecture	Camera Architecture
Camera Sensor Driver Development	Camera Sensor Driver Development
Customize Camera Use Case and Pipeline	Customize Camera Use Case and Pipeline
Customize Advanced Camera Features	Customize Advanced Camera Features

​Hardware Architecture

​CSI Interface Mapping

​DIP Switch Configuration

​Supported MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

​ov9282 Camera Sensor

​Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor

​Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

​ov9282 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

​Supported Resolutions

​Camera Streaming

​Prerequistes to run camera

​Single Camera Stream

​Video Encoding

​Video Encoding + Snapshot

​Multi-Camera with Offline IFE

​Verify Multi-Camera Operation

​Troubleshooting

​Collect Debug Logs

​Resources

Hardware Architecture

CSI Interface Mapping

DIP Switch Configuration

Supported MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

ov9282 Camera Sensor

Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor

Arducam imx577 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

ov9282 Camera Sensor connection to iq8275

Supported Resolutions

Camera Streaming

Prerequistes to run camera

Single Camera Stream

Video Encoding

Video Encoding + Snapshot

Multi-Camera with Offline IFE

Verify Multi-Camera Operation

Troubleshooting

Collect Debug Logs

Resources