Adding Sony IMX219 sensor support on AmebaPro2 (RTL8735B), SDK release 9.6_r

FreeRTOS Multimedia
1

Hi,

We are moving our AmebaPro2 (RTL8735BDM) video doorbell from the IMX327 to the Sony IMX219 (IMX219PQH5-C, MIPI CSI-2 2-lane, RAW10). We plan to write the driver ourselves using the ameba-camera-sensor-driver repo, with the IMX327 driver as our template. Could you help with the following?

  1. Existing support
  • Do you already have an IMX219 sensor driver (sensor_imx219.bin) or IQ file (iq_imx219.bin), even as beta or internal-only? If yes, can you share it?
  • If not, can Realtek provide the driver or IQ tuning for this sensor, and what would the timeline and cost be?
  1. Sensor and MIPI support
  • Does the RTL8735B ISP and MIPI receiver fully support RAW10 input (SNR_10BIT)? Are there limits compared with 12-bit sensors, for example in black level, WDR or noise reduction?
  • What is the maximum supported MIPI data rate per lane in 2-lane mode? The IMX219 needs up to 912 Mbps per lane for 1080p30.
  • Which IMX219 mode do you recommend: 1920x1080 crop or 1640x1232 binned (which keeps the full field of view)? Are non-standard sizes like 1640x1232 supported by the ISP and encoder?
  • Is hs_term (MIPI termination) sensor-specific? What value should we use for the IMX219?
  1. Driver development
  • Is there documentation for the sensor driver interface (rts_isp_sensor_ops, rts_isp_sensor_init_info, rts_isp_sync_regs)? In particular, what exactly do pclk, hts/vts, size and start.x/start.y mean, and how do they relate to the sensor’s line length and frame length?
  • How does the ISP’s auto-exposure use get_exposure_range, get_tuned_again, get_tuned_dgain and exp_step? Are there rules for sensors like the IMX219 whose analog gain is not linear (gain = 256 / (256 − code))?
  • Can the sensor driver binary be debugged with logging? How do we view printf output from a sensor driver?
  • Which toolchain version should we use to build sensor drivers for SDK 9.6_r (asdk-10.3.0 newlib, or picolibc)?
  1. Image tuning (IQ)
  • What is the process to create iq_imx219.bin? Can we get the ISP IQ tuning tool and its documentation, and is an NDA required?
  • What calibration do we need to provide (raw captures, lens shading, colour charts, light box)?
  • For a doorbell with IR night vision (850 nm IR LEDs, IR-cut filter, gray mode), how do we create and tune the night IQ table that isp_set_day_night(1) uses?
  • Until a tuned IQ is ready, is the generic iq.bin safe to use for bring-up?
  1. Hardware
  • Does the RTL8735B need to provide the sensor clock (INCK, 24 MHz) through SNR_HCLK, or is an external crystal on the module recommended?
  • Which pins should we use for the sensor reset (XCLR) and the I2C bus? Are there power-sequencing requirements on the chip side?
  • Do you have a reference schematic for an IMX219 (or any 2-lane MIPI sensor) on the RTL8735BDM?
  1. Low light
  • We are concerned about the IMX219’s low-light and IR (850 nm) sensitivity compared with the IMX327. Do you have customers using the IMX219 for night-vision products, or would you recommend a different 1080p sensor that is already supported with good low-light performance?

Thank you.