Camera interface for nRF52840

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

Dmitry — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 13:49:15 GMT

Camera videoport is a master device - you need to synchronize nRF with PCLK coming from sensor. I cannot imagine a simple solution to convert videoport signal to SPI, maybe some small FPGA.
If you'll find a way to configure OV2640 for low-frequency PCLK (1-2 MHz), you can try bit-banging method as awneil suggested. In this case, you need to disable interrupts completely for the whole time of receiving frame data, it's hard to say whether ZigBee stack will survive after that.

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

Batuhan — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 07:49:59 GMT

Thank you for your well-informed comment,

Am I able to use just a converter from CMOS parallel to SPI without using a module, to decrease producing price? with just a converter IC. I do not know whether it is possible.

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

awneil — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 18:09:43 GMT

[quote userid="6462" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/72345/camera-interface-for-nrf52840/297753#297753"]I suggest you look at what people use with Arduinos[/quote]

On that theme, this just popped up on my Twitter feed:

https://thepihut.com/products/mini-2mp-spi-camera-module-for-raspberry-pi-pico

"Connected via GPIO pins, this module allows you to add a camera to low-cost microcontrollers without a dedicated camera interface"

(my emphasis)

It is the OV2640 (Arducam) - as suggested earlier by Dmitry

Another example here:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/58550/camera-interface-with-nrf52840/237509#237509

from the 'Related' posts suggested by the forum - you might want to take a look at some more of them ...

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

Dmitry — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 15:30:48 GMT

Hi,

you can take a look at OV2640 - it's a cheap sensor with hardware jpeg compressor (it will come handy when sending an image over a slow link).

nRF52840 has no CSI, neither any DMA-controlled parallel interfaces, so you need a camera module with internal frame buffer and SPI interface (ArduCAM is what I know about).

Edit: here is a demo project for 52840 with ArduCAM.

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

awneil — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 14:02:40 GMT

[quote userid="102200" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/72345/camera-interface-for-nrf52840/297795#297795"]Does nRF52840 support CMOS parallel with 10 pins[/quote]

Again, the Product Specification gives you full details of what the chip does - you'll have to see how that could map onto this "CMOS parallel with 10 pins" requirement.

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

Batuhan — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 12:52:13 GMT

Thank you so much for your reply. I will work on them.

Does nRF52840 support CMOS parallel with 10 pins? I found some image sensors which use that interface.

RE: Camera interface for nRF52840

awneil — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 11:05:12 GMT

The product page gives you a quick vies of the interfaces available:

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-short-range-wireless/nRF52840

The Product Specification gives you full details:

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/ps_nrf52840/keyfeatures_html5.html?cp=4_0_0

There is no specific camera interface.

[quote userid="102200" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/72345/camera-interface-for-nrf52840"]What interfaces can I use for that purpose?[/quote]

At the end of the day, a photo is just data - so you can use any interface that can transfer data.

Maybe you can bit-bang a camera interface?

[quote userid="102200" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/72345/camera-interface-for-nrf52840"]do you recommend any camera module[/quote]

I suggest you look at what people use with Arduinos - as they are typically in the same situation with no specific camera interface.