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Quick Start Guide for Arducam CamArray HAT Kit

Hardware

Connect Camarray HAT(Variable Baseline version) to Raspberry Pi:

camarray-1

Connect four-cameras to Camarray HAT(Variable Baseline version):

camarray-2

Connect two-cameras to Camarray HAT(Variable Baseline version):

camarray-3

Connect Stereo camera kit(Fixed Baseline version) to Raspberry Pi:

Tip

Arducam has released binocular cameras with two connection methods: 15pin and 22pin connected cameras

  • This is the connection of 15pin binocular camera:

camarray-4

  • This is the connection of 22pin binocular camera:

B0263-multi

Software

Find your corresponding camera in the following two links, and then execute the following command

Native cameras

Product Image SKU Sensor Resolution Pin/Connect Type Features Lens Type Field of View（HxV） Focus Type IR Sensitivity
B0347R IMX477 12MP 15/Bottom Stereo Camera M12 75°(H) x 56°(V) Manual Focus 650nm IR-cut filter
B0396 IMX219 8MP Quad Camera Stock Lens 62.2° (H) x 48.8(V) Fixed Focus
B0397 IMX477 12MP M12 75°(H) x 56°(V) Manual Focus
B0265R IMX477 12MP 15/Bottom Stereo Camera CS 65°(H) x  48.7°(V) Manual Focus 650nm IR-cut filter
B0440 IMX708 12MP 15/Bottom Quad Camera Stock Lens 66°(H)x41°(V) Autofocus 650nm IR-cut filter
B0388 IMX519 16MP 15/Bottom Quad Camera Stock Lens 66°(H) x 49.5°(V) Motorized Focus 650nm IR-cut filter
B0402 64MP 64MP 15/Bottom Quad Camera Stock Lens 72°(H) x 54.6°(V) Motorized Focus 650nm IR-cut filter

  • IMX219 Multi-camera Kit:

Note

Please make sure you are running the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. (January 28th，2022 or later releases, Debian version:11(Bullseye)). You need to update the config file and use libcamera apps.

For Raspberry Bullseye users running on Pi 4, please do the following:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt 
#Find the line: camera_auto_detect=1, update it to:
camera_auto_detect=0
dtoverlay=imx219
#Save and reboot.

For Bullseye users running on Pi 0 ~ 3, please also: 

Open a terminal 
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options 
Enable Glamor graphic acceleration 
Reboot your Pi

If you encounter the display issues, please also execute the following steps:

Open a terminal
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options
Navigate to GL Driver
Select GL (Full KMS)
Reboot your Pi

For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/4

The latest software only supports one camera at this time, CM4 uses CAM1 by default.

  • IMX477 Multi-Camera Kit:

Note

Please make sure you are running the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. (January 28th，2022 or later releases, Debian version:11(Bullseye)). You need to update the config file and use libcamera apps.

For Raspberry Bullseye users running on Pi 4, please do the following:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt 
#Find the line: camera_auto_detect=1, update it to:
camera_auto_detect=0
dtoverlay=imx477
#Save and reboot.

For Bullseye users running on Pi 0 ~ 3, please also: 

Open a terminal 
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options 
Enable Glamor graphic acceleration 
Reboot your Pi

If you encounter the display issues, please also execute the following steps:

Open a terminal
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options
Navigate to GL Driver
Select GL (Full KMS)
Reboot your Pi

For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/4

The latest software only supports one camera at this time, CM4 uses CAM1 by default.

  • IMX708 Multi-Camera Kit:

Note

Please make sure you are running the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. (January 28th，2022 or later releases, Debian version:11(Bullseye)). You need to update the config file and use libcamera apps.

For Raspberry Bullseye users running on Pi 4, please do the following:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt 
#Find the line: camera_auto_detect=1, update it to:
camera_auto_detect=0
dtoverlay=imx708
#Save and reboot.

For Bullseye users running on Pi 0 ~ 3, please also: 

Open a terminal 
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options 
Enable Glamor graphic acceleration 
Reboot your Pi

If you encounter the display issues, please also execute the following steps:

Open a terminal
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options
Navigate to GL Driver
Select GL (Full KMS)
Reboot your Pi

For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/4

The latest software only supports one camera at this time, CM4 uses CAM1 by default.

  • IMX519 Multi-Camera Kit:

Note

Please make sure you are running the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. (January 28th，2022 or later releases, Debian version:11(Bullseye)). You need to update the config file and use libcamera apps.

For Raspberry Bullseye users running on Pi 4(Bullseye OS version: 6.1.21 and later), please do the following:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt 
#Find the line: [all], add the following item under it:
dtoverlay=imx519
#Save and reboot.

For Bullseye users running on Pi 0 ~ 3, please also: 

Open a terminal 
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options 
Enable Glamor graphic acceleration 
Reboot your Pi

If you encounter the display issues, please also execute the following steps:

Open a terminal
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options
Navigate to GL Driver
Select GL (Full KMS)
Reboot your Pi

For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/4

The latest software only supports one camera at this time, CM4 uses CAM1 by default.

  • 64MP Multi-Camera Kit:

Note

Please make sure you are running the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. (January 28th，2022 or later releases, Debian version:11(Bullseye)). You need to update the config file and use libcamera apps.

For Raspberry Bullseye users running on Pi 4(Bullseye OS version: 6.1.21 and later), please do the following:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt 
#Find the line: [all], add the following item under it:
dtoverlay=arducam-64mp
#Save and reboot.

For Bullseye users running on Pi 0 ~ 3, please also: 

Open a terminal 
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options 
Enable Glamor graphic acceleration 
Reboot your Pi

If you encounter the display issues, please also execute the following steps:

Open a terminal
Run sudo raspi-config
Navigate to Advanced Options
Navigate to GL Driver
Select GL (Full KMS)
Reboot your Pi

For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/4

The latest software only supports one camera at this time, CM4 uses CAM1 by default.

Pivariety cameras

Product Image SKU Sensor Resolution Pin/Connect Type Features Lens Type Field of View（HxV） Focus Type IR Sensitivity
B0263 OV9281 1MP 15/Bottom Mono Global Shutter Stereo Camera M12 70°(H) x 43.75°(V) Manual Focus without IR-cut filter
B0264 OV2311 2MP 83°(H) x 67.5°(V)
B0350 IMX219 8MP 15/Bottom 360° Stereo Camera M12 220°(H) x 166°(V) Manual Focus 650nm IR-cut filter
B0331 OV9782 1MP Color Global Shutter Quad Camera 75°(H) x 46.8°(V) without IR-cut filter
Image B0266 OV9281 1MP 15/Bottom Mono Global Shutter Stereo Camera M12 70°(H) x 43.75°(V) Manual Focus without IR-cut filter
B0267 75°(H) x 46.8°(V)

Note

If you do not find your camera please contact us.(support@arducam.com)

Install the driver and access the Pivariety Multi-Camera:

Note

Since 5.15.38, the arducam-pivariety driver has been merged into the Raspberry Pi kernel and the name of the device tree is changed to arducam-pivariety, so dtoverlay=arducam-pivariety is required to set the overlay

Step 1. Download the bash scripts

wget -O install_pivariety_pkgs.sh https://github.com/ArduCAM/Arducam-Pivariety-V4L2-Driver/releases/download/install_script/install_pivariety_pkgs.sh
chmod +x install_pivariety_pkgs.sh

Step 2. Install libcamera

./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh -p libcamera_dev

Step 3. Install libcamera-apps

./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh -p libcamera_apps

Step 4. Install Camera drivers

Note

Please select the driver installation against the table above, just select one of the commands.

# PivarietyPlease se
./install_pivariety_pkgs.sh -p kernel_driver

Step5. libcamera-apps

Preview 5 seconds.

libcamera-still -t 5000

If you do not have a display screen, you can save an image without displaying it. And an image of test.jpg will be saved in the current directory.

libcamera-still -t 5000 -n -o test.jpg


Extension Solution for Multi Camera

Extend the connection between the camera and HAT, you can consider the following one solution:

SKU: B0091 HDMI cable

It transmits MIPI signal through HDMI cable, which can be transmitted farther than through FFC cable, about 1M.

In this way, the four cameras can be placed far apart, but four sets of B0091 are required.

Extension-Multi-1

In this form, we have tried 1 meter of HDMI cable before, and it works normally. The HDMI cable should be longer.

Extend the connection between the HAT and Raspberry Pi, you can consider the following two solutions:

Option1:

SKU: B0091 HDMI cable

It transmits MIPI signal through HDMI cable, which can be transmitted farther than through FFC cable, about 3M.

Extension-Multi-2

Option2：

SKU: U6248 LAN cable

It transmits MIPI signal through LAN cable, which can be transmitted farther than through FFC cable, about 10M.

Extension-Multi-3

In this form, we have tried 3 meter of LAN cable before, and it works normally. The HDMI cable should be longer.



Switch Composition Mode

Arducam Team has achieved the channel-switch function on some Quad-Camera kits. You can refer to the following guide to switch the Composition Mode.

Check I2C node:

You can input the following command to check if your camera kit supports switching the composition mode.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ i2cdetect -l
i2c-1   i2c         bcm2835 (i2c@7e804000)              I2C adapter
i2c-22  i2c         bcm2835 (i2c@7e205000)              I2C adapter
i2c-0   i2c         i2c-22-mux (chan_id 0)              I2C adapter
i2c-10  i2c         i2c-22-mux (chan_id 1)              I2C adapter

If you get some messages as above, then you can continue the following steps:

Detect I2C signal:

Take i2c 10 node as an example

i2c10

Select the Channel:

hat-i2c

Example:

# Set to single channel 0
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x02
# Set to single channel 1
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x12
# Set to single channel 2
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x22
# Set to single channel 3
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x32
# Set to double channel (single channel 0 and single channel 1)
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x01
# Set to double channel (single channel 2 and single channel 3)
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x11
# Set to four in one mode (Default)
i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x00

Test:

Single-channel test:

#Single channel test
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x02
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ libcamera-still -t 0

After setting the channel, you can directly use the libcamera command to capture images.

Dual-channel test:

#Dual channels test
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ i2cset -y 10 0x24 0x24 0x01
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ libcamera-still -t 0

Note

By default, the quad-camera kit works in synchronized 4-channel mode, and Raspberry Pi recognizes the whole kit as one camera Any manual focus or camera control adjustments (exposure/gain/white balance/etc.) will also be applied to 4 cameras at the same time.

If you encounter any problems when using the camera kit, please directly contact support@arducam.com for help.