Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Collapse
Brand Logo

ModalAI Forum

  1. ModalAI Support Forum
  2. Ask your questions right here!
  3. IMX412 Autoexposure Compensation

IMX412 Autoexposure Compensation

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ask your questions right here!
16 Posts 4 Posters 3.2k Views 2 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • zauberflote1Z zauberflote1

    That's interesting. I think the modalai exposure package might not be directly compatible with the hires camera then -- I have to test it myself, although I have the IMX 214 not the 412. Additionally, I am pretty sure I was able to use the lme_msv before with the Hires coupled with less aggressive parameters, but I don't recall if I made modifications to the source code -- it's been 5 months since I came across this.
    I'll take a closer look in my modified ModalAI packages directory and will upload any necessary patches for the latest SDK release related packages.

    If you can, please upload your full .conf and sample images in the meantime.

    C Offline
    C Offline
    ctitus
    Contributor
    wrote on last edited by
    #6

    @zauberflote1 Thanks, I appreciate it!

    voxl-streamer.conf

    /**
     * This file contains configuration parameters for voxl-streamer.
     *
     * input-pipe:
     *    This is the MPA pipe to subscribe to. Ideally this is a pipe
     *    with an H264 stream such as the default: hires-stream
     *    However, you can point voxl-streamer to a RAW8 uncompressed stream such as
     *    tracking or qvio_overlay. In this case voxl-streamer will encode the stream
     *    at the bitrate provided in the birtate field.
     *    if input-pipe is already H264 then the bitrate config here is ignored and you
     *    should set the bitrate in voxl-camera-server.conf!!!!!
     *
     * bitrate:
     *    Bitrate to compress raw MPA streams to.
     *    Ignored for H264 streams like hires_stream
     *
     * decimator:
     *    Decimate frames to drop framerate of RAW streams.
     *    Ignored for H264 streams like hires_stream
     *
     * port:
     *    port to serve rtsp stream on, default is 8900
     *
     */
    {
    	"conf-version":	"1.4",
    	"configuration":	"hires",
    	"uvc-generic":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	1,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"uvc-flir-boson":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	512,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"uvc-flir-lepton":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	160,
    				"height":	120,
    				"bitrate":	500000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"hires":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"hires"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"hires-logo":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"hires"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		},
    		"overlay":	{
    			"location":	"/etc/modalai/modalai.png",
    			"offset_x":	-1,
    			"offset_y":	-1
    		}
    	},
    	"stereo":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"stereo"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	960,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"stereo-color":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"stereo_front"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	1280,
    				"height":	800,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"tracking":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"tracking"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"dfs-disparity":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"dfs_disparity"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"qvio-overlay":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"qvio_overlay"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	544,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"tflite-overlay":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"tflite"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"hdmi-mpa":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"v4l2"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	360,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"gphoto2-mpa":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"mpa",
    			"mpa-camera":	"gphoto2"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	360,
    				"decimator":	2,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"video-test":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"test",
    			"frame":	{
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"format":	"yuv420"
    			}
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	480,
    				"rate":	30,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"uvc-video":	{
    		"input":	{
    			"interface":	"uvc",
    			"device":	"/dev/video0"
    		},
    		"output":	{
    			"stream":	{
    				"rotation":	0,
    				"width":	640,
    				"height":	360,
    				"rate":	15,
    				"bitrate":	1000000
    			}
    		}
    	},
    	"input-pipe":	"hires_small_encoded",
    	"bitrate":	1000000,
    	"rotation":	0,
    	"decimator":	1,
    	"port":	8900
    }
    

    voxl-camera-server.conf

    /**
     * voxl-camera-server Configuration File
     *
     * Each camera has configurations for up to 4 HAL3 streams:
     *    - `preview` stream for raw unprocessed images from CV cameras
     *    - `small_video` 720p (ish) h264/h265 compressed for fpv video streaming
     *    - `large_video` 4k (ish) h264/h265 for onboard video recording to disk
     *    - `snapshot` ISP-processed JPG snapshots that get saved to disk
     *
     * on QRB5165 platforms (VOXL2 and VOXL2 mini) you can only have 3 of the 4 enabled
     *
     * This file is generated from default values by voxl-configure-cameras.
     * Do not expect arbitrary resolutions to work, the ISP and video compression
     * pipelines only support very specific resolutions.
     *
     * The default video compression mode is cqp or Constant Quantization Parameter
     *
     *
     *
     */
    {
    	"version":	0.1,
    	"fsync_en":	false,
    	"fsync_gpio":	109,
    	"cameras":	[{
    			"type":	"imx412",
    			"name":	"hires",
    			"enabled":	true,
    			"camera_id":	0,
    			"fps":	30,
    			"en_preview":	false,
    			"preview_width":	640,
    			"preview_height":	480,
    			"en_raw_preview":	false,
    			"en_small_video":	true,
    			"small_video_width":	1024,
    			"small_video_height":	768,
    			"small_venc_mode":	"h265",
    			"small_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
    			"small_venc_Qfixed":	30,
    			"small_venc_Qmin":	15,
    			"small_venc_Qmax":	40,
    			"small_venc_nPframes":	9,
    			"small_venc_mbps":	2,
    			"en_large_video":	true,
    			"large_video_width":	4056,
    			"large_video_height":	3040,
    			"large_venc_mode":	"h265",
    			"large_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
    			"large_venc_Qfixed":	38,
    			"large_venc_Qmin":	15,
    			"large_venc_Qmax":	50,
    			"large_venc_nPframes":	29,
    			"large_venc_mbps":	30,
    			"en_snapshot":	true,
    			"en_snapshot_width":	4056,
    			"en_snapshot_height":	3040,
    			"exif_focal_length":	3.0999999046325684,
    			"exif_focal_length_in_35mm_format":	17,
    			"exif_fnumber":	1.2400000095367432,
    			"ae_mode":	"isp"
    		}]
    }
    
    C 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • C ctitus

      Also, related question, where can I do vertical and horizontal flipping of the image?

      zauberflote1Z Offline
      zauberflote1Z Offline
      zauberflote1
      ModalAI Team
      wrote on last edited by
      #7

      @ctitus
      You can set up a custom camera configuration

      #!/bin/bash
      
      ################################################################################
      #
      # This file allows setting of custom camera configurations by defining what
      # sensors are plugged into which port.
      #
      # There is no guarantee that any arbitrary configuration will work. Only the
      # predefined camera configs at https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-camera-configs/
      # are supported.
      #
      # each slot can be one of the following sensors:
      #
      # pmd-tof
      # pmd-tof-liow2
      # ov7251
      # ov7251-combo
      # ov9782
      # ov9782-combo
      # ar0144
      # ar0144-fsin (for use with m0173 and Starling 2 only)
      # ar0144-fsin-combo (for use with m0173 and Starling 2 only)
      # imx214
      # imx412
      # imx412-fpv (low latency mode)
      # imx678
      #
      #
      # When using a combo mode pair, you must also add a JX_COMBO_MODE field which
      # specifies is the pair is to be set up as either a stereo pair ordered
      # left-right, right-left, or treated as two independent cameras. If you are
      # using a combo-mode flex but only physically connect one of the two cameras
      # then select "single" it does not matter which one you connect.
      #
      # For example:
      # J6_LOWER_COMBO_MODE="left-right"
      # J6_LOWER_COMBO_MODE="right-left"
      # J6_LOWER_COMBO_MODE="independent"
      # J6_LOWER_COMBO_MODE="single"
      #
      # when running "independent" combo mode, also add a NAME2 field for the second cam
      # e.g J6_LOWER_NAME2="tracking_rear"
      #
      # for all sensors except TOF, you can specify a "rotate" flag to
      # rotate the image 180 degrees e.g. J6_LOWER_ROTATE="true" or "false"
      # for stereo pairs (e.g. ov7251 combo or ar0144-slave-strereo) you can specify
      # "rotate-first-only" or "rotate-second-only" to only rotate one, other wise
      # when setting the rotate option to "true" both will be rotated.
      #
      #
      # Once configured, this file should live in /data/modalai/custom_camera-config.txt
      # then run voxl-configure-cameras custom to load it in
      #
      #
      # cp /usr/share/modalai/voxl-camera-server/custom_camera_config.txt /data/modalai/
      #
      # We also suggest changing your /data/modalai/sku.txt file to have a camera
      # config term "CC" such as MRB-D0005-4-V2-CC
      ################################################################################
      
      
      J6_LOWER_SENSOR=""
      J6_LOWER_NAME=""
      J6_LOWER_ROTATE="false"
      
      
      J6_UPPER_SENSOR=""
      J6_UPPER_NAME=""
      J6_UPPER_ROTATE="false"
      
      
      J7_LOWER_SENSOR=""
      J7_LOWER_NAME=""
      J7_LOWER_ROTATE="false"
      
      
      J7_UPPER_SENSOR=""
      J7_UPPER_NAME=""
      J7_UPPER_ROTATE="false"
      
      
      J8_LOWER_SENSOR=""
      J8_LOWER_NAME=""
      J8_LOWER_ROTATE="false"
      
      
      J8_UPPER_SENSOR=""
      J8_UPPER_NAME=""
      J8_UPPER_ROTATE="false"
      
      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • C ctitus

        @zauberflote1 Thanks, I appreciate it!

        voxl-streamer.conf

        /**
         * This file contains configuration parameters for voxl-streamer.
         *
         * input-pipe:
         *    This is the MPA pipe to subscribe to. Ideally this is a pipe
         *    with an H264 stream such as the default: hires-stream
         *    However, you can point voxl-streamer to a RAW8 uncompressed stream such as
         *    tracking or qvio_overlay. In this case voxl-streamer will encode the stream
         *    at the bitrate provided in the birtate field.
         *    if input-pipe is already H264 then the bitrate config here is ignored and you
         *    should set the bitrate in voxl-camera-server.conf!!!!!
         *
         * bitrate:
         *    Bitrate to compress raw MPA streams to.
         *    Ignored for H264 streams like hires_stream
         *
         * decimator:
         *    Decimate frames to drop framerate of RAW streams.
         *    Ignored for H264 streams like hires_stream
         *
         * port:
         *    port to serve rtsp stream on, default is 8900
         *
         */
        {
        	"conf-version":	"1.4",
        	"configuration":	"hires",
        	"uvc-generic":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	1,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"uvc-flir-boson":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	512,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"uvc-flir-lepton":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"uvc"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	160,
        				"height":	120,
        				"bitrate":	500000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"hires":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"hires"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"hires-logo":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"hires"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		},
        		"overlay":	{
        			"location":	"/etc/modalai/modalai.png",
        			"offset_x":	-1,
        			"offset_y":	-1
        		}
        	},
        	"stereo":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"stereo"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	960,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"stereo-color":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"stereo_front"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	1280,
        				"height":	800,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"tracking":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"tracking"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"dfs-disparity":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"dfs_disparity"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"qvio-overlay":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"qvio_overlay"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	544,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"tflite-overlay":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"tflite"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"hdmi-mpa":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"v4l2"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	360,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"gphoto2-mpa":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"mpa",
        			"mpa-camera":	"gphoto2"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	360,
        				"decimator":	2,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"video-test":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"test",
        			"frame":	{
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"format":	"yuv420"
        			}
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	480,
        				"rate":	30,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"uvc-video":	{
        		"input":	{
        			"interface":	"uvc",
        			"device":	"/dev/video0"
        		},
        		"output":	{
        			"stream":	{
        				"rotation":	0,
        				"width":	640,
        				"height":	360,
        				"rate":	15,
        				"bitrate":	1000000
        			}
        		}
        	},
        	"input-pipe":	"hires_small_encoded",
        	"bitrate":	1000000,
        	"rotation":	0,
        	"decimator":	1,
        	"port":	8900
        }
        

        voxl-camera-server.conf

        /**
         * voxl-camera-server Configuration File
         *
         * Each camera has configurations for up to 4 HAL3 streams:
         *    - `preview` stream for raw unprocessed images from CV cameras
         *    - `small_video` 720p (ish) h264/h265 compressed for fpv video streaming
         *    - `large_video` 4k (ish) h264/h265 for onboard video recording to disk
         *    - `snapshot` ISP-processed JPG snapshots that get saved to disk
         *
         * on QRB5165 platforms (VOXL2 and VOXL2 mini) you can only have 3 of the 4 enabled
         *
         * This file is generated from default values by voxl-configure-cameras.
         * Do not expect arbitrary resolutions to work, the ISP and video compression
         * pipelines only support very specific resolutions.
         *
         * The default video compression mode is cqp or Constant Quantization Parameter
         *
         *
         *
         */
        {
        	"version":	0.1,
        	"fsync_en":	false,
        	"fsync_gpio":	109,
        	"cameras":	[{
        			"type":	"imx412",
        			"name":	"hires",
        			"enabled":	true,
        			"camera_id":	0,
        			"fps":	30,
        			"en_preview":	false,
        			"preview_width":	640,
        			"preview_height":	480,
        			"en_raw_preview":	false,
        			"en_small_video":	true,
        			"small_video_width":	1024,
        			"small_video_height":	768,
        			"small_venc_mode":	"h265",
        			"small_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
        			"small_venc_Qfixed":	30,
        			"small_venc_Qmin":	15,
        			"small_venc_Qmax":	40,
        			"small_venc_nPframes":	9,
        			"small_venc_mbps":	2,
        			"en_large_video":	true,
        			"large_video_width":	4056,
        			"large_video_height":	3040,
        			"large_venc_mode":	"h265",
        			"large_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
        			"large_venc_Qfixed":	38,
        			"large_venc_Qmin":	15,
        			"large_venc_Qmax":	50,
        			"large_venc_nPframes":	29,
        			"large_venc_mbps":	30,
        			"en_snapshot":	true,
        			"en_snapshot_width":	4056,
        			"en_snapshot_height":	3040,
        			"exif_focal_length":	3.0999999046325684,
        			"exif_focal_length_in_35mm_format":	17,
        			"exif_fnumber":	1.2400000095367432,
        			"ae_mode":	"isp"
        		}]
        }
        
        C Offline
        C Offline
        ctitus
        Contributor
        wrote on last edited by ctitus
        #8

        The isp is too bright and the apriltag is more washed out than I would like, the lme_msv picture was with the ridiculously low exposure times and looks the same regardless of how I change the parameters.

        On the same camera with a different drone, I've run the following command to get the image quality I'd like:

        gst-launch-1.0 -e qtiqmmfsrc camera=0 autoexposure=1 ae-compensation=-12 ! video/x-raw,format=NV12,width=3840,height=2160,framerate=1/2 ! videoflip method=vertical-flip ! queue ! jpegenc ! multifilesink location="/data/images/img.jpg" max-files=1
        

        isp_aerial_apriltag.png vvv
        isp_aerial_apriltag.png

        isp.png vvv
        isp.png

        lme_msv.png vvv
        lme_msv.png

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • C Offline
          C Offline
          ctitus
          Contributor
          wrote on last edited by ctitus
          #9

          @zauberflote1 I also tried changing the exposure with an old command, but there was no change

          voxl-send-command hires_snapshot set_exp_gain 1 1 ; voxl-send-command hires_snapshot snapshot
          
          C 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • C ctitus

            @zauberflote1 I also tried changing the exposure with an old command, but there was no change

            voxl-send-command hires_snapshot set_exp_gain 1 1 ; voxl-send-command hires_snapshot snapshot
            
            C Offline
            C Offline
            ctitus
            Contributor
            wrote on last edited by ctitus
            #10

            If there's a way to modify the very start of the pipe to set autoexposure=1 and ae-compensation=-12 and then pipe that back into VOXL's pipe architecture, or to maybe turn off any voxl sdk autoexposure and just modify qualcomm's built in parameters, that would work just fine for me, I would just need to know where to look to find where the qualcomm camera parameters are set. Even if it's not a pretty solution, a temporary hardcoded fix I can implement would be just fine for now.

            ModeratorM 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • C ctitus

              If there's a way to modify the very start of the pipe to set autoexposure=1 and ae-compensation=-12 and then pipe that back into VOXL's pipe architecture, or to maybe turn off any voxl sdk autoexposure and just modify qualcomm's built in parameters, that would work just fine for me, I would just need to know where to look to find where the qualcomm camera parameters are set. Even if it's not a pretty solution, a temporary hardcoded fix I can implement would be just fine for now.

              ModeratorM Offline
              ModeratorM Offline
              Moderator
              ModalAI Team
              wrote on last edited by
              #11

              @ctitus We don't know exactly how to do what you are looking for

              We run libmodal-exposure on the computer vision cameras. That's an example of how to run your own exposure control. You could write your own for your use case if that's interesting to you.

              There's a chance the parameter you are trying to set is the following:
              ANDROID_CONTROL_AE_EXPOSURE_COMPENSATION

              If so, you could try to set it in a similar way to this line of code here: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/voxl-camera-server/-/blob/master/src/hal3_camera_mgr.cpp?ref_type=heads#L465

              Alex KushleyevA 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • ModeratorM Moderator

                @ctitus We don't know exactly how to do what you are looking for

                We run libmodal-exposure on the computer vision cameras. That's an example of how to run your own exposure control. You could write your own for your use case if that's interesting to you.

                There's a chance the parameter you are trying to set is the following:
                ANDROID_CONTROL_AE_EXPOSURE_COMPENSATION

                If so, you could try to set it in a similar way to this line of code here: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/voxl-camera-server/-/blob/master/src/hal3_camera_mgr.cpp?ref_type=heads#L465

                Alex KushleyevA Offline
                Alex KushleyevA Offline
                Alex Kushleyev
                ModalAI Team
                wrote on last edited by Alex Kushleyev
                #12

                Dear All,

                In order to use modalai exposure algorithm lme_msv, you have to enable the preview stream, because the algorithm uses the YUV that is generated for the preview stream.

                If you are using isp auto exposure (which is built-in Qualcomm's algorithm), you do not need to enable the preview stream.

                Please paste the latest voxl-camera-server.conf that you are testing, I will test it using lme_msv and suggest any corrections if I find something wrong.

                Alex

                C 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

                  Dear All,

                  In order to use modalai exposure algorithm lme_msv, you have to enable the preview stream, because the algorithm uses the YUV that is generated for the preview stream.

                  If you are using isp auto exposure (which is built-in Qualcomm's algorithm), you do not need to enable the preview stream.

                  Please paste the latest voxl-camera-server.conf that you are testing, I will test it using lme_msv and suggest any corrections if I find something wrong.

                  Alex

                  C Offline
                  C Offline
                  ctitus
                  Contributor
                  wrote on last edited by ctitus
                  #13

                  @Alex-Kushleyev I was able to get it working with some changes to hal3_camera_mgr.cpp. The short version is I added int32_t aeExposureCompensation = -12; requestMetadata.update(ANDROID_CONTROL_AE_EXPOSURE_COMPENSATION, &aeExposureCompensation, 1); to the AE_ISP case here in hal3_camera_mgr.cpp and recompiled and deployed the voxl-camera-server following the docs here. I also had a hard time finding the docs for these parameters for some reason so I'll like them here just in case it's useful to others.

                  The slightly longer version is I really added a custom auto exposure mode AE_CUSTOM to lines 169-189 of common_defs.h, and then copied the AE_ISP case, renamed it custom, and added the two lines above to that. With this method, I also had to modify this line and add if(ae_mode != AE_ISP && ae_mode != AE_CUSTOM){ to prevent the exposure and gains from being overwritten. I'd like to add the autoexposure compensation as a parameter to /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf so it's more convenient to change, but it's not urgent.

                  If there's a better way to do any of this, I'd appreciate any feedback, but it is working now. I've attached my /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf below

                   * voxl-camera-server Configuration File
                   *
                   * Each camera has configurations for up to 4 HAL3 streams:
                   *    - `preview` stream for raw unprocessed images from CV cameras
                   *    - `small_video` 720p (ish) h264/h265 compressed for fpv video streaming
                   *    - `large_video` 4k (ish) h264/h265 for onboard video recording to disk
                   *    - `snapshot` ISP-processed JPG snapshots that get saved to disk
                   *
                   * on QRB5165 platforms (VOXL2 and VOXL2 mini) you can only have 3 of the 4 enabled
                   *
                   * This file is generated from default values by voxl-configure-cameras.
                   * Do not expect arbitrary resolutions to work, the ISP and video compression
                   * pipelines only support very specific resolutions.
                   *
                   * The default video compression mode is cqp or Constant Quantization Parameter
                   *
                   *
                   *
                   */
                  {
                  	"version":	0.1,
                  	"fsync_en":	false,
                  	"fsync_gpio":	109,
                  	"cameras":	[{
                  			"type":	"imx412",
                  			"name":	"hires",
                  			"enabled":	true,
                  			"camera_id":	0,
                  			"fps":	30,
                  			"en_preview":	false,
                  			"preview_width":	640,
                  			"preview_height":	480,
                  			"en_raw_preview":	false,
                  			"en_small_video":	true,
                  			"small_video_width":	1024,
                  			"small_video_height":	768,
                  			"small_venc_mode":	"h265",
                  			"small_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                  			"small_venc_Qfixed":	30,
                  			"small_venc_Qmin":	15,
                  			"small_venc_Qmax":	40,
                  			"small_venc_nPframes":	9,
                  			"small_venc_mbps":	2,
                  			"en_large_video":	true,
                  			"large_video_width":	4056,
                  			"large_video_height":	3040,
                  			"large_venc_mode":	"h265",
                  			"large_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                  			"large_venc_Qfixed":	38,
                  			"large_venc_Qmin":	15,
                  			"large_venc_Qmax":	50,
                  			"large_venc_nPframes":	29,
                  			"large_venc_mbps":	30,
                  			"en_snapshot":	true,
                  			"en_snapshot_width":	4056,
                  			"en_snapshot_height":	3040,
                  			"exif_focal_length":	3.0999999046325684,
                  			"exif_focal_length_in_35mm_format":	17,
                  			"exif_fnumber":	1.2400000095367432,
                  			"ae_mode":	"custom"
                  		}]
                  }```
                  ModeratorM Alex KushleyevA 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • C ctitus

                    @Alex-Kushleyev I was able to get it working with some changes to hal3_camera_mgr.cpp. The short version is I added int32_t aeExposureCompensation = -12; requestMetadata.update(ANDROID_CONTROL_AE_EXPOSURE_COMPENSATION, &aeExposureCompensation, 1); to the AE_ISP case here in hal3_camera_mgr.cpp and recompiled and deployed the voxl-camera-server following the docs here. I also had a hard time finding the docs for these parameters for some reason so I'll like them here just in case it's useful to others.

                    The slightly longer version is I really added a custom auto exposure mode AE_CUSTOM to lines 169-189 of common_defs.h, and then copied the AE_ISP case, renamed it custom, and added the two lines above to that. With this method, I also had to modify this line and add if(ae_mode != AE_ISP && ae_mode != AE_CUSTOM){ to prevent the exposure and gains from being overwritten. I'd like to add the autoexposure compensation as a parameter to /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf so it's more convenient to change, but it's not urgent.

                    If there's a better way to do any of this, I'd appreciate any feedback, but it is working now. I've attached my /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf below

                     * voxl-camera-server Configuration File
                     *
                     * Each camera has configurations for up to 4 HAL3 streams:
                     *    - `preview` stream for raw unprocessed images from CV cameras
                     *    - `small_video` 720p (ish) h264/h265 compressed for fpv video streaming
                     *    - `large_video` 4k (ish) h264/h265 for onboard video recording to disk
                     *    - `snapshot` ISP-processed JPG snapshots that get saved to disk
                     *
                     * on QRB5165 platforms (VOXL2 and VOXL2 mini) you can only have 3 of the 4 enabled
                     *
                     * This file is generated from default values by voxl-configure-cameras.
                     * Do not expect arbitrary resolutions to work, the ISP and video compression
                     * pipelines only support very specific resolutions.
                     *
                     * The default video compression mode is cqp or Constant Quantization Parameter
                     *
                     *
                     *
                     */
                    {
                    	"version":	0.1,
                    	"fsync_en":	false,
                    	"fsync_gpio":	109,
                    	"cameras":	[{
                    			"type":	"imx412",
                    			"name":	"hires",
                    			"enabled":	true,
                    			"camera_id":	0,
                    			"fps":	30,
                    			"en_preview":	false,
                    			"preview_width":	640,
                    			"preview_height":	480,
                    			"en_raw_preview":	false,
                    			"en_small_video":	true,
                    			"small_video_width":	1024,
                    			"small_video_height":	768,
                    			"small_venc_mode":	"h265",
                    			"small_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                    			"small_venc_Qfixed":	30,
                    			"small_venc_Qmin":	15,
                    			"small_venc_Qmax":	40,
                    			"small_venc_nPframes":	9,
                    			"small_venc_mbps":	2,
                    			"en_large_video":	true,
                    			"large_video_width":	4056,
                    			"large_video_height":	3040,
                    			"large_venc_mode":	"h265",
                    			"large_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                    			"large_venc_Qfixed":	38,
                    			"large_venc_Qmin":	15,
                    			"large_venc_Qmax":	50,
                    			"large_venc_nPframes":	29,
                    			"large_venc_mbps":	30,
                    			"en_snapshot":	true,
                    			"en_snapshot_width":	4056,
                    			"en_snapshot_height":	3040,
                    			"exif_focal_length":	3.0999999046325684,
                    			"exif_focal_length_in_35mm_format":	17,
                    			"exif_fnumber":	1.2400000095367432,
                    			"ae_mode":	"custom"
                    		}]
                    }```
                    ModeratorM Offline
                    ModeratorM Offline
                    Moderator
                    ModalAI Team
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #14

                    @ctitus we are happy to look at a merge request if you have one. thanks for the feedback!

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • C ctitus

                      @Alex-Kushleyev I was able to get it working with some changes to hal3_camera_mgr.cpp. The short version is I added int32_t aeExposureCompensation = -12; requestMetadata.update(ANDROID_CONTROL_AE_EXPOSURE_COMPENSATION, &aeExposureCompensation, 1); to the AE_ISP case here in hal3_camera_mgr.cpp and recompiled and deployed the voxl-camera-server following the docs here. I also had a hard time finding the docs for these parameters for some reason so I'll like them here just in case it's useful to others.

                      The slightly longer version is I really added a custom auto exposure mode AE_CUSTOM to lines 169-189 of common_defs.h, and then copied the AE_ISP case, renamed it custom, and added the two lines above to that. With this method, I also had to modify this line and add if(ae_mode != AE_ISP && ae_mode != AE_CUSTOM){ to prevent the exposure and gains from being overwritten. I'd like to add the autoexposure compensation as a parameter to /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf so it's more convenient to change, but it's not urgent.

                      If there's a better way to do any of this, I'd appreciate any feedback, but it is working now. I've attached my /etc/modalai/voxl-camera-server.conf below

                       * voxl-camera-server Configuration File
                       *
                       * Each camera has configurations for up to 4 HAL3 streams:
                       *    - `preview` stream for raw unprocessed images from CV cameras
                       *    - `small_video` 720p (ish) h264/h265 compressed for fpv video streaming
                       *    - `large_video` 4k (ish) h264/h265 for onboard video recording to disk
                       *    - `snapshot` ISP-processed JPG snapshots that get saved to disk
                       *
                       * on QRB5165 platforms (VOXL2 and VOXL2 mini) you can only have 3 of the 4 enabled
                       *
                       * This file is generated from default values by voxl-configure-cameras.
                       * Do not expect arbitrary resolutions to work, the ISP and video compression
                       * pipelines only support very specific resolutions.
                       *
                       * The default video compression mode is cqp or Constant Quantization Parameter
                       *
                       *
                       *
                       */
                      {
                      	"version":	0.1,
                      	"fsync_en":	false,
                      	"fsync_gpio":	109,
                      	"cameras":	[{
                      			"type":	"imx412",
                      			"name":	"hires",
                      			"enabled":	true,
                      			"camera_id":	0,
                      			"fps":	30,
                      			"en_preview":	false,
                      			"preview_width":	640,
                      			"preview_height":	480,
                      			"en_raw_preview":	false,
                      			"en_small_video":	true,
                      			"small_video_width":	1024,
                      			"small_video_height":	768,
                      			"small_venc_mode":	"h265",
                      			"small_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                      			"small_venc_Qfixed":	30,
                      			"small_venc_Qmin":	15,
                      			"small_venc_Qmax":	40,
                      			"small_venc_nPframes":	9,
                      			"small_venc_mbps":	2,
                      			"en_large_video":	true,
                      			"large_video_width":	4056,
                      			"large_video_height":	3040,
                      			"large_venc_mode":	"h265",
                      			"large_venc_br_ctrl":	"cqp",
                      			"large_venc_Qfixed":	38,
                      			"large_venc_Qmin":	15,
                      			"large_venc_Qmax":	50,
                      			"large_venc_nPframes":	29,
                      			"large_venc_mbps":	30,
                      			"en_snapshot":	true,
                      			"en_snapshot_width":	4056,
                      			"en_snapshot_height":	3040,
                      			"exif_focal_length":	3.0999999046325684,
                      			"exif_focal_length_in_35mm_format":	17,
                      			"exif_fnumber":	1.2400000095367432,
                      			"ae_mode":	"custom"
                      		}]
                      }```
                      Alex KushleyevA Offline
                      Alex KushleyevA Offline
                      Alex Kushleyev
                      ModalAI Team
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #15

                      @ctitus , thanks for sharing!

                      I understand what change you made, will take a look and talk to the team whether we want to incorporate.. will keep you posted.

                      Alex

                      Alex KushleyevA 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

                        @ctitus , thanks for sharing!

                        I understand what change you made, will take a look and talk to the team whether we want to incorporate.. will keep you posted.

                        Alex

                        Alex KushleyevA Offline
                        Alex KushleyevA Offline
                        Alex Kushleyev
                        ModalAI Team
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #16

                        @ctitus ,

                        I have implemented this change on a branch here : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/voxl-camera-server/-/commit/591f5683c7e2123c31aaa18af6a87e0c3820bd22 , it seems to be working.

                        I did not add any custom AE mode, since this parameter only applies to the ISP-based auto exposure.

                        Based on your experience, do you see any issues with this approach? It is working fine in initial testing. Perhaps your application is a bit different and you need the custom AE selection.

                        Alex

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0

                        Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.

                        Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.

                        With your input, this post could be even better 💗

                        Register Login
                        Reply
                        • Reply as topic
                        Log in to reply
                        • Oldest to Newest
                        • Newest to Oldest
                        • Most Votes


                        ModalAI
                        Categories Recent Tags ModalAI.com Docs
                        © 2026 ModalAI® · Accelerating autonomy for smaller, smarter, safer drones · Powered by NodeBB
                        • Login

                        • Login or register to search.
                        • First post
                          Last post
                        0
                        • Categories
                        • Recent
                        • Tags
                        • Popular
                        • Users
                        • Groups