In this tutorial, we will see how we can interface Arducam Mini 2MP OV2640 with ARIES v3.0 Board.

Arducam Mini OV2640

ArduCAM-2MP-Plus is an optimized version of ArduCAM shield Rev.C, and is a high-definition 2MP SPI camera, which reduces the complexity of the camera control interface. It integrates 2MP CMOS image sensor OV2640 and provides miniature size, as well as an easy-to-use hardware interface and open source code library.

The ArduCAM mini can be used on any platform like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Maple, Chipkit, or Beaglebone black, as long as they have SPI and I2C interface and can be well mated with standard Arduino boards. ArduCAM mini not only offers the capability to add a camera interface that doesn’t have in some low-cost microcontrollers but also provides the capability to add multiple cameras to a single microcontroller.

Application:

• IoT cameras
• Robot cameras
• Wildlife cameras
• Other battery-powered products
• Can be used in MCU, Raspberry Pi, ARM, DSP, and FPGA platforms

Features:

• 2MP image sensor OV2640
• M12 mount or CS-mount lens holder with changeable lens options
• IR sensitivity with proper lens combination
• I2C interface for sensor configuration
• SPI interface for camera commands and data streams
• All IO ports are 5V/3.3V tolerant

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or above/Linux (64 bit)
• Arduino IDE
• VEGA ARIES Board support package

Components Required

• ARIES v3.0 Board
• USB type C to USB type A cable
• Arducam Mini 2MP OV2640 Module
• Jumper Wires

Circuit Diagram

Connections:

Procedure

Open and set up the Arduino IDE as described in Getting Started with ARIES v3.0.

• Make sure you have selected ARIES v3 Board from Tools -> Board -> VEGA Processor: ARIES Boards -> ARIES v3
• Select Programmer as VEGA XMODEM from Tools -> Programmer -> VEGA XMODEM
• Also select appropriate port from Tools -> Port -> COM* (ARIES Board)

Now, Open Files -> Examples -> Under Examples for ARIES v3 -> SPI-> Arducam_Mini_OV2640_functions_256000

Libraries

Arduino libraries are an extension of the standard Arduino API and consists of thousands of libraries, both official and contributed by the community. Libraries simplifies the use of complex codes. Every version of Arduino IDE has a library manager for installing Arduino software libraries. The libraries required for this projects are available in the below link:

• https://gitlab.com/riscv-vega/vega-sensor-libraries/sensors/vega_arducam

• Download the zip file
• In Arduino IDE, Click on Sketch -> Include Library -> Add ZIP Library and select the zip file you have downloaded from the above link and click on Open to add the library file.

Once you have downloaded the required libraries you can upload the code to ARIES board.

Output

Extract the zip file you have downloaded and Open Arducam host app from the folder -> ArduCAM ->examples ->host_app\ArduCAM_Host_V2.0_Windows.exe

Double click on the application and the Arducam camera app will get open.

Select the port in the app as the port to which your ARIES board is connected (Here COM19 is the port to which the ARIES board is connected), Select the baud rate of camera app as 256000 and click on Open to open the camera module. You can choose the mode as Single/Continuous for single picture capturing and continuous capturing respectively.Click on Capture in continuous mode to capture an image.

Output

Once you click on the capture button you will get the image captured on a different screen as shown below.