Attaching Multiple Realsense R200 Cameras to Up Board (USB 3.0)

Duncan Iglesias

Hello internet,

Has anyone found a compatible USB 3.0 hub for the Up Board flashed with linux? I would like to take advantage of the multiple camera packages supplied by Intel for ROS. So far, my sources tell me that the Anker Ultra Slim 4-Port USB 3.0 Data Hub is my best bet but the manufacturer's description doesn't mention compatibility for Linux.

http://a.co/8emooQ6

Thanks everyone,

Configuration: Up Board (4.2.0-3upboard) running Ubuntu 14.04

Duncan Iglesias

UPDATE

I purchased the Anker 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub to expand the USB 3.0 Micro B port on the Intel UP Board, however the device is not being recognized as a USB 3.0 hub, only a USB 2.0 hub.

Further details on the issue are posted HERE on the Ask Ubuntu forum.

Today I came across the potential source of the problem; the USB 3.0 adapter provided in the Intel Realsense Robotic Development Kit seems to be faulty. Plugging an Intel Realsense R200 camera directly into the USB 3.0 Micro B socket on the UP Board with a male-to-male USB 3.0 Micro B cable works as expected. However, when plugged in via the adapter, it is not recognized (all cables/hardware provided by Intel).

I have sent an email to Intel support and will update this post when I receive a reply.

Duncan Iglesias

UPDATE

The adapter that Intel has provided with the Intel Realsense Robotic Development Kit is not compatible with USB 3.0 OTG devices. When probing the pins, the USB OTG ID line (pin 4) is not passed through the adapter resulting in a dead line.

If you want to use USB 3.0 devices with the UP Board, you need to ensure that the pin is passed through.

This was not a software issue after all. Just a hardware issue.

Cheers

Jesse

@djiglesias

Did you have any luck after you replaced the cable?
I am wondering if the up board can handle multiple Realsense r200 cameras?
How is the performance?

Debating to order this or the Intel Joule ?

Thanks!

Duncan Iglesias

@jessepmason

Unfortunately I have been unable to find a compatible hub to support multiple cameras and the Intel support team has been unreachable. A single camera open running the RViz GUI with ROS allows one frame person rendering which is rather slow. I'm sure it can be sped up by not displaying the graphical environment.

Good luck.

Jesse

Okay, thanks!

Duncan Iglesias

UPDATE

I purchased a D-Link 4-Port USB 3.0 hub with a Micro USB Type B input socket and am able to recognize multiple cameras at once. The USB adapter provided by Intel in the developer kit is no good. Plug everything in and reboot the system to get the cameras to be recognized.

Happy programming everyone

Duncan

Riccardo Lardi

Hi @djiglesias did you get USB 3.0 cameras to run on USB 3.0 speed properly? Was it a power problem? Thanks for more info on this! Quite desperately trying to get USB 3.0 to work on the UpBoard...

Duncan Iglesias

@alberto2000 I managed to get a hub hooked up to run multiple cameras at once. The trick is that you have to use a USB 3.0 Micro B cable with NO adapters, so your USB hub needs the appropriate plug.

My system is a little slow still, but that is most likely due to me using a custom power supply and the UP Board is being throttled at 1 Amp, so I'm starving it of the necessary power.

Good luck.

Gilles D.

@djiglesias

Hello,

Can you provide us the reference of the D-Link HUB you used ?

Thank you,
gdo

Gilles D.

@djiglesias

Hi,

Could you pleaseprovide me the reference of the D-Link HUB you used ?

Thank you,
gdo

Duncan Iglesias

@gdo

This is the D-Link USB 3.0 Hub that I went with. It has a 4.0 Amp 5.0V power supply which is key since running four R200 cameras on the UP Board draws 3.30 Amps.

Works great.

Duncan

Gilles D.

Thank you Duncan for this precious information.

Regards,
gdo

Duncan Iglesias

@gdo

Just in case you are running these cameras with ROS and are running into problems with too much information from multiple cameras, I added a software throttle for the streams using Intel's Realsense repository on GitHub. You can throttle your nodes between 1-60 frames per second.

Repo: https://github.com/djiglesias/realsense
Use: https://github.com/intel-ros/realsense/issues/192