Skip to main content

Working with Raspberry Pi

The deserializer board is physically designed to fit the Raspberry Pi form factor and connects via ribbon cable. It can be used with the Raspberry Pi 5 mainboard.

Hardware Connection​

Connecting to Raspberry Pi 5

  • Connect the CSI0 interface of the deserializer board to the CAM1 or CAM0 interface of the Raspberry Pi 5 using the supplied ribbon cable.
  • Insert the deserializer board onto the 40PIN GPIO header of the Raspberry Pi 5.
  • Connect the GMSL camera to the camera interface on the deserializer board using a coaxial cable.
  • Set the CFG switch to the 0100 position (default configuration for the ISX031 camera).

Software Configuration​

  • Use the official Raspberry Pi image 2025-05-13-raspios-bookworm-arm64.img.xz.

  • Flash the image file and boot the Raspberry Pi.

    • Extract the .img image file from the downloaded package.
    • Use the Raspberry Pi Imager or balenaEtcher to write the image file to a TF card.
    • Insert the TF card with the flashed image into the Raspberry Pi mainboard, connect the hardware, and power on.

  • Open a terminal on the Raspberry Pi and use the following commands to download and extract the driver package:

    wget https://files.waveshare.com/wiki/MAX9296-GMSL-Deser-Module/ws-rpi5-gmsl.zip
    unzip ws-rpi5-gmsl.zip

  • Install the drivers

    • Use the cd command to enter the driver package directory:

      cd ws-rpi5-gmsl/

      Enter Driver Directory

    • Add executable permissions to the installation script and execute it:

      sudo chmod a+x rpi5_gmsl_driver_install.sh
      sudo ./rpi5_gmsl_driver_install.sh

  • Configure the config.txt file

    • Edit the file and add the dtoverlay setting as shown in the image below

      sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

      Edit config File

    • Depending on the connected camera, remove the comment symbol # from the corresponding configuration line. Here isx031-gmsl-camera-a is the camera model being connected, and sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_1CH sets the camera channel parameter.

    • Table of camera models and corresponding configuration parameters:

      Camera ModelCamera Model ParameterCamera Channel ParameterPreview Parameter
      ISX031C-GMSL-Camera-H100isx031-gmsl-camera-aISX031C_GMSL2F_xCHISX031-GMSL-Camera-A
      ISX031-GMSL-Camera-H60isx031-gmsl-camera-bISX031C_GMSL2F_xCHISX031-GMSL-Camera-B
      ISX031-GMSL-Camera-H100isx031-gmsl-camera-bISX031C_GMSL2F_xCHISX031-GMSL-Camera-B
      ISX031-GMSL-Camera-H120isx031-gmsl-camera-bISX031C_GMSL2F_xCHISX031-GMSL-Camera-B
      ISX031-GMSL-Camera-H190isx031-gmsl-camera-bISX031C_GMSL2F_xCHISX031-GMSL-Camera-B
      GMSL-2MP-Camera-Agmsl-2mp-camera-aGMSL_xCHGMSL-2MP-Camera-A
      GMSL-1MP-Camera-Agmsl-1mp-camera-aGMSL_xCHGMSL-1MP-Camera-A

      *_xCH can be set to 1CH or 2CH depending on how many cameras are connected.

  • If one IS031 camera is connected (either link A or link B; the program will auto‑detect):

    dtoverlay=isx031-gmsl-camera-a,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_1CH

  • If two IS031 cameras are connected:

    dtoverlay=isx031-gmsl-camera-a,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_2CH

  • If connecting to the CAM0 interface, add the cam0 parameter at the end:

    dtoverlay=gmsl-isx031,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_1CH,cam0
    dtoverlay=gmsl-isx031,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_2CH,cam0

  • The default deserializer I2C address is 0x48(0x90 >> 1). If you need to modify the default address, you can add the dser-addr parameter at the end:

    dtoverlay=isx031-gmsl-camera-a,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_1CH,dser-addr=0x4a
    dtoverlay=isx031-gmsl-camera-a,sensor-type=ISX031C_GMSL2F_2CH,dser-addr=0x4a

  • After setting, save the file and reboot the system with sudo reboot

Quick Test

  • Install gstreamer1.0 tools:

    sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-tools -y

  • The driver board provides a test script for preview. After rebooting the system, you can use the following commands to perform a preview test of the camera

    • Connected to Raspberry Pi CAM1, 2x ISX031C:

      ws_camera_preview.sh ISX031-GMSL-Camera-A csi1 2ch

    • Connected to Raspberry Pi CAM1, 1x ISX031C:

      ws_camera_preview.sh ISX031-GMSL-Camera-A csi1 1ch

    • Connected to Raspberry Pi CAM0, 2x ISX031C:

      ws_camera_preview.sh ISX031-GMSL-Camera-A csi0 2ch

    • Connected to Raspberry Pi CAM0, 1x ISX031C:

      ws_camera_preview.sh ISX031-GMSL-Camera-A csi0 1ch

  • The following image is for reference only:

    Camera preview effect