How to use ov7670 camera module with nRF devices?

[ujur007]

I have a general query regarding using ov7670 camera module with Zephyr SDK.

I have some of these camera modules available and I would like to try out how it works using nRF5 based dev kits from Nordic. The reason is that letter I want to transmit capture images over BLE or BLE mesh at best.

I searched for driver/application in Zephyr folders but I did not find anything. Do you know how can I proceed?

[ovrebekk]

Hi 

There is no driver for this camera available in Zephyr unfortunately. 

We assisted a PHD student about a year ago who was trying to make his own driver, but I don't know if he ever publicized it anywhere. You can see one of his cases here. 

Personally I made an example for the OV2640 in the nRF5 SDK (here), and I am currently working on adding support for the Arducam Mega module in NCS/Zephyr:
https://github.com/too1/ncs-arducam-mega-driver

The Arducam Mega is a more up to date camera module supporting better image quality and various other features, and uses a more streamlined interface only reliant on SPI. 

The OV7670 is more tricky to support since it uses both I2C and some custom GPIO interface that is more work to adapt. 

So I guess my recommended options would be one of the following:

1) Contact the PHD student and see if he is willing to share his work. 

2) Implement the driver yourself.

3) Get the Arducam Mega instead, and use the driver I shared above (please note that this module is not yet in full production, they expect this to start next month). 

Best regards
Torbjørn

[ujur007]

The same person has one more question where there is a driver, I guess, I should try it first.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../errror-linking-omnivision-video-driver

[ovrebekk]

Good find!

Yes, you can give that driver a try as well. If you ask in the case possibly they would be willing to share the final version of their driver. 

[Eagleshot]

Did you have any success in implementing a driver for the ov7670 camera? We also plan on using an ov7670 camera for a project. I've also seen that it seems an ov7670 driver for zephyr has recently been released by nxp (https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr-testing/blob/main/drivers/video/ov7670.c) however I haven't gotten around to try it out yet.

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Please create a new ticket, as this ticket is more than two years old.

Best regards,
Marte