Integrating Sony FCB-ER8530 & FCB-EV9500M with Jetson Xavier NX using Custom Carrier Board

Introduction

High-performance Edge AI applications often demand powerful combinations of advanced camera modules and robust computing platforms. However, hardware interface incompatibilities introduces significant integration challenges.

To overcome this, we have integrated Sony FCB-ER8530, a 4K 30FPS camera block which has HDMI output & FCB-EV9500M, 1920x1080 60FPS Camera Block, into the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX ecosystem—an Edge AI powerhouse that primarily supports CSI (MIPI) camera inputs. This required the development of a custom carrier board and the creation of a custom V4L2 camera drivers for Sony FCB-ER8530 & FCB-EV9500M.

Challenge Overview

The Sony FCB-ER8530 outputs video in Y/Cb/Cr 4:2:2 (8-bit HDMI) format, while the Jetson Xavier NX accepts inputs over CSI-2 (MIPI) only. This hardware incompatibility posed three key challenges:

• Converting HDMI to MIPI without compromising quality or introduction of significant latency.
• Designing a custom carrier board to host the conversion logic.
• Developing a compatible V4L2 driver for seamless camera integration into Jetson's software stack

Hardware Solution: Custom Carrier Board for Xavier NX Module with on board HDMI-to-MIPI Conversion

To bridge HDMI to MIPI, we engineered a custom carrier board tailored to the Jetson Xavier NX Module. This board acts as a translator between the 4K HDMI output of the Sony camera and the Xavier NX’s CSI input.

Block Diagram:

Connection Diagram:

Board Features:

• HDMI 2.0 input over 30 pin co-axial connector supporting 4K @ 30 FPS
• On-board HDMI-to-MIPI CSI-2 bridge chip
• Designed to mount directly with Jetson Xavier NX module
• Thermal and power optimized for edge deployment
• This carrier board also has another MIPI input over 30 pin co-axial keil connector, compatible to interface with Sony FCB-EV9500M, which has video output in MIPI standard, however with 30 pin co-axial keil connector.

This carrier board ensures signal fidelity and enables the Xavier NX to receive uncompressed 4K video directly from the Sony camera.

Software Integration: V4L2 Camera Driver Development

Hardware alone isn’t enough; we needed to enable low-latency video streaming from the Sony camera through the HDMI-to-MIPI pipeline into Jetson’s software environment.

V4L2 Driver Highlights:

• Platform-specific MIPI CSI-2 configuration
• Resolution and format handling (4K @ 30 FPS)
• DMA buffer management for efficient frame capture
• Seamless integration with GStreamer and OpenCV
• Plug-and-play compatibility with Jetson ecosystem

This driver makes the Sony 4K HDMI Camera Block FCB-ER8530 functionally equivalent to any native MIPI camera module on Xavier NX. Similarly, another V4L2 Camera Driver has been developed to interface Sony Block Camera FCB-EV9500M with Xavior NX.

Performance Testing: Real-World Validation

We performed rigorous validation of the camera pipeline under varied environmental and performance conditions to ensure real-time readiness.

https://youtu.be/rWkh44BZIZI

Test Parameters & Results:

Our setup maintained zero frame loss, low latency, and full 4K resolution across extended test cycles—making it ideal for AI-based object detection, surveillance, and robotics.

Conclusion

This case study demonstrates how OPPILA overcomes hardware compatibility barriers to enable state-of-the-art vision systems. By integrating the Sony FCB-ER8530 (HDMI camera block) with Jetson Xavier NX using a custom HDMI-to-MIPI carrier board and V4L2 driver, we've created a robust, scalable 4K imaging solution for Edge AI.