Hi DepthAI Backers and Fans,

So, we’ve proof-of-concepted an SPI-only interface for DepthAI and it’s working well (proof of concept done with MSP430 and Raspberry Pi over SPI).

To make it easier for engineers to leverage this power (and also for us internally to develop it), we’re making a complete hardware and software/AI reference design for the ESP32, with the primary interface between DepthAI and the ESP32 being SPI.

The design will still have USB3C for DepthAI, which will allow you to see live high-bandwidth results/etc. on a computer while integrating/debugging communication to your ESP32 code (both running in parallel, which will be nice for debugging). Similarly, the ESP32 will have an onboard UART-USB converter and micro-USB connector for programming/interfacing w/ the ESP32 for easy development/debug.

For details and progress on the hardware effort see this Github issue and to check out the SPI support enhancement on DepthAI API​.

In short here’s the concept:

And here’s a first cut at the placement:

And please let us know if you have any thoughts/comments/questions on this design!

Best,
Brandon & The Luxonis Team