Vreo Innovation Vreo Unity User manual

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VREO UNITY
TECHNICAL MANUAL
Revision
Date
Details
Authorised
V1.0
12/05/2014
Draft
MV
V1.1
29/05/2014
First Release –includes OneView viewer app details and
firmware revision extension.
MV
V2.0
29/09/2014
2nd Release to coincide with new release of OneView
version 2.0.0.4
MV

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Contents
DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................................................................5
INPUTS ....................................................................................................................................................5
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM HARDWARE .............................................................................................5
UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB)................................................................................................................6
UNIVERSAL VIDEO CLASS (UVC).............................................................................................................6
USB3.0 / USB2.0 .....................................................................................................................................6
EXTENSION UNITS ..................................................................................................................................6
APPLICATION PROGRAMMING..............................................................................................................7
OneView VIEWER APPLICATION ............................................................................................................7
USB2.0 Functionality ............................................................................................................................16
DRIVERS ................................................................................................................................................16
VENDOR IDENTIFICATION (VID)...........................................................................................................18
CABLES ..................................................................................................................................................19
MOUNTING...........................................................................................................................................22
POWER..................................................................................................................................................23
TEST HEADER ........................................................................................................................................23
DIMENSIONS.........................................................................................................................................24
SPECIFICATION......................................................................................................................................25
APPENDIX 1 –Standard UVC Controls ..................................................................................................27
APPENDIX 2 - Extension Unit Controls..................................................................................................28
EX_EXPOSURE_MODE.......................................................................................................................28
EX_EV_CORRECTION.........................................................................................................................28
EX_EXPOSURE_WEIGHTING..............................................................................................................29
EX_EXPOSURE_SPEED.......................................................................................................................29
EX_ADAPTIVE_GRADATION ..............................................................................................................29
EX_ATR_SETUP..................................................................................................................................30
EX_HORIZ_FLIP..................................................................................................................................30
EX_VERT_FLIP....................................................................................................................................31
EX_IMAGE_STABILISATION...............................................................................................................31
EX_SHUTTER_SPEED .........................................................................................................................32
EX_GAIN............................................................................................................................................32
EX_AUTO_FOCUS..............................................................................................................................33
EX_MANUAL_FOCUS.........................................................................................................................33

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EX_FACE_DETECTION........................................................................................................................34
EX_NUM_FACES................................................................................................................................34
EX_FACE_INFO ..................................................................................................................................34
EX_WHITE_BALANCE ........................................................................................................................36
EX_CC_OFFSET ..................................................................................................................................36
EX_CC_OFFSET_SETUP......................................................................................................................37
EX_CC_SPEED....................................................................................................................................37
EX_FW_REV.......................................................................................................................................37
APPENDIX 3 : TROUBLESHOOTING .......................................................................................................38
Updating the Host Controller Driver.................................................................................................38

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Vreo Unity : User Manual
DESCRIPTION
The Vreo Unity board is an interface for the SONY FCB-MA130 camera module. It connects the
camera to a host PC over USB3.0.
INPUTS
The SONY FCB-MA130 camera module sends video and still image data over a 16bit parallel data
bus; in addition it uses line valid (LV) and frame valid (FV) signals and sends an 81MHz pixel clock
signal.
To control the various camera settings and functions an I2C bus is used. Both the standard CMOS
Parallel Camera interface and the I2C bus are connected via an FFC cable to the Vreo unity board.
These signals connect to the USB controller device.
The camera module also supports a MIPI interface as an alternative to sending the video data, this is
not used by the Vreo Unity board.
The controller has a DMA (direct memory access) channel from the parallel input bus to the USB
block. This allows it to transfer data at a high rate. If for some reason the host PC cannot read the
data quickly enough the frame will be lost. This depends on the capacity and load on the host PC USB
controller and the host PC processor load.
The maximum video resolution is 1920 x 1080 @ 30fps. For each pixel in each frame there are two
bytes of information one for colour and one for brightness. This equates to approximately 1
Gbits/sec. The USB3.0 bus is capable of transferring up to 5Gbit/s. This will be shared across all
devices routed through the same host PC USB3.0 controller chip set –it does not mean you can get
5Gbits/sec from each physical port on the PC. Also when you have more than one device on the bus,
the total bandwidth will be reduced due to arbitration between the devices. The combination of the
FCB-MA130 and the Vreo Unity board has not been evaluated for multiple devices on the same
USB3.0 bus.
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM HARDWARE
Windows 7 or Windows 8.x
Intel i5 processor
8GB Ram

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UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB)
The USB is configured to use Endpoint 0 as a control channel. Endpoint 1 is configured as a bulk
transfer for video. The bulk transfer is sent in 1024 byte packets each with a 12 byte UVC header.
The UVC header is used to indicate the start of frame and end of frame data and it also toggles a bit
between packets. It also indicates if the data is from a still image or from a video frame. The format
of the UVC header is defined in the UVC version 1.5 documentation.
The firmware on the Unity Board contains all the USB descriptors. When first connected to the USB
there is a negotiation phase between the host PC and the Unity board. In this phase the descriptors
are used to tell the host PC what the capabilities of the device are. What resolutions its supports and
what controls it supports.
The communication between the devices uses a small number of control requests. INFO, Length,
GET, SET, Default, Max and Min. Using these requests the driver on the host PC can determine the
maximum and minimum values for the control, what the default value is, if it can get the value of the
control as well as set the value, it can also determine the length of any data that needs to be sent
between the devices. This communication is handled by generic windows drivers.
UNIVERSAL VIDEO CLASS (UVC)
Universal Video Class (UVC) is a specific class of products for USB, just like a computer mouse is a
Human Interface Device or HID. A UVC device handles video data and common camera controls in a
defined way. It is defined in the UVC standard. The Vreo Unity implements this standard in firmware
and as such it is possible to view and control the camera from a number of host PC programs.
However not all functions of the FCB-MA130 are standard UVC commands. Face detection and
image stabilisation for instance are not covered in the UVC standard. For non-standard controls,
extension units (see below) are used.
USB3.0 / USB2.0
USB3.0 allows for increased bandwidths of data transmission. It can support 5 Gbits/sec whereas
USB2.0 only supports 480 Mbits/sec. USB3.0 enables the use of high resolution video cameras over
USB. It is possible to use the Vreo Unity board with a USB2.0 connection. In this case only 680 x 420
resolution at 15 fps is supported.
EXTENSION UNITS
To allow for non-standard controls UVC provides the extension unit. This allows a device to describe
what additional controls it has and how they work. This is done using descriptors in the firmware
which state how many extension controls there are. When the device is connected there is a
negotiation stage where the low level drivers for the OS will query these extension unit controls and
find out the min, max and default values along with the size of data expected to be passed between
the device and the PC. A host PC application that is aware of what these controls are can use these
additional controls. Please see the Extension Unit details in APPENDIX 2.

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APPLICATION PROGRAMMING
Both the directshow api and the .net framework provide functions that expose the various pins of
the device and allow you to write a custom application to control the camera and view the
streaming video or image data. The low level driver handles USB endpoints and
enumeration/negotiation.
To access the extension units you can use the Microsoft COM interface and the IksControl methods.
For further background information especially for those wanting to develop their own host software
the following documents and resources are recommended.
USB Serial Bus Specification 3.1 : Available from USB.org
UVC 1.5 Class Specification : Available from USB.org
SONY: FCB Micro - Application Note
SONY: FCB Micro User Interface Command / Event Specifications
SONY: FCB Micro User Interface Supplementary Registers Specification
MSDN see section USB Video Class Driver.
Vreo now supply an API and source code for Visual Studio 2013. There are two VS project solutions.
One is for the OneView viewer application and one is for a reduced functionality OneViewLite
viewer. These projects show how to access the UVC and extension controls and can be used to
develop your own end user applications or integrate into existing software. They are intended for
development by those wishing to design in the Vreo Unity PCB into their own end user products.
OneView VIEWER APPLICATION
To demonstrate the Vreo Unity board we supply the OneView Application. This has implemented the
standard UVC controls. All the extension unit controls and a video record function.
To install the viewer run the setup.exe file. This should be supplied either on a USB stick or via email.
Make sure that your computer is connected to the internet, if necessary it will install the generic
windows driver from the internet.
Plug in the Vreo Unity / FCB MA130 into a USB3.0 port.
Run the OneView application and then select Devices -> Unity.

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You should then see streaming video at 640 x 480 at 30fps as indicated in the bottom of the window.
To change the video resolution select Video -> Video Resolution -> then select from the drop down
menu as shown :
You should then change back to the streaming video view and see the newly selected resolution.
To use the standard UVC image settings such as brightness, hue and saturation select Image -> and
adjust the slider settings.

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Vertical Flip and Horizontal flip are accessible from this window also (they are implemented as
extension controls). This image manipulation is done inside the FCB-MA130 camera and does not
add additional load to the host PC processing.
For Still Images :
To set the resolution: Stills -> Still Resolution then select from the drop down menu:
Click OK.

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To set the path for saving the still images select Stills -> Set Still Folder
Browse to the required location and click OK.
To take a still image select Stills -> Get Still(Enter)

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The following functions are all implemented as extension units.
Exposure mode : To set the required exposure mode select Exposure -> Exposure Mode and then
select the desired mode. When you select Manual or Shutter Priority then Shutter Speed controls
will be accessible in the previous menu. If you select Manual or ISO (gain) Priority then Gain controls
will be enabled in the previous menu.
Setting the shutter speed in manual exposure mode.
Setting the gain in manual exposure mode :

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Use the arrow keys or text box to enter a new gain and select OK.
To set the EV correction select Exposure -> EV Correction
Similarly to set the exposure weighting to either centre weighted, average or spot: Select Exposure -
> Exposure weighting. Note that depending on what it is in the scene you may see little effect from
changing this setting. Especially when changing between centre weighting and average weighting.

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Colour Controls
The white balance mode can be set by selecting Colour -> White Balance
Tools :
Face detection the max number of faces that will be detected and the face detection information
can all be selected via the Tools -> Face Detection Menu.
Adaptive gradation and ATR setup can be selected from Tools -> Dynamic Range.
ATR Setup allows you to adjust the ATR settings of ATR Gain, ATR Contrast and ATR Chroma.

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Focus
You can perform a one touch autofocus action from Tools -> Focus -> AutoFocus or you can adjust
the focus manually using Tools -> Focus –Manual Focus and then selecting from the options shown
below.
Image stabilisation can be enabled from the Tools menu also.

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If you select Help -> About you can also see the firmware revision installed on the Unity board and
the revision of the OneView GUI.
On startup OneView will set the camera to the last used settings. It does this using configuration
files. You can set the camera to a new configuration and save this configuration to a specific
filename using File -> Save Configuration. You can load a named configuration at a later date using
File -> Load Configuration. You can also load the default configuration to get back to factory default
settings.

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You can record and playback video in an AVI format from the Video menu.
USB2.0 Functionality
Most functions are also available when connected to a USB2.0 port. However due to the limited
bandwidth of USB2.0 only 640x480 resolution video at 15fps is enabled. Also still image capture is
currently limited to 1920 x 1080 resolution.
DRIVERS
As the device uses the established UVC standard it does not require a custom driver and a windows
generic USB driver can be used. It may need to be installed when you first connect the device –
windows will search for the appropriate driver on line.
The device should connect as an imaging device in device manager with the following drivers.
c:\windows\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
c:\windows\system32\drivers\usbvideo.sys
You can check that this is the case in device manager -> imaging devices -> UNITY -> driver details

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VENDOR IDENTIFICATION (VID)
Vreo supplies the Unity board with its own Vendor Identification number (VID) and product
identification number (PID). This means that when it connects to the PC it should be recognised as a
Vreo product. It is possible for larger volumes for Vreo to supply with a custom VID and PID. There is
a one off fee to arrange this. You must also already have you own VID assigned by USB.org. Contact
your distributor for more details.

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CABLES
There is a 45 way 0.3mm pitch FFC Jumper cable required between the camera module and the Vreo
Unity board. This cable should have a single ended impedance @100MHz.
The exposed gold contacts at the ends of the cable should be face down when inserted into the
connectors of the Vreo Unity board and the SONY FCB-MA130 camera modules:
-+
To connect the FFC cable to the Vreo Unity board lift the flap of P1 the FFC connector as shown
below:
Insert one end of the cable into the connector, the exposed gold contacts of the cable need to point
down towards the PCB.

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Make sure that the cable is square on to the connector and seated in a definite position inside the
connector; then flip down the latch.
In a similar manner connect the other end to the SONY FCB-MA130 camera module, make sure the
exposed contacts face down towards the PCB.