AR2020 SmartROI Calculator User Guide

Owned by John Medalen
Oct 16, 2023
4 min read

AR2020 SmartROI Calculator User Guide

 

What is SmartROI?

From a single image generated by the pixel array, two smaller images are generated. Scaled image can cover full FOV, while cropped image gives you full details on a selected ROI. Two images are then transmitted using MIPI virtual channels.

 

This calculator was created to calculate and save settings required by the user. It is an intuitive alternative of register wizard and Frame Rate Calculator for saving AR2020 register settings.

Following is the GUI of the standalone application.

The right half contains the parameters that can be changed to utilize the SmartROI functionality.

The left half displays the information of the sensors settings that will be generated for the current configuration, i.e. based on the parameters by the user.

Informative Left Side –

  • Anything colored in blue is related to the ROI1. Similarly, anything colored in red is related to ROI2.

  • Blue bounding box – represents the scaled image – ROI1.

  • Red bounding box – represents the cropped image – ROI2.

  • Below the bounding boxes displays the coordinates of top left and bottom right corners of the bounding boxes ROI1 and ROI2.

  • The text at the bottom shows the bandwidth reduction due to SmartROI.

 

Tunable Parameters on Right Side –

  1. ROI1 – This sets the output resolution of ROI1. The blue bounding box on the left corresponds to the ROI1 showing how much of the pixel array is being covered in the input. It is a drop down with some pre-existing resolutions defined but the user can input any desired output resolution. The input must be valid and if it is not then it will itself set to the nearest valid resolution.

  2. Center – This button centers the ROI1 with respect to the entire pixel array, basically this will always center the ROI1 at the center.

  3. Single Channel – This selects the green channel and is the only channel being displayed.

  4. SCALER – Scales the smaller resolution image to cover full FOV. User can choose between using a slider and a spinbox to scale. This controls the amount of scaling done to the lower resolution image. The max value for each resolution is automatically updated based.

Spinbox - Here, 1.00 -> covers entire FOV and; Max value -> no scaling is applied. NOTE: While using the spinbox please hit ENTER if manually entering the value.

 

Slider - Slider for scaling smaller resolution image to cover full FOV. Here, Leftmost end -> covers entire FOV and; Rightmost end -> no scaling is applied.

  1. X OFFSET & Y OFFSET – Top left x and y coordinates of ROI1. It sets the offsets in input.

  2. ROI2 – Similar to ROI1 this sets the output resolution of ROI2. The red bounding box on the left corresponds to the ROI2 showing how much of the pixel array is being covered in the input. It is a drop down with some pre-existing resolutions defined but the user can input any desired output resolution. The input must be valid and if it is not then it will itself set to the nearest valid resolution.

  3. Center – This button centers the ROI2 with respect to the ROI1. It will center ROI2 at the center of ROI1.

  4. X OFFSET & Y OFFSET – Top left x and y coordinates of ROI2. It sets the offsets in input.

  5. LANES – User can change between the number of lanes (1, 2, 4, 8) that are allowed.

  6. XMCLK – Clock Frequency. NOTE: Execute the command - 'apbase.Camera().output_clock_freq = (clock_fq)*1000000', where clock_fq is the desired clock frequency, in python console of DevwareX before loading preset.

  7. MIPI SPEED – MIPI speed in Mbps.

  8. FRAME RATE – Frame Rate in FPS.

  9. SAVE – This button is used to save the

NOTE: Please hit ENTER when manually inputting values in any of the widgets above to apply the changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steps to use the tool –

(User will need AR2020 Headboard.)

Use the SmartROI standalone app to save the register settings. It will be saved in .ini format. Let’s save the following settings.

Open Devware and start in any mode. We will start in the following mode –

Demo Initialization -> 5120x3840-15fps_Linear-10_MIPI-4/800Mbps

 

Open “Presets” from the toolbar

Use “Open” to open the .ini file that we saved. We will see 2 presets loaded, “Shared Settings” and “Smart ROI”.

 

Double Click on “Smart ROI” and the settings will be applied.

ROI1 -

 

ROI2 -

We can see the info panel to verify the applied settings.

NOTE: If you are using Auto Exposure you may have to set “apbase.setstate("Auto Exposure Minimum FPS", 72)” for higher frame rates. Increase the value to 120 if using even higher frame rates.