Ai-thinker has started building open-source hardware and in that they have launched camera development boards, which are AiPi-Cam-U and AiPi-Cam-D. These are specifically designed for development with Camera and connectivity (Wi-Fi/BLE)
Let’s take a look at the details and what is the difference between AiPI-Cam-U and AiPi-Cam-D.
Aithinker AiPi-Cam-U
AiPi-Cam-U is a camera development board built with Ai-M61-32S module by Ai-Thinker which supports WiFi6 and BLE5.3.
The Ai-M61-32S module has rich peripheral interfaces, including DVP, MJPEG, Display, Audio Codec, USB2.0, SDU, Ethernet (EMAC), SD/MMC(SDH), SPI, UART, I2C, I2S, PWM, GPDAC, GPADC, ACOMP and GPIO.
AiPi-Cam-U integrates USB-C, which can be used to connect to a USB camera.
AiPi-Cam-U
- System Block Diagram
- USB Camera Port
Aithinker AiPi-Cam-U Pinouts
IO breakout, convenient for connecting external devices.
Aithinker AiPi-Cam-U Documentation
Ai-Thinker official website docs：https://docs.ai-thinker.com/cam-u
AiPi-Cam-U LCSC open source address：https://oshwhub.com/ai-thiner_openteam/m6132cam (Note: If the link is not working for you, please try again later)
Aithinker AiPi-Cam-D
AiPi-Cam-D is a camera core board is designed by Ai-Thinker by using high-performance module Ai-M61-32S. Its pins are fully compatible with Ai-WB1-32S-CAM, and SD Card holder is added to make up for the limitation of Ai-WB1-32S-CAM.
AiPi-Cam-D board accesses to a 0.3 Mega pixel camera by default, and breaks out all unused pins to headers, which is convenient for development.
- System Block Diagram
- Camera circuit
The camera adopts the classic 24Pin FPC connector, which is compatible with many camera available in the market.
Note:
If you see that the camera feed is not working, it is recommended to check whether the C22 capacitor is soldered, if yes, you can remove that.
- Memory card circuit
The memory card uses high-speed four-wire data SPI interface
Ai-thinker AiPi-Cam-D Pinouts
Ai-thinker AiPi-Cam-D Documentation
Ai-Thinker official website docs：https://docs.ai-thinker.com/cam-u
I hope you found the blog useful. I am planning to give these development boards a try soon in one of my projects.
I work as an embedded systems design consultant, helping companies build custom embedded products and develop test automation solutions for their PCBs.
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