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    FLIR LEPTON 3.5 Thermal camera with VOXL 2

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    • Alex KushleyevA
      Alex Kushleyev ModalAI Team @Jetson Nano
      last edited by

      @Jetson-Nano , this looks like a sensor issue. VOXL2 does not do any configuration of the sensor's parameters, other than it can change the calibration interval based on config file, I believe.

      What you are seeing appears to be artifacts in the sensor itself, maybe due to noise on power rail(s). This is not an expected behavior, but it should not be caused by a SW configuration from the VOXL2 side.

      Alex

      Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Jetson NanoJ
        Jetson Nano @Alex Kushleyev
        last edited by

        @Alex-Kushleyev @Vinny @Eric-Katzfey @modaltb

        I am currently in the process of designing a custom thermal breakout board intended for integration with the M0173 Coax Board.

        As part of this configuration, I have already had the board manufactured. However, during testing, I observed that the VOXL2 Board is not recognizing the camera, and it throws the error message pinned at the top of this thread.

        To ensure the design is moving in the right direction, I would like to request your feedback on the following:

        -Whether the overall design approach is technically sound and compatible with the M0173 and VOXL2 systems.
        -If there are any missing components or critical connections that may be causing communication or recognition issues.

        I would greatly appreciate your time and expertise in reviewing the attached schematic of my breakout board.

        b6abd1e0-53ed-4230-93d8-d8f71437d594-image.png

        Thanks.

        VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • VinnyV
          Vinny ModalAI Team @Jetson Nano
          last edited by Vinny

          Hi @Jetson-Nano
          I do not see anything obviously wrong with your design, so we may be dealing with nuances that even we had to update our design for.

          1. FLIR suggest to connect MOSI (pin 11) to GND, per page 45 of their spec

          2a) There is a chance you have too much capacitance on the 2.8V rail. Our PMICs have limitations on the inrush specs and a 4.7uF I think puts that limit over the suggested amount by Qualcomm. I suggest lowering that to 2.2uF (what we use on our LDO) or even better 1uF. The 1.2V rail per specs (that I have which are a few years old) suggest the 1.2V rail only needs ~110mA
          2b) We use a small LDO, not a DC/DC. Not sure if the Lepton is happy with the noise of a DC/DC compared to an LDO and having issues or not. For reference we use a 500mA LDO from TI (TPS7A11xx family)
          2c) in relation to 2a above, what are the values of C3 and C2? If they are large (>=4.7uF) I suggest try lowering them to 2.2uF or 1uF's.

          1. For reset, this is where we found the biggest issue with the Leptons. We actually have a I2C GPIO expander on our design to issue SW controlled resets of the Lepton. It is not the most stable sensor and frequent resets are required for good operation. Here is our circuit if you want to try it yourself: 12577500-c2f8-4b82-8fda-b409be323a48-image.png

          For debugging your exact setup, one thing we do is validate if we hear the shutter click (or see the micro actuator move) on power up. Does your HW give that noticeable clicking when you try to power on? If not, you have a more serious issue such as a wrong PCB symbol or incorrect assembly.
          Hope that helped.

          Last resort, just use our M0187 design that we have for this. I'm not seeing it online for sale, but I can inquire with the team if we plan to make that available for individual use (it is embedded in Starling 2's now).

          Alex KushleyevA Jetson NanoJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Alex KushleyevA
            Alex Kushleyev ModalAI Team @Vinny
            last edited by

            I also double checked the schematic and did not notice anything wrong. Please follow Vinny’s suggestions 🙂 and definitely check if the Lepton is making the clicking sound, which would mean it is powered on, it should be clicking periodically in default mode after power on.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Jetson NanoJ
              Jetson Nano @Vinny
              last edited by

              @Vinny @Alex-Kushleyev
              Thank you for your invaluable feedback on the previous design. I have thoroughly reviewed your input and subsequently updated the schematic to incorporate the suggestions, specifically regarding the integration of an I2C GPIO expander. The updated schematic is attached for your review.

              During recent debugging, I observed a critical issue: the Lepton module is not powering up, and no shutter sound is audible. This suggests a fundamental problem with power delivery or clocking to the module, which is currently preventing any functionality.

              Concurrent to addressing this critical power-up issue, I would appreciate your expert insights on a few points concerning the updated design of the I2C GPIO expander and Lepton module interfacing:

              • I2C Bus Configuration: Regarding the I2C bus, should the I2C lines be connected in parallel to both the Lepton Module and the I2C GPIO expander?

              • Lepton Reset/Power Down Pins: Concerning the Lepton Module's RESET_N and POWER_DOWN_N pins, should the existing resistor-capacitor (RC) network connected to the RESET_N pin be retained, or can it be omitted?

              • I2C GPIO Expander INT Pin: For the I2C GPIO expander, is it permissible to leave the INT (Interrupt) pin unconnected, or does it require termination?

              • I2C GPIO Expander Software Configuration: From a software perspective, is the I2C GPIO expander a plug-and-play component, or does it require specific configuration?

              Your guidance on both the immediate power-up challenge and the schematic queries would be greatly appreciated.

              20fb34b6-34cc-4290-8509-fde084557724-image.png

              Thanks.

              VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • VinnyV
                Vinny ModalAI Team @Jetson Nano
                last edited by

                Hi @Jetson-Nano
                Happy to continue helping.
                Regarding your updated design first:


                "I2C Bus Configuration: Regarding the I2C bus, should the I2C lines be connected in parallel to both the Lepton Module and the I2C GPIO expander?"

                -- Yes.

                "Lepton Reset/Power Down Pins: Concerning the Lepton Module's RESET_N and POWER_DOWN_N pins, should the existing resistor-capacitor (RC) network connected to the RESET_N pin be retained, or can it be omitted?"

                -- We do not have any RC delay on the reset line since it is all GPIO controlled.

                "I2C GPIO Expander INT Pin: For the I2C GPIO expander, is it permissible to leave the INT (Interrupt) pin unconnected, or does it require termination?"

                -- It is an output and we do not use it, so N.C. is fine

                I2C GPIO Expander Software Configuration: From a software perspective, is the I2C GPIO expander a plug-and-play component, or does it require specific configuration?

                -- It is supported at that HW address by default with voxl-lepton-server (I think that it what is called, Alex can correct me if I'm mistaken)

                However, your updated SCH has a couple errors:

                • Your LDO input and output caps are not correctly done. They are in series, not shunts to GND as required:0f7551cf-b798-4665-9673-a4df6182c21b-image.png

                • The Pull-down R on the GPIO expander is not correct. The ADDR pin will always be HIGH due to the direct connection to 2.8V, but our default is LOW (see the snippet from above): f6ee80a1-e5fa-4635-b3dd-93c5ca85e501-image.png

                • Also, the GPIO expander is meant to drive the RESET input of the Lepton, not the PWR_DWN input: eb4012fd-2528-4879-a1f6-d235568faa6e-image.png

                Now, as to your existing board not powering on, I have a clue for you...
                Our very first lepton board we failed to notice the pin 1 hole in the Molex socket, and that is important since it sets a keying for the Lepton module. If the module is inserted incorrectly (90 or 180 off) it will clearly not power up. Pay close attention to the hole in the socket for pin 1 and two vs one slots in the socket which set the orientation.
                cc6af474-a14c-48b3-9d96-9310df3480ab-image.png
                679c78bb-4741-4674-9c33-277355fde4c9-image.png

                Keep us posted and hope this helped.

                Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Jetson NanoJ
                  Jetson Nano @Vinny
                  last edited by

                  @Vinny @Alex-Kushleyev

                  Thank you for your valuable feedback on the previous version of the schematic. Based on your recommendations, I have revised the design accordingly.

                  Please find the updated schematic attached below for your review

                  8b63651c-f927-48fd-9c33-16adf04c65ed-image.png

                  In addition to the design changes, I have also revisited the hardware setup to verify the power delivery, the Lepton module is still not powering up—there is no shutter sound or I²C response. At this point, I have exhausted the immediate troubleshooting steps and would greatly appreciate your guidance on further debugging strategies.

                  Could you please review the updated schematic and suggest any additional tests or possible points of failure that may have been overlooked?

                  Thank you again for your support and expertise.

                  VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • VinnyV
                    Vinny ModalAI Team @Jetson Nano
                    last edited by

                    Hi @Jetson-Nano
                    Sch updates look correct. I'd still add a pull-up on the Lepton Reset to help control it during initial power-ON before the IO expander is configured.

                    To help further debug your existing setup, I'd need more tangible info such as pictures with all your cables, etc. Do you have a DMM handy showing the voltages of 1.2V and 2.8V, and an O-scope for the 25MHz?
                    Can you also post a pic of your board without components installed (so I can review the layout as best as possible)?
                    It's hard to give much further guidance without actual hardware in my hands.
                    Thanks!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • J
                      jared @Jetson Nano
                      last edited by jared

                      @Jetson-Nano did you ever figure out a solution to this? I'm getting similar imagery. Is this an FFC issue? Running the same breakout board on a raspberry pi produces completely normal imagery.

                      K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • K
                        KLindgren @jared
                        last edited by

                        To close the loop here: we solved our issue of seeing lines by providing power to the lepton via one of the 3.3V pins on the voxl2 mini instead of relying on the power pin of J10 on the sparrow board.

                        VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • VinnyV
                          Vinny ModalAI Team @KLindgren
                          last edited by

                          Hi @KLindgren
                          You raise a concern and something I will run by the team, but if you are powering the M0187 at 3.3V directly, you are violating the FLIR specs for the Lepton and our system design constraints.

                          5ffb65bb-b699-4528-91b2-ccf9f9ddcc4d-image.png

                          How are you connecting M0187 to M0188? Maybe your cable is introducing some extra losses giving you a lower than 2.8V supply?

                          K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • K
                            KLindgren @Vinny
                            last edited by

                            @Vinny apologies, I should have clarified we're using this PureThermal breakout board which regulates VIN from 3.3-5V

                            VinnyV Jetson NanoJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • VinnyV
                              Vinny ModalAI Team @KLindgren
                              last edited by

                              @KLindgren
                              OK, M0188 will not work with anything other than our M0187.
                              Thanks for clarifying.

                              J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • J
                                jared @Vinny
                                last edited by

                                @Vinny said in FLIR LEPTON 3.5 Thermal camera with VOXL 2:

                                M0187

                                Hi @Vinny - I'm guessing the M0187 is your FLIR breakout board? Do you sell these?

                                VinnyV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • VinnyV
                                  Vinny ModalAI Team @jared
                                  last edited by

                                  Hi @jared
                                  Presently they are integrated within certain drones...
                                  https://docs.modalai.com/stinger-vision-datasheet/

                                  I can poke the team to see if we can get it listed separately in the near future.

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Jetson NanoJ
                                    Jetson Nano @KLindgren
                                    last edited by Jetson Nano

                                    @KLindgren I am also using the same board but my video stream is with high disturbances, i have posted a image above in the chat. could you please share the image from your camera so that i could figure out what is wrong with my setup. Also the details of your setup, it would be of great help.

                                    K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • K
                                      KLindgren @Jetson Nano
                                      last edited by

                                      @Jetson-Nano our images looked the same as yours when providing power to the PureThermal from the sparrow board (m0188) but using a 3.3V from the voxl2 mini fixed the issue and gives us this imagery.
                                      94767b82-68c1-4a72-b830-64c29fc4d33e-image.png

                                      We are using power from the voxl2 mini's J19 and currently working on running 2 leptons with an RGB using the sparrow board.
                                      fdd0c8b1-0a2d-4496-b7a9-f5ab409f603f-image.png

                                      Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Jetson NanoJ
                                        Jetson Nano @KLindgren
                                        last edited by

                                        @KLindgren thank you for reverting back. From which port are you taking the 3.3 V also how did you complete the circuit, the image you provide is confusing with respect to the connections, it would be great if you would provide further details.

                                        K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • J
                                          jared @Vinny
                                          last edited by

                                          Thanks @Vinny

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • K
                                            KLindgren @Jetson Nano
                                            last edited by KLindgren

                                            @Jetson-Nano Our 2 Leptons are connected as described in this image - though we're using PureThermal boards instead of M0187s for the Leptons. The 3.3V VIN is provided from the VOXL's J19 port via this cable and a "Y" split jumper we've soldered together.

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