Camera - Qualcomm Dragonwing Documentation

The IQ9-EVK supports camera sensor connectivity through four 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
CSI3	U43 (TMUX646ZECR)	JCAM3	JEXP4, Pins 29–38

DIP Switch Configuration

The four CSI PHYs can be routed to either MIPI camera ports or GMSL camera ports (via mezzanine board) using DIP switches.

SW1 is the left series of switches in the image above.

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
SW1-8	CSI3 → GMSL mezzanine	CSI3 → mainboard

Supported Camera Sensors

Raspberry Pi Camera Sensors

Flex cable (Arducam 22-pin Raspberry Pi to Qualcomm 30-pin CSI adapter):

MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

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-9075. There is no hardware JPEG encoder — snapshots use a software encoder running on the CPU.

Camera Streaming

Single Camera Stream

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

If the pipeline status changes to PLAYING, the camera is running. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Video Encoding

gst-launch-1.0 -e qtiqmmfsrc 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=/home/ubuntu/mux_avc.mp4

Retrieve the file:

scp -r ubuntu@<ip-addr>:/home/ubuntu/mux_avc.mp4 .

Object Detection Pipeline

Download required models and assets first:

cd /home/ubuntu
curl -L -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quic/sample-apps-for-qualcomm-linux/refs/heads/main/qualcomm-linux/scripts/download_artifacts.sh
sudo chmod +x download_artifacts.sh && sudo ./download_artifacts.sh

Then run the object detection pipeline:

gst-launch-1.0 -e qtivcomposer name=mixer \
  sink_0::position="<0, 0>" sink_0::dimensions="<640, 360>" \
  sink_1::position="<640, 0>" sink_1::dimensions="<640, 360>" \
  mixer. ! queue ! waylandsink enable-last-sample=false fullscreen=true \
  qtiqmmfsrc name=camsrc_0 camera=0 multicamera-hint=true ! \
  video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1 ! queue ! \
  tee name=split_0 split_0. ! queue ! qtimetamux name=mux_0 ! queue ! \
  qtivoverlay ! queue ! mixer. split_0. ! queue ! qtimlvconverter ! queue ! \
  qtimltflite delegate=external external-delegate-path=libQnnTFLiteDelegate.so \
  external-delegate-options="QNNExternalDelegate,backend_type=htp;" \
  model=/etc/models/yolox_quantized.tflite ! queue ! \
  qtimlpostprocess settings="{\"confidence\": 75.0}" results=10 module=yolov8 \
  labels=/etc/labels/yolox.json ! text/x-raw ! queue ! mux_0.

Video Encoding + Snapshot

Start the pipeline

gst-pipeline-app -e qtiqmmfsrc 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="/home/ubuntu/mux_720_avc.mp4" \
  camsrc.image_1 ! "image/jpeg,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1" ! \
  multifilesink location=/home/ubuntu/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 ubuntu@<ip-addr>:/home/ubuntu/<filename> .

Multi-Camera with Offline IFE

The IQ-9075 has two IFEs for real-time bayer-to-YUV processing. The Offline IFE feature allows a single IFE to process two cameras in offline mode, enabling concurrent streaming from all four cameras.

A maximum of two cameras can operate concurrently with real-time IFE. All four cameras can operate concurrently using the Offline IFE feature.

Run the 4-camera AI inference pipeline with multicamera-hint=true on each qtiqmmfsrc source. See the single-camera object detection pipeline above for the pattern — replicate for camera=1, camera=2, and camera=3.

Verify Multi-Camera Operation

User log — look for:

RealTimeFeatureZSLPreviewRawOfflineIFE_0_cam_0 status is now PipelineStatus::STREAM_ON

Kernel log — look for:

Acquired Single IFE[0] SFE[0] OFFLINE: Y with [9 pix] [0 pd] [0 rdi] ports for ctx:1

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 qtiqmmfsrc 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 > /home/ubuntu/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:

sudo su
echo 3 > /sys/kernel/debug/camera/ife/ife_csid_debug
dmesg -w > /home/ubuntu/dmesg.txt

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

Collect Debug Logs

journalctl -f > /home/ubuntu/user_log.txt   # User space logs
dmesg -w > /home/ubuntu/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 Camera Sensors

​Raspberry Pi Camera Sensors

​MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

​Supported Resolutions

​Camera Streaming

​Single Camera Stream

​Video Encoding

​Object Detection Pipeline

​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 Camera Sensors

Raspberry Pi Camera Sensors

MIPI CSI Camera Sensors

Supported Resolutions

Camera Streaming

Single Camera Stream

Video Encoding

Object Detection Pipeline

Video Encoding + Snapshot

Multi-Camera with Offline IFE

Verify Multi-Camera Operation

Troubleshooting

Collect Debug Logs

Resources