Embedded vision is one of the most exciting developments in today’s technology. It gives machines the ability to see, sense, think, and immediately respond to the real world.

RGGBer is a fully open source, low cost, modular development kit that makes embedded vision design easy! It provides all the necessary hardware resources and accessories to support 1080p @ 60 fps video applications. RGGBer is based on an FPGA which provides accessible programming, flexibility, and power.

You will want RGGBer if you are a…

• Hacker eager to experiment with video
• FPGA engineer working on an embedded vision project
• ASIC designer developing a video- or image-based chip
• Prototyper putting together a proof-of-concept
• Student interested in learning FPGA design skills
• Educator setting up classroom demos
• Manufacturer building a demo to show customers
• Embedded engineer shifting to FPGA from traditional processors
• Researcher working on a custom video-based project

RGGBer Dev Kit Benefits

Freedom from repetitive tasks: You can quickly start on the specific features of an embedded vision product without having to worry about building and designing basic, low-level functionality.

Quick start: RGGBer saves you time and money by providing a well-developed FPGA framework and reference designs.

Open source: RGGBer is an open source platform, so you can contribute and share knowledge with others, resulting in faster development and more robust solutions.

Fully Open Source

In keeping with principles of open hardware, all documentation regarding the FPGA framework, high quality reference designs, etc., is freely available on GitHub. The RGGBer Team will continuously publish updates on GitHub during and after the campaign to keep pace with the latest development.

Sample Applications

RGGBer provides reference designs in the following areas to help users get a quick start on their project. We’ll be sharing the details of these designs as updates during the campaign.

Machine Vision

Usually, machine vision uses a combination of high-speed cameras and computers to perform complex inspection tasks in addition to digital image acquisition and analysis. Connected to an OV5640 CIS module, RGGBer provides:

• HDMI output up to 1080p @ 60 fps, 24-bit color depth
• Real-time AWB, AEC, and AGC
• Auto-focus
• User-defined ISP and analysis algorithm support

The above two images illustrate auto focus with RGGBer.*

RGGBer uses the OV5640’s built-in ISP engine for AWB, AEC, AGC, and AF. It is user bypassable for those who wish to implement their own ISP modules in the FPGA.

The above two images illustrate RGGBer’s full HD capabilities.

High-performance Video Processing

RGGBer provides both HDMI input and output, so it is suitable for building video processing unit (VPU) cards. RGGBer can receive video from a laptop via HDMI and processes it with standard filter effects and other processing.

Four Filter Examples

The above four images are examples of effects you can create with RGGBer.

Multiple, Simultaneous Filters

RGGBer’s powerful FPGA allows you to apply multiple filters in real time.

Overlays

Use alpha blending to overlay a scale line on the source video for real-time measurement.

Multi-camera Surveillance

Connecting several RGGBers together allows you to build image networks. The video source can come from a standard HDMI source or a real-time image.

An Entry-level ADAS

When you install dual-camera monitoring on your car, RGGBer can serve as a DIY advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS). One camera monitors the back of the car and the other monitors front-left. With this setup, a user can quickly verify ADAS algorithms for LDWS, blind spot monitoring, car parking, etc.

Using RGGBer in an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS).

Medical Imaging

Below is an endoscope prototype built with RGGBer. The CIS module uses MIPI output so a MIPI-to-DVP adaptor board was created to handle the conversion.

Prototype of an endoscope using RGGBer.

Large-scale Vision System

The limited RAM and fabric resources of a single FPGA are usually the bottleneck when developing large-scale embedded vision projects. RGGBer can solve this issue by connecting RGGBers together, which means a complete large FPGA project can be spread across more than one FPGA.

Multiple RGGBers can be connected to work in parallel.

Features & Specifications

The FPGA processor board and the video mainboard form the core of the RGGBer Dev Kit. The FPGA processor board connects to the video mainboard via two high-speed, board-to-board connectors. It expands the FPGA’s PLL clock outputs, dedicated global clock inputs, I/Os, and power pins to various applications. A detailed pin-out reference is available in the GitHub repo.

Advantages of this dual board design include:

• Space savings
• The video mainboard can be easily updated to support an alternative display port, 4K resolution, and other new video technology.
• The FPGA processor board can be used seperately for other FPGA-based projects, such as digital signal processing or multi-axis motor control.

Mated FPGA Processor and Video Mainboard

Dual Board Block Diagram

Note: The purple dashed line in this diagram is functionality that will be added in the final deliverable version (rev 4). It indicates that the FPGA will be able to directly access the image sensor and the BLE4.0-to-UART module.

FPGA Processor Board

FPGA processor board dimensions: 68 mm x 60 mm

Video Mainboard

Video mainboard dimensions: 78 mm x 60 mm

Two image sensor modules are available

• OV5640 chip, 60° lens, supports auto-focus
• OV5640 chip, 120° lens, fixed-focus

Add-on Boards

iXCtrl Add-on Board:

• Free prototyping zone
• 4 x SMA connectors
• iXCtrl interfact
• Speaker: 25 mm x 15 mm, 1 W, 8 Ohm
• Buzzer: 12 mm x 9.5 mm, 5 V, 42 Ohm
• Power breakouts (power input up to 55 V with DC/DC modules in the Expansion Kit)

LCD Add-on Board:

• Supports 320 x 240 TFT color LCD, 24 bits (LQ035NC111 screen available as separate pledge level)
• Backlight LED control
• iXHis interface
• LQ035NC111 screen available

Expansion Interfaces for Add-on Cards

The iXHis, iXCIS, and iXCtrl interfaces serve as expansion interfaces to extend RGGBer’s functions for nearly limitless embedded vision applications.

iXHis Interface

iXHis is the interface that supports high speed channels that allow the user to easily connect to a USB 3.0 bridge chip, ultra high-speed image sensor, HDMI receiver chip and camera-link, etc. See in iXHis pin-out table.

• Mechanical properties: 50-pin, 0.5 mm pitch FFC connector
• Electrical properties: 15 x LVDS data lane, 1 x LVDS clock lane. Supports 31 single-ended line and 2 x clock input. DC +5 V

output

iXCIS Interface

iXCIS is the interface that supports mainstream CMOS image sensors and ISP chips. User is allowed to create add-on board based on specified sensors chip and optical lens. See in iXCIS pin-out table.

• Mechanical properties: 24-pin, 0.5 mm pitch FFC connector
• Electrical properties: 1 x FPGA GCLK, 1 x FPGA PLL clk out, 1 x SMBUS, 13 x single-ended FPGA line, DC +3.3 V output, 3.0 V/1.5 V/2.8 V LDO outputs.

iXCtrl Interface

iXCtrl interface allows user to control all kinds of actuators. See in iXCtrl pin-out table.

• Mechanical properties: 10-pin, 0.5 mm pitch FFC connector
• Electrical properties: 2 x 16-bit PWM, 2 x 12-bit DAC, 2 x 12-bit ADC up to 200 ksps, DC +5V output

Wireless Controls and Android App Support

As a vision device, RGGBer may need to be installed in a remote location such as in a security camera application. As such, it is necessary to support remote control. We have developed an Android app for this purpose which can control RGGBer remotely via the Bluetooth channel.

The app’s source code is freely available, and it supports multi-device connections and full duplex communications. The app provides a free typing zone to test RGGBer’s Bluetooth communications. We welcome users to develop and share their own protocols and implementations in the app. In addition, the app provides a complete GUI to control all the reference designs.

How to select the right kit for your project?

We’ve put together a few kits that bundle the RGGBer components needed for different kinds of machine vision development projects. We have kits for digital camera development, video processing card development, ADAS/multi-camera development, and a kit that bundles all the components in the RGGBer family.

Why an MCU?

The mixed-signal MCU is used for board-level configuration, image sensor initialization, Bluetooth protocol parsing, EDID write, etc. Those tasks are not usually timing critical, but they complicate sequential control. So assigning those tasks to MCU processing will save FPGA internal resources for high throughput processing. The C51 MCU is very basic and general and can be handled easily by most engineers. In addition, the mixed-signal MCU provides high performance analog channels to the iXCtrl port.

Comparison Table

Compared to other solutions, RGGBer is less expensive, smaller, and, most importantly, provides technical capabilities other tools don’t.

History of the RGGBer Dev Kit

We’ve completed the first three revisions of the prototype in the past 18 months to optimize RGGBer. We will ship rev 4 to all backers. The major improvements between these prototypes will be presented in a campaign update.

Stretch Goals

• Stretch Goal #1: A 1920 x 1080 color LCD add-on board will be developed if the campaign reaches a funding level of $5,000.
• Stretch Goal #2: A HDMI input add-on board will be developed if the campaign reaches a funding level of $10,000.

We will share with you the details of further stretch goals in future updates.

Manufacturing Plan

RGGBer is fortunate because all of our supply chains, including our PCB suppliers, test lab, and component vendors, are based in China, where we are located. This will help reduce many possible sources of delay, including shipping issues.

As soon as the campaign has successfully concluded, we will manufacture and deliver according to this schedule:

• Two weeks: Finalize rev 4 hardware designs which can be deliverable. Update schematics, PCB layout, and BOM.
• Two weeks: rev 4 prototype manufacture
• One week: rev 4 prototype functional test
• One week: Release rev 4 documentation, reference designs on GitHub repo.
• Four weeks: rev 4 PCB, PCBA mass production
• One week: rev 4 PCBA functional test
• One week: Packaging and shipping

Risks & Challenges

To date, we have completed three functional RGGBer prototypes. We feel that most of the design risks have been minimized.

Nonetheless, while unlikely at this point, it’s always possible a major bug could surface to cause a production delay. No matter the cause, we are committed to transparency and will notify backers immediately of any discovered risks or delays to the project.